Reiwa era explained

Reiwa
Location:Japan
Start:1 May 2019
End:present
Before:Heisei
Key Events:

is the current and 232nd era of the official calendar of Japan. It began on 1 May 2019, the day on which Emperor Akihito's eldest son, Naruhito, ascended the throne as the 126th Emperor of Japan. The day before, Emperor Akihito abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne, marking the end of the Heisei era. The year 2019 corresponds with Heisei 31 from 1 January to 30 April, and with from 1 May.[1] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan explained the meaning of Reiwa to be "beautiful harmony".

Background

Announcement

The Japanese government on 1 April 2019 announced the name during a live televised press conference, as Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga traditionally revealed the kanji calligraphy on a board. The Prime Minister Shinzō Abe said that Reiwa represents "a culture being born and nurtured by people coming together beautifully".

Name selection

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.[2] The nine experts were:[3]

The day after the announcement, the government revealed that the other candidate names under consideration had been,,[4],,[5] and,[6] three of which were sourced from two Japanese works, the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki.[7] Official pronunciations and meanings of these names were not released, although the reading of Eikō was leaked; the other readings are speculative.[8]

Origin and meaning

The kanji characters for Reiwa are derived from the Man'yōshū, an eighth-century (Nara period) anthology of waka poetry. The kotobagaki (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 the plum blossoms, reads as follows:

The Japanese Foreign Ministry provided an English-language interpretation of Reiwa as "beautiful harmony", to dispel reports that here is translated as "command" or "order"[9] [10] [11] – which are the significantly more common meanings of the character, especially so in both modern Japanese and Chinese.[12] The Foreign Ministry also noted that "beautiful harmony" is rather an explanation than an official translation or a legally binding interpretation.[11]

Prior to and naturally irrespective of the era announcement, within the context of the Chinese essay in the Man'yōshū from which the excerpt is cited, the expression Japanese: 令月 (which characters constitute the word reigetsu in modern Japanese) has generally been academically translated or interpreted as "wonderful" or "good (Japanese: yoi) month" in published scholarly works, such as by Alexander Vovin in English as wonderful month in his 2011 commentary and translation of Book 5,[13] or by Susumu Nakanishi in Japanese as in his commentary and translation into modern Japanese that was published in 1978.[14]

Susumu Nakanishi, a scholar of Japanese literature, particularly of the Man'yōshū, is widely believed to have conceived the name Reiwa.[15] [16] Following the announcement of Reiwa in 2019, Nakanishi advocated for understanding the character of the era name through the help of the Japanese word, stressing that in the traditional dictionaries (such as Erya or the Kangxi Dictionary), the word Japanese: 令 is explained with the word Japanese: 善.[17] Nakanishi criticized the understanding of the in Reiwa as Japanese, which was propagated by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pointing out that neither the etymology nor the exact sense are appropriate.

Novelty

"Reiwa" marks the first Japanese era name with characters that were taken from Japanese literature instead of classic Chinese literature.[18] [19] [20] [21]

Robert Campbell, director-general of National Institute of Japanese Literature in Tokyo, provided an official televised interpretation to NHK, regarding the characters based on the poem, 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.[22]

Accordingly, the name marks the 248th era name designated in Japanese history.[23] While the "wa" character Japanese: 和 has been used in 19 previous era names, the "rei" character Japanese: 令 has never appeared before.[24] The character appeared in a proposed era name in 1864—Reitoku (Japanese: 令徳)—that the ruling Tokugawa shogunate rejected, as it could be interpreted as the emperor commanding (rei) the Tokugawa.[25]

On the other hand, according to, professor of Japanese literature, and, professor of Chinese philosophy, interviewed by the Asahi 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 the Man'yōshū usage is allegedly based:[26]

Implementation

Currency

According to the Japan Mint, all coins with the new era name will be released by October 2019. It takes three months to make preparations such as creating molds in order to input text or pictures. The Mint will prioritize creating 100- and 500-yen coins due to their high mintage and circulation, with an anticipated release by the end of July 2019.[27]

Technology

Anticipating the coming of the new era, the Unicode Consortium reserved a code point [28] in September 2018 for a new glyph which will combine half-width versions of Reiwa kanji, Japanese: 令 and Japanese: 和, into a single character; similar code points exist for earlier era names, including Shōwa and Heisei periods.[29] The resulting new version of Unicode, 12.1.0, was released on 7 May 2019.[30] [31]

