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There will be no Heisei 32


railsquid

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Speculation seems to be something beginning with 安. but it probably won't be known until it's too late for the 2019 calendars...

 

I suspect it won't be something beginning with M, T, S or H for practical reasons.

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6 minutes ago, Densha said:

I personally wouldn't mind them dropping the whole Imperial Eras all together, but that's not gonna happen I guess...

 

And here I've been wishing they'd go back to the pre-Meiji way of naming eras!

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Well, having to use this system regularly while living in Japan made me realise how frustrating it can be. Having two ways of counting years is just not very practical.

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1 hour ago, Densha said:

Well, having to use this system regularly while living in Japan made me realise how frustrating it can be. Having two ways of counting years is just not very practical.

 

They do this in Muslim countries too, and Taiwan, and North and South Korea, Israel, and others...

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5 hours ago, Densha said:

Well, having to use this system regularly while living in Japan made me realise how frustrating it can be. Having two ways of counting years is just not very practical.

 

Isn't it only used for relevant or religious occurrences?

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I was hoping they would start the new era on new years, to make conversion easier.  Apparently it was considered, but they decided not to to not interrupt or be overshadowed by the holiday.

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Well, originally the christian new year started at Christmas, but then there were a few calendar reforms. Saint Stephen, the first king of Hungary was crowned at the Christmas mass on December 25. 1000 AD so he was actually crowned on January 1st. 1001 AD at 00:00 according to our modern western christian calendar. Since half of the holy crown of Hungary was given by the western (Rome) and the other half by the eastern church (Constantinople), we should also follow the nonreformed eastern calendar, which is completly off by now from the western one. All other sources around that time date events according the start of rule of the local kings, so there is some uncertainity in them. (Stephen wanted to use the christian system, so the date of coronation was intentionally choosen to match up with the then unified christian calendar, so you just deduct 1000 to get the year based on his coronation) Now don't get me started on the error in the christian year 1 as there is astronomical info that could correct it, but that would make a mess with all dates since then.

 

In the end all epochs are good if you use them consistently...

 

The european system isn't better if you look at how many times it was changed during the past millenia. I would say using the linear unix time with UTC as a timezone would be better, but computer historians and devote purists would probably argue for using the traditional nonlinear unix time with the unaccounted leap seconds. :-)

 

ps: Sorry for the long rant. Is there any info about the official name of the new era?

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Just an interesting tidbit.   At least some of our JR Passes in the past have had the Japanese Era year instead of the "normal" AD/CE year on the valid through date.  

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10 hours ago, miyakoji said:

If what I read on Reddit is accurate, it'll be announced on the Prime Minister's youtube channel (!) at 11:30 AM JST, about one hour from this posting.

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/kanteijp

 

 

Highlights:

13:00 - Broadcasting start.

28:10 - Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga enters the room.

29:00 - unveilment of new era name.

35:15 - Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga leaves the room.

52:30 - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe enters the room and starts speaking.

 

And this is when this era started, back in 1989 (Showa 64)

 

Chief of Cabinet Kezo Obuchi, annoncing the then-new Heisei Era.

 

 

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When the new era begins on the 1st May, does this mean that 2019 is both Heisei 31 and Reiwa 1 or will 2020 be Reiwa 1?

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Just now, Gryphr said:

When the new era begins on the 1st May, does this mean that 2019 is both Heisei 31 and Reiwa 1 or will 2020 be Reiwa 1?

 

Both, e.g. a child born on April 30th will still be a Heisei birth.

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