Japanese calendar

On January 1, 1873, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar. Before 1873, the Chinese style lunisolar calendar had been in use since 7th century.^[1] Japanese eras are still in use.

Since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, three different systems for counting years have been used in Japan:

• The imperial year (皇紀 kōki^?) based on the mythical founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu in 660 BC.
• The Japanese era name (年号 nengō^?) based on the reign of the current emperor, the year 2012 being Heisei 24
• The European Common Era (Anno Domini) (西暦 seireki^?) designation

Of these three, the last two are still in current use.

 To convert a Japanese year to a Western or Gregorian calendar year, find the first year of the nengō (the nengō = the era name). When found, subtract 1, and add the number of the Japanese year. For example, the 23rd year of the Showa Era (Showa 23) would be 1948: 

ILLUSTRATION: 1926 − 1 = 1925 ..., and then 1925 + 23 = 1948 ... or Showa 23.