The Microsoft Windows update KB4469068 included support for the new era.[32]

Events

On 19 November 2019, Shinzo Abe became the longest-serving prime minister of Japan and surpassed the previous 2,883-day record of Katsura Tarō.[33] Abe also beat Eisaku Satō's record of 2,798 consecutive days on 23 August 2020.[34] He resigned for health reasons in September 2020 and was succeeded by Yoshihide Suga.[35]

In early 2020, Japan began to suffer from the COVID-19 pandemic as several countries reported a significant increase in cases by March 2020.[36] Japan and other countries donated masks, medical equipment, and money to China.[37]

In June 2020, Fugaku was declared the most powerful supercomputer in the world with a performance of 415.53 PFLOPS.[38] Fugaku also ranked first place in computational methods performance for industrial use, artificial intelligence applications, and big data analytics. It was co-developed by the RIKEN research institute and Fujitsu.[39]

A year later than originally scheduled, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were held in the summer of 2021.

In September 2021, Suga announced he would not stand in the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, effectively ending his term as prime minister. He was succeeded by Fumio 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.[40]

The first general election under the Reiwa era took place on 31 October 2021. The LDP retained its majority despite losing seats.[41]

In March 2022, Russian invasion of Ukraine caused Japan to join sanctions against Russia.[42] Japan was the first Asian country to exert pressure on Russia.[43]

In July 2022, the former prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by Tetsuya Yamagami in Nara.[44] By comparison, Japan had only 10 gun related deaths from 2017 to 2021 and 1 gun fatality in 2021.[45]

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.[46] This comes amidst growing security concerns over China, North Korea and Russia.[46] This will make Japan the 3rd largest defense-spender (¥43 trillion ($315 billion) after the United States and China.[47]

On 1 January 2024, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Ishikawa Prefecture in the Noto Peninsula, which killed 213 people and caused many more injuries.[48]

Following the 2024 Japanese slush fund scandal, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that three factions of Liberal Democratic Party (Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, Kōchikai, and Shisuikai) all announced their intention to dissolve to form a war cabinet. However, several LDP lawmakers were indicted, including incumbent lawmakers Yasutada Ōno and Yaichi Tanigawa, who both resigned from the party following their indictments. Kishida became the most controversial and aggressive figure in Japanese politics, due to his negative approval ratings and anti-government violence.

On 19 January 2024, Japan becomes the fifth country to successfully land on the surface of the Moon with the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander mission.

The Nobel Prize

Conversion table

To convert any Gregorian calendar year since 2019 to Japanese calendar year in Reiwa era, subtract 2018 from the year in question.

Reiwa 1 2 3 4 5 6
I II III IV V VI
AD2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
MMXIX MMXX MMXXI MMXXII MMXXIII MMXXIV

See also

Externals links

Notes and References

  1. News: New Japanese imperial era Reiwa takes name from ancient poetry . 1 April 2019 . Reuters . 1 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190401041408/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-emperor-idUSKCN1RD13X . 1 April 2019 . live .
  2. Web site: Rich . Motoko . Japan's New Era Gets a Name, but No One Can Agree What It Means . . 1 April 2019 . 1 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190401100741/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/world/asia/japan-emperor-era-reiwa.html . 1 April 2019 . live .
  3. Web site: 「元号」有識者懇メンバー9人発表 . Mainichi Shimbun . 1 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190401143124/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20190401/k00/00m/040/023000c . 1 April 2019 . 1 April 2019 . ja.
  4. Web site: Banna, Banpo, Eiko, Koshi and Kyuka: The Japan eras that could have been, beaten out by Reiwa . . 3 April 2019 . 11 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190411111856/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/03/national/banna-banpo-eiko-koshi-kyuka-japan-eras-beaten-reiwa/ . 11 April 2019 . live .
  5. Web site: 新元号 ６原案中４つは 「英弘」「広至」「万和」「万保」 . . 2 April 2019 . 7 April 2019 . ja . https://web.archive.org/web/20190406211729/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20190402/k10011870041000.html . 6 April 2019 . dead .
  6. Web site: 新元号 ６案すべて判明 「令和」考案は中西進氏か . NHK News Web . 2 April 2019 . 2 April 2019 . ja . https://web.archive.org/web/20190402042757/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20190402/k10011870221000.html . 2 April 2019 . dead .
  7. Web site: 「令和」考案は中西進氏 古事記・日本書紀含め、3案が国書典拠. ja. 3 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190403104636/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20190402/k00/00m/040/360000c. 3 April 2019. live.
  8. Web site: 4 era names the gov't rejected before deciding on Reiwa . . Casey . Baseel . 3 April 2019 . 6 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190406091816/https://japantoday.com/category/politics/4-era-names-the-japanese-government-rejected-before-deciding-on-reiwa . 6 April 2019 . live .
  9. Web site: Govt.: 'Reiwa' means 'beautiful harmony' . NHK World . 3 April 2019 . 1 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190501035209/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190403_38/ . 1 May 2019 . dead .
  10. Web site: Government says Reiwa translates as 'beautiful harmony' . The Asahi Shimbun . 3 April 2019 . 1 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190501035211/http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904030024.html . 1 May 2019 . live .
  11. Web site: Japan assures world that Reiwa is all about 'beautiful harmony' and has nothing to do with 'command' . The Japan Times . 3 April 2019 . 3 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190403215933/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/03/national/japan-assures-world-reiwa-beautiful-harmony-nothing-command/ . 3 April 2019 . live .
  12. News: Government says Reiwa translates as 'beautiful harmony'. The Associated Press. 3 April 2019. Asahi Shimbun. 27 June 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190501035211/http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904030024.html. 1 May 2019. live.
  13. Book: 2011. Vovin, Alexander. Man'yōshū: Book 5, a new English translation containing the original text, kana transliteration, romanization, glossing and commentary. Global Oriental. Folkestone. 978-1-906876-20-3. en.
  14. Book: 8 August 1978. Nakanishi, Susumu. Man'yōshū Zen'yakuchū Genbun-tsuki (Ichi). ja:万葉集 全訳注原文付(一). Man'yōshū: a Full Translation and Commentary Containing the Original Text (Part 1). Kodansha Bunko. 978-4061313828. ja.
  15. Web site: 2019-04-02 . 新元号「天が決める」＝考案者？の中西進氏：時事ドットコム . 2024-04-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190402150255/https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2019040200888&g=soc . 2 April 2019 .
  16. Web site: 2023-03-28 . 「令和」に込められた思い…元号の考案者とされる中西進氏 高志の国文学館館長 退任の前に語る 富山 TBS NEWS DIG (1ページ) . 2024-04-21 . TBS NEWS DIG . ja.
  17. Web site: 「令」に一番近い日本語は「うるわしい」 「令和」の考案者と目される国文学者が意味を解説 . Daily Shincho . 17 May 2019. 22 November 2020. ja.
  18. News: McCurry . Justin . Reiwa: how Japan's new era name is breaking tradition.
  19. News: Sim . Walter . Sign of the times: Japan picks Reiwa to succeed Heisei as new imperial era from May 1.
  20. News: Osaki . Tomohiro . Reiwa: Japan reveals name of new era ahead of Emperor's abdication.
  21. News: 新元号は「令和」（れいわ） 万葉集典拠、国書由来は初. 1 April 2019. Asahi News Digital. 2 April 2019. ja. https://web.archive.org/web/20190401175450/https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASM3Z4V6QM3ZUTFK007.html?iref=pc_extlink. 1 April 2019. live.
  22. News: Japanese Literature Expert on New Era Name . 2 April 2019 . . 1 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190402131006/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20190401123903409/ . 2 April 2019 . live .
  23. Web site: Japan announces "Reiwa" as new era name to begin under new emperor . Xinhua . 1 April 2019 . 1 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190401055636/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-04/01/c_137940162.htm . 1 April 2019 . dead .
