New Emperor - New Era - What Changes?

Hi All,

As we are about to have a new era in Japan which will lead to a new era and year date for the Japanese calendar - it got me thinking....

What other changes will happen may happen that might not be as known to someone like myself? I'm aware that nothing political will change - just interested in hearing about some stuff from people who know more than I.

Nothing changes.

Nothing.

Nothing changes – I just have to get used to the new era name, have to be careful about when my local driver’s license expires (since the expiry date is written in Heisei year), probably will be using the AD year (meaning “2019” style) more than I already have been, if that is possible at all...

Nothing really.
But people think each era apart in their mind, culturally.

So I think I got my answer.

I would have thought that there might be some obscure changes such as coins in Commonwealth countries or the like. I'm also guessing this question is probably best aimed at people who also lived through the last change which from memory was quite some time ago....

You mentioned coins. Yes, they will change. I think I read somewhere that the 10 and 100 coins are going to be available from autumn.

But that’s pretty much normal. Eg when the Spanish king abdicated new Euro coins with Felipe got minted.

Practically nothing changes in people's daily life.

The former era name used for the date of notification or application
(in the birth notification form, for example,)
has to be corrected.

The date of postmarks (printed on postage stamps)
is written in Japanese era year,
so the year number begins with 1 from today May 1.
(Most post offices in Japan will be closed until May 6, though.)

AK:
have to be careful about when my local driver’s license expires

For the expiry date of driver’s license,
it is not related to the era name renewal,
but Tokyo Metropolitan Police started on March 15
to use the indication in both Gregorian year and Japanese era year.

The new style is like "2024年(平成36年)04月04日まで有効"
and to be introduced also in other prefectures,
as soon as the computer system is updated.
The new era name 令和 will be used from the issuance of May 5 at earliest.

To omotenashi,
Yes I am aware of that. It is just that my current license that I have had already for a few years will expire later this year or next year, so it only has Heisei on it :)

Coins change every year anyway since they feature the year of minting.

Changes on coins and bills don't have anything to do with changing of the era.

Note that the coin comment (that I made) was related to a change in my home country of Australia.

I was looking for subtle changes such as drivers licenses and the like which I do not fully understand or would know being a foreigner who no longer lives in Japan.

Sooner or later, there will be nobody who'd believe that a great number of the current population actually knew people born in Taisho, because that's what's already happening about Meiji.

But joking aside, basically most official public documents are dated in gengo (such as Heisei), and I'm pretty sure that a lot of us are going to accidentally write "Heisei year 1" on a tax document or something just because we tend to look at an old template to create a new one. Hopefully the IT industry has done a good job in shifting to a new era, and the printing industry has worked hard in adding a new "R" check box, but there still will be confusion to a certain extent.

Yet, I love gengo. I miss the old ones, and look forward to the new ones, especially on postage stamps. And I love the Imperial Family, and hopefully the new Emperor and Empress will contribute to a better world. One change is that there will be no Crown Prince now. So, I wonder who will be doing the Crown Prince's job. Maybe we'll be seeing more of Akishinonomiya.

By the way, believe it or not, a lot of Japanese old-timers (even in Yokohama) still have trouble figuring out their own birth year in Gregorian year. The only thing I don't understand is why the country couldn't wait 2 more years. Then Reiwa 1 would've been 2021, and therefore easier to convert.

Uco:
I wonder who will be doing the Crown Prince's job.

Actually, Emperor's younger brother Prince Fumihito of Akishino family is now the Crown Prince, formally 皇嗣 in Japanese.

皇嗣 (こうし) refers to the top-ranking successor to the Imperial throne.
皇太子 (こうたいし) refers to 皇嗣 who is Emperor's son.
Prince Fumihito is now 皇嗣 who is not 皇太子 .

Reiwa 1 would've been 2021, and therefore easier to convert.

Well, Heisei and Reiwa are precisely 30 years apart,
so Reiwa can be converted as easily as Heisei, I suppose.

I meant that there are no koutaishi, but I notice that the English translation is the same.

Well, Heisei and Reiwa are precisely 30 years apart,
so Reiwa can be converted as easily as Heisei, I suppose.

Yes, and Heisei was hard enough for me to convert to Gregorian years. Showa was much easier, because you just had to add a quarter.