| Reiwa令和 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2019 – present | |||
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.jpg) Emperor Naruhito of theReiwa era (2019) | |||
| Location | Japan | ||
| Including | |||
| Monarch | Naruhito | ||
| Prime Ministers | |||
| Key events |
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Reiwa (Japanese:令和;pronounced[ɾeːwa]ⓘ or[ɾeꜜːwa][1][2]) is the current and 232ndera of the official calendar of Japan. It began on 1 May 2019, the day on which EmperorAkihito's eldest son,Naruhito,ascended the throne as the 126thEmperor of Japan. The day before, Emperor Akihitoabdicated theChrysanthemum Throne, marking the end of theHeisei era. The year 2019 corresponds with Heisei 31 from 1 January to 30 April, and with Reiwa 1 (令和元年,Reiwa gannen; 'the base year of Reiwa') from 1 May.[3] TheMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Japan explained the meaning ofReiwa to be "beautiful harmony".[4]
TheJapanese government on 1 April 2019 announced the name during a live televised press conference, asChief Cabinet SecretaryYoshihide Suga traditionally revealed thekanji calligraphy on a board.Prime MinisterShinzō Abe said thatReiwa represents "a culture being born and nurtured by people coming together beautifully".
A shortlist of names for the new era was drawn up by a nine-member expert panel comprising seven men and two women with the cabinet selecting the final name from the shortlist.[5] The nine experts were:[6]
The day after the announcement, the government revealed that the other candidate names under consideration had been Eikō (英弘),[7] Kyūka (久化),[8] Kōshi or Kōji (広至),[7][9] Banna or Banwa (万和),[7][9] and Banpo or Banhō (万保),[7][9][10] three of which were sourced from two Japanese works, theKojiki and theNihon Shoki.[11] Official pronunciations and meanings of these names were not released, although the reading of Eikō was leaked; the other readings are speculative.[9]
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Thekanji characters forReiwa are derived from theMan'yōshū, an eighth-century (Nara period) anthology ofwaka poetry. Thekotobagaki (headnote) attached to a group of 32 poems (815–846) in Volume 5 of the collection, composed on the occasion of a poetic gathering to view theplum blossoms, reads as follows:[citation needed]
Classical Japanese translation (kanbun kundoku):時に、初春の令月にして、気淑く風和ぎ、梅は鏡前の粉を披き、蘭は珮後の香を薫す。
Toki ni, shoshun noreigetsu ni shite, kiyoku kazeyawaragi, ume wa kyōzen no ko o hiraki, ran wa haigo no kō o kaorasu.[13]
English translation:
It was in new spring, in afair (rei) month,
When the air was clear and the wind agentle (wa) breeze.
Plum flowers blossomed a beauty's charming whiteAnd the fragrance of the orchids was their sweet perfume.
TheJapanese Foreign Ministry provided anEnglish-language interpretation ofReiwa as "beautiful harmony", to counter reports that "Rei" (令) here is translated as "command" or "order"[14][4][15] – which are the significantly more common meanings of the character, especially so in both modern Japanese and Chinese.[15][16] The Foreign Ministry also noted that "beautiful harmony" is rather an explanation than an official translation or a legally binding interpretation.[15]
Prior to and naturally irrespective of the era announcement, within the context of the Chinese essay in theMan'yōshū from which the excerpt is cited, the expression令月 (which characters constitute the wordreigetsu in modern Japanese) has generally been academically translated or interpreted as "wonderful" or "good (Japanese:yoi) month" in published scholarly works, such as byAlexander Vovin in English aswonderful month in his 2011 commentary and translation of Book 5,[17] or bySusumu Nakanishi in Japanese asyoi tsuki (好い月) in his commentary and translation into modern Japanese that was published in 1978.[18]
Susumu Nakanishi, a scholar ofJapanese literature, particularly of theMan'yōshū, is widely believed to have conceived the nameReiwa.[19][20] Following the announcement ofReiwa in 2019, Nakanishi advocated for understanding the characterrei (令) of the era name through the help of the Japanese worduruwashii (うるわしい;fair (of sight, weather), beautiful, fine (also of mood) etc.), stressing that in the traditional dictionaries (such asErya or theKangxi Dictionary), the word令 is explained with the word善.[21] Nakanishi criticized the understanding of therei (令) inReiwa as Japaneseutsukushii (美しい; generally meaning "beautiful"), which was propagated by then-Prime MinisterShinzo Abe, pointing out that neither the etymology nor the exact sense are appropriate.[21]