  24. Web site: Japan's govt. chooses 'Reiwa' as new era name . NHK World Japan . 1 April 2019 . 1 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190402033110/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190401_54/ . 2 April 2019 . dead .
  25. News: Government says Reiwa translates as 'beautiful harmony'. 27 June 2019. Asahi Shimbun. 3 April 2019. The Associated Press. https://web.archive.org/web/20190501035211/http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904030024.html. 1 May 2019. live.
  26. News: 「日本が困難な時、万葉集がはやる」 令和は歴史的転換. Ozawa. Satoshi. 1 April 2019. Asahi News Digital. 2 April 2019. ja. https://web.archive.org/web/20190401235410/https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASM3Y7524M3YULZU027.html. 1 April 2019. live.
  27. Web site: 「令和」の硬貨はいつ発行される？免許証、書類はどうなる… ページ 2. 2 April 2019. bizSPA!フレッシュ. ja. 3 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190403151221/https://bizspa.jp/post-142453/. 3 April 2019. live.
  28. Web site: Lunde . Ken . Adobe-Japan1-7 Published! . CJK Type Blog . Adobe . 2 April 2019 . 1 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190402021211/https://blogs.adobe.com/CCJKType/2019/04/aj17-published.html . 2 April 2019 . live .
  29. Web site: New Japanese Era . The Unicode Blog . Unicode Consortium . 1 April 2019 . 6 September 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190401120222/http://blog.unicode.org/2018/09/new-japanese-era.html . 1 April 2019 . live .
  30. Web site: Unicode Version 12.1 released in support of the Reiwa Era . Unicode Consortium . 9 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190507232600/http://blog.unicode.org/2019/05/unicode-12-1-en.html . 7 May 2019 . live .
  31. Web site: Unicode 12.1.0 . The Unicode Consortium . 2 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190402032853/http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode12.1.0/ . 2 April 2019 . live .
  32. Web site: Summary of new Japanese era Windows updates - KB4469068. 17 August 2020. support.microsoft.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20200730074247/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4469068/summary-of-new-japanese-era-updates-kb4469068 . 30 July 2020.
  33. News: Harding . Robin . Shinzo Abe becomes Japan's longest-serving prime minister . 20 November 2019 . Financial Times . 20 November 2019.
  34. Web site: Yamaguchi . Mari . Japan's PM sets mark for days in office amid health concerns . 24 August 2020 . . 24 August 2020.
  35. Web site: Yoshihide Suga officially named as Japan's new Prime Minister, replacing Shinzo Abe. 16 September 2020 .
  36. Web site: WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19—11 March 2020. 20 March 2020. World Health Organization. 11 March 2020.
  37. Web site: 26 January 2020 . zh:日本民间捐100万口罩驰援武汉 . 29 January 2020 . . zh-CN.
  38. Web site: Supercomputer Fugaku - Supercomputer Fugaku, A64FX 48C 2.2GHz, Tofu interconnect D . TOP500 Supercomputer Sites . 22 June 2020.
  39. Web site: Japan's Fugaku rated world's fastest supercomputer . NHK World . 23 June 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200623150545/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200623_10/ . 23 June 2020. live.
  40. Web site: Fumio Kishida takes office as Japan's new Prime Minister. 4 October 2021 .
  41. News: 2021-10-31 . Japan's Kishida Defies Forecasts, Keeps Majority in Election . en . Bloomberg News . 2024-01-02.
  42. News: 2022-03-08 . Japan unveils new sanctions on Russians, bans refinery equipment exports . en . Reuters . 2022-03-16.
  43. Web site: Deutsche Welle . Japan edges from pacifism to more robust defense stance . April 28, 2022 . Martin Fritz . https://web.archive.org/web/20220709081227/https://www.dw.com/en/japan-edges-from-pacifism-to-more-robust-defense-stance/a-61612891 . 9 July 2022.
  44. Web site: Japan's former PM Abe Shinzo shot, confirmed dead NHK WORLD-JAPAN News . 8 July 2022 . NHK WORLD . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20220708102230/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_53/ . 8 July 2022.
  45. Web site: Shooting of Former Prime Minister Abe a Shock to Japan, Which Saw Just One Gun Fatality in 2021 . Nippon.com . 8 July 2022 . 8 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220708164212/https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01381/shooting-of-former-prime-minister-abe-a-shock-to-japan-which-saw-just-one-gun-fatality-in-.html.
  46. Web site: Japan approves major defense overhaul in dramatic policy shift . Jesse Johnson, Gabriel Dominguez . 16 December 2022 . The Japan Times . https://archive.today/20221216091100/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/12/16/national/japan-dramatic-defense-shift/ . December 16, 2022.
  47. Japan Steps Up . Foreign Affairs . Jennifer Lind . 23 December 2022 . https://archive.today/20221223125056/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/japan/japan-steps . 23 December 2022.
  48. News: 2 January 2024 . 【能登半島地震】県内死者５７人に 約３万２０００人避難 . ja . [Noto Peninsula Earthquake] 57 people died in the prefecture, approximately 32,000 people evacuated . Hokkoku . 2 January 2024.

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