Heisei

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This article describes the Japanese era. For the Toho studios kaiju continuity, see Heisei era (daikaiju eiga)

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Glossary

Heisei (Japanese: 平成) is the current era name in Japan. The Heisei era started on January 8, 1989. In 1989, Akihito, the current emperor of Japan succeeded to the throne, after the death of his father, Hirohito, the Showa Emperor. Thus that year corresponds to Heisei 1 (Japanese: 平成元年, Heisei gannen: the first year of an era is named gannen). 2006 is Heisei 18.

1 Meaning
2 Events
3 Japanese era name-to-Gregorian calendar system conversion
4 See also

[edit] Meaning

The name "Heisei" is taken from two ancient Chinese history and philosophy books, namely Records of the Grand Historian (史記 Shiki) and the Classic of History (書経 Shokyō). In Shiki, the sentence "内平外成" (peace inside and prosperity outward) appears in the part honoring the wise rule of the legendary Chinese Emperor Shun. In Shokyō, the sentence "地平天成" (land is peaceful and sky is clear) appears. By combining both meanings, Heisei is to mean "peace everywhere".

[edit] Events

1989 marked the culmination of one of the most rapid economic growth spurts in Japanese history. With a strong yen and a favorable exchange rate with the American Dollar, the Bank of Japan kept interest rates low, sparking an investment boom that drove Tokyo property values up sixty percent within the year. Shortly before New Year's Day, the Nikkei 225 reached its record high of 39,000. By 1991, it had fallen to 15,000, signifying the end of Japan's famed "bubble economy." Subsequently, Japan experienced the "Great Slump in Heisei", which consisted of more than a decade of price deflation and largely stagnant GDP as Japan's banks struggled to resolve their bad debts and companies in other sectors struggled to restructure. Recently, however, commentators are pointing to signs that Japan's economy is emerging from the slump.

The Recruit Scandal of 1988 had already eroded public confidence in the Liberal Democratic Party, which had controlled the Japanese government for 38 years. In 1993, the LDP was ousted by a coalition led by Morihiro Hosokawa. However, the coalition collapsed as parties had gathered to simply overthrow LDP and lacked an unified position on almost every social issue. The LDP returned to the government in 1996, when it helped to elect Social Democrat Tomiichi Murayama as prime minister.

In 1995, there was a large earthquake in Kobe (see Great Hanshin earthquake). The same year, there was a sarin gas terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway system by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo (see Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway). Failure of the Japanese government to react to these events promptly led to the formation of NGOs which have been playing an increasingly important role in Japanese politics since.

The Heisei period also marked Japan's reemergence on the world stage as a world military power. In 1991, Japan pledged billions of dollars to support the Gulf War but constitutional arguments prevented a participation in or support of actual war. Iran criticised Japan for just pledging money and didn't appreciate the way Japan co-operated in the Gulf War. Mine sweepers were sent after war as a part of reconstruction effort. Following the second invasion of Iraq, in 2003, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet approved a plan to send total of about 1,000 soldiers of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to help in Iraq's reconstruction, the biggest overseas troop deployment since World War II without the sanction of the United Nations. These troops were deployed in 2004.

On October 23, 2004, the Heisei 16 Niigata Prefecture Earthquakes rocked the Hokuriku region, killing 32 and injuring hundreds (see 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake).

Preceded by:
Shōwa

Japanese era name

Succeeded by:

[edit] Japanese era name-to-Gregorian calendar system conversion

Heisei	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th
Gregorian	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008