"Reiwa" marks the first Japanese era name with characters that were taken fromJapanese literature instead ofclassic Chinese literature.[22][23][24][25]
Robert Campbell, director-general ofNational Institute of Japanese Literature in Tokyo, provided an official televised interpretation toNHK, regarding the characters based on the poem,[clarification needed] noting that "Rei" is an auspicious wave of energy of the plum blossoms carried by the wind, and "Wa", the general character of peace and tranquility.[26]
Accordingly, the name marks the 248th era name designated in Japanese history.[27] While the "wa" character和 has been used in 19 previous era names, the "rei" character令 has never appeared before.[28] The character appeared in a proposed era name in 1864—Reitoku (令徳)—that the rulingTokugawa shogunate rejected, as it could be interpreted as the emperor commanding (rei) theTokugawa.[29]
On the other hand, according to Masaaki Tatsumi (辰巳正明), professor of Japanese literature, and Masaharu Mizukami (水上雅晴), professor of Chinese philosophy, interviewed by theAsahi Shimbun shortly after the announcement was made, the phrase has an earlier source in ancient Chinese literature dating back to the second century AD, on which theMan'yōshū usage is allegedly based:[30]
於是仲春令月，時和氣清；原隰鬱茂，百草茲榮。
Yú shì zhòng chūnlìng yuè, shíhé qì qīng; yuán xí yù mào, bǎi cǎo zī róng.
Then comes young spring, in afine month,
When the wind ismild and the air clear.
Plains and swamps are overgrown with verdure
And the hundred grasses become rank and thick.
— translation byLiu Wu-chi,An Introduction to Chinese Literature (1990)[31]
According to theJapan Mint, all coins with the new era name have been released since October 2019. It takes three months to make preparations such as creating molds in order to input text or pictures. The Mint will prioritize creating100- and500-yen coins due to their high mintage and circulation, with an anticipated release by the end of July 2019.[32][needs update]
Anticipating the coming of the new era, theUnicode Consortium reserved acode point (U+32FF ㋿SQUARE ERA NAME REIWA)[33] in September 2018 for a newglyph which will combine half-width versions ofReiwa's kanji,令 and和, into a single character; similar code points exist for earlier era names, including Shōwa (U+337C ㍼SQUARE ERA NAME SYOUWA) and Heisei (U+337B ㍻SQUARE ERA NAME HEISEI) periods.[34] The resulting new version ofUnicode, 12.1.0, was released on 7 May 2019.[35][36]
TheMicrosoft Windows update KB4469068 included support for the new era.[37]
On 19 November 2019, Shinzo Abe became the longest-servingprime minister of Japan and surpassed the previous 2,883-day record ofKatsura Tarō.[38] Abe also beatEisaku Satō's record of 2,798 consecutive days on 23 August 2020.[39] He resigned for health reasons in September 2020 and was succeeded by Yoshihide Suga.[40]
In early 2020, Japan began to suffer from theCOVID-19 pandemic as several countries reported a significant increase in cases by March 2020.[41] Japan and other countries donated masks, medical equipment, and money to China.[42][better source needed]
In June 2020,Fugaku was declared the most powerfulsupercomputer in the world with a performance of 415.53PFLOPS.[43] Fugaku also ranked first place in computational methods performance for industrial use, artificial intelligence applications, and big data analytics. It was co-developed by theRIKEN research institute andFujitsu.[44]
Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed until the summer of 2021[45]
In September 2021, Suga announced he would not stand in theLiberal Democratic Party leadership election, effectively ending his term as prime minister. He was succeeded byFumio Kishida who took office as prime minister on 4 October 2021. Kishida was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) a week prior. He was officially confirmed as the country's 100th prime minister following a parliamentary vote.[46]
The first general election under the Reiwa era took place on31 October 2021. The LDP retained its majority despite losing seats.[47]
In March 2022,Russian invasion of Ukraine caused Japan to joinsanctions against Russia.[48] Japan was the first Asian country to exert pressure on Russia.[49]
In July 2022, former prime minister Shinzo Abe wasassassinated by Tetsuya Yamagami inNara.[50] By comparison, Japan had only 10 gun related deaths from 2017 to 2021 and 1 gun fatality in 2021.[51]
On 16 December 2022,Second Kishida Cabinet announced a departure from Japan's defense-oriented policy by acquiring counterstrike capabilities and a defense budget increase to 2% of GDP by 2027.[52] This comes amidst growing security concerns over China, North Korea and Russia.[52] This will make Japan the 3rd largest defense-spender (¥43 trillion ($315 billion) after the United States and China.[53]
On 1 January 2024, amagnitude 7.5 earthquake struckIshikawa Prefecture in theNoto Peninsula, which killed 213 people and caused many more injuries.[54]
Following the2024 Japanese slush fund scandal, Japanese Prime MinisterFumio Kishida warned that three factions ofLiberal Democratic Party (Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai,Kōchikai, andShisuikai) all announced their intention to dissolve to form a war cabinet. However, several LDP lawmakers were indicted, including incumbent lawmakersYasutada Ōno andYaichi Tanigawa, who both resigned from the party following their indictments.[55] Kishida became a controversial figure in Japanese politics, and due to his negative approval ratings, stepped down in September 2024 to be replaced as Prime Minister byShigeru Ishiba.[56]
On 19 January 2024, Japan becomes the fifth country to successfully land on the surface of theMoon with theSmart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander mission.
On 14 August 2024, Kishida announced that he would not stand inLiberal Democratic Party leadership election due to the lowest approval rating, effectively ending his three-year-term as prime minister, and thereby not seeking re-election in September of the same year. During the LDP leadership election, Kishida initially endorsed Chief Cabinet SecretaryYoshimasa Hayashi, then, in the second round, whipped votes forShigeru Ishiba, who defeatedSanae Takaichi to become the next party leader and prime minister.
Shigeru Ishiba was elected by the National Diet and appointed as Prime Minister byEmperor Naruhito at Tokyo Imperial Palace on 1 October 2024, becoming the 101st and 25th Liberal Democratic Prime Minister. Ishiba announced key appointments ahead ofJapanese general election, held on 27 October 2024. His Cabinet included rivals from the leadership race, thoughSanae Takaichi's exclusion created internal party friction. Uniting the divided ruling party became a primary focus for Ishiba after the closely contested leadership race.
Nihon Hidankyo, a group of Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, was awarded2024 Nobel Peace Prize in October 2024 for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. The organization received the award, held inOslo,Norway, on December 10 of the same year. It is one of the second Japanese laureate to win this prize, less than 50 years since former Japanese Prime MinisterEisaku Satō win this prize in 1974, as well.
During his premiership, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has economically move his country's closer to India and South Korea amidst protectionist policies being employed by theUnited States of America, while continuing to supportUkraine duringRussian invasion that began February 2022, as well as supportIsrael duringHamas War. After LDP-Komeito coalition lost its majority in theHouse of Councillors following the poor result in2025 upper election, Ishiba initially announced that he planned to remain as Prime Minister, citing the need to see through tariff negotiations with the United States. After a trade deal, on 22 July 2025, it was erroneously reported that Shigeru Ishiba would be resign by early September. Eventually, he announced his intention to resigned as a LDP president and Prime Minister on 7 September 2025. During theLDP leadership election, Ishiba initially endorsed Chief Cabinet SecretaryYoshimasa Hayashi, then, in the second round, whipped votes forSanae Takaichi, who defeatedShinjirō Koizumi to become the next party leader and as well as the first female prime minister.
To convert anyGregorian calendar year since 2019 toJapanese calendar year in Reiwa era, subtract 2018 from the year in question.
| Reiwa | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AD/CE | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
天平二年正月十三日，萃于帥老大伴旅人之宅，申宴會也。于時，初春令月，氣淑風和。梅披鏡前之粉，蘭薰珮後之香。加以，曙嶺移雲，松掛羅而傾蓋，夕岫結霧，鳥封穀而迷林。庭舞新蝶，空歸故鴈。於是，蓋天坐地，促膝飛觴。忘言一室之裏，開衿煙霞之外。淡然自放，快然自足。若非翰苑，何以攄情。請紀落梅之篇，古今夫何異矣。宜賦園梅，聊成短詠。
| Preceded by Heisei (平成) | Era of Japan Reiwa (令和) 1 May 2019 – present | Most recent |
