First of all, this isn’t an April Fool’s day joke. This also isn’t a case of me tripping down the stairs and scrambling up my noggin balls. What I am writing about, however, is the start of the new fiscal year. So today, let’s learn the difference between the regular and the fiscal years in Japan.
The regular Japanese year begins on January 1st like it does in many countries. The traditional way of marking a year in Japan is to first state the era. This is based on the named of the current reigning emperor. That would be ‘heisei’ or ‘平成’ in Kanji. I need to point out that this is the name the emperor will recieