The Heisei era (平成; Japanese: [heːseː] ) was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, when his elder son, Akihito, acceded to the throne as the 125th Emperor of Japan. In accordance with Japanese customs, Hirohito was posthumously renamed "Emperor Shōwa" on 31 January 1989.
Thus, 1989 corresponds to Shōwa 64 up until 7 January and Heisei 1 (平成元年, Heisei gannen; gannen means "first year") from 8 January. The Heisei era ended on 30 April 2019 (Heisei 31), with the abdication of Akihito from the Chrysanthemum Throne. It was succeeded by the Reiwa era as then-crown prince Naruhito ascended the throne on 1 May midnight local time.
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History and meaning
Shortly after the death of Emperor Hirohito on 7 January 1989, Keizō Obuchi, then-Chief Cabinet Secretary and later Prime Minister of Japan, hosted a press conference to announce the new era name "Heisei" for the reign of Emperor Akihito, and explained its meaning.
According to Obuchi, the name "Heisei" was taken from two Chinese history and philosophy books, namely Records of the Grand Historian (史記) and the Book of Documents (書経). In the Records of the Grand Historian, a sentence appears in a section honoring the wise rule of the legendary Chinese Emperor Shun, reading "内平外成" (Kanbun: 内平かに外成る, Uchi tairaka ni soto naru, "flat inside and outside"). In the Book of Documents, the sentence "地平天成" (Kanbun: 地平かに天成る, Chi tairaka ni ten naru, "the earth is perfect") appears. By combining both meanings, Heisei is intended to mean "peace everywhere". The Heisei era went into effect at midnight local time on 8 January 1989.
In August 2016, Emperor Akihito gave a televised address to the nation, in which he expressed concern that his age would one day stop him from fulfilling his official duties. This was an implication of his wish to retire. The Japanese Diet passed a law in June 2017 to allow the throne to pass to Akihito's son, Naruhito. After meeting with members of the Imperial House Council, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced that 30 April 2019 would be the date set for Akihito's abdication. The Reiwa era corresponding to Naruhito's reign began the next day.
Events
1989 marked the culmination of one of the most rapid economic growth spurts in Japanese history. With a dramatically strengthened yen after the 1985 Plaza Accord, the Bank of Japan kept interest rates low, sparking an investment boom that drove Tokyo property values up 60 percent within that year. Shortly before New Year's Day, the Tokyo Stock Market index, Nikkei 225, reached its record high of 38,957. By 1992, it had fallen to 15,000, signifying the end of Japan's famed "bubble economy". Subsequently, Japan experienced the "Lost Decade", which actually consisted of more than ten years 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.
The Recruit scandal of 1988 had already eroded public confidence in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), 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 only to overthrow LDP, and lacked a unified position on almost every social issue. The LDP returned to the government in 1994, when it helped to elect Japan Socialist (later Social Democrat) Tomiichi Murayama as prime minister.
The 1990s saw an "anime boom" period marked by increased popularity of anime and anime conventions. Several Japanese media franchises gained global popularity such as Pokémon, Digimon, Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya, Gundam, Cardcaptor Sakura, Dragon Ball, Yu-Gi-Oh and Evangelion, as well as Sanrio products and the animated films of Studio Ghibli, including the Godzilla films.
In 1995, there was a large 6.8 earthquake in Kobe, Hyōgo and sarin gas terrorist attacks were carried out on the Tokyo Metro by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. Failure of the Japanese government to react to these events promptly led to the formation of non-government organisations which have been playing an increasingly important role in Japanese politics since.
On 11 December 1997, the international treaty called the Kyoto Protocol to regulate greenhouse gas emissions was adopted by 192 parties in Kyoto, Japan.
During this era, Japan reemerged as a military power. In 1991, Japan made a financial contribution of $10 billion and sent military hardware for the Gulf War. However, Article 9 of the Constitution prevented a participation in the actual war, leading Iran to criticize Japan for just pledging money and did not appreciate the way Japan co-operated in the Gulf War. However, after the war, between 26 April and October 1991 six JMSDF minesweeper vessels were sent and removed 34 sea mines in the Persian Gulf to improve the safety of ships.
Nobel Prize
In the 30 years of the Heisei era, a total of 18 Japanese (including 3 Japanese-born naturalized foreigners) won the Nobel Prize.
1994 – Kenzaburo Oe, Literature
2000 – Hideki Shirakawa, Chemistry
2001 – Ryoji Noyori, Chemistry
2002 – Koichi Tanaka, Chemistry
2008 – Yoichiro Nambu, Physics
2008 – Makoto Kobayashi, Physics
2008 – Toshihide Maskawa, Physics
2008 – Osamu Shimomura, Chemistry
2010 – Eiichi Negishi, Chemistry
2010 – Akira Suzuki, Chemistry
2012 – Shinya Yamanaka, Physiology or Medicine
2014 – Isamu Akasaki, Physics
2014 – Hiroshi Amano, Physics
2014 – Shuji Nakamura, Physics
2015 – Takaaki Kajita, Physics
2015 – Satoshi Omura, Physiology or Medicine
2017 – Kazuo Ishiguro, Literature
2018 – Tasuku Honjo, Physiology or Medicine
Economy
The country's economy suffered from prolonged stagnation, and both real wages and price levels experienced a decline during the period. According to IMF estimates, the country's GDP per capita was $39,953, the third highest in the world, in 1994. In 2019, the last year of the Heisei era, it was $40,548, which ranked 27th.
Top 10 by market capitalization
Conversion table
To convert any Gregorian calendar year between 1989 and 2019 to Japanese calendar year in Heisei era, 1988 needs to be subtracted from the year in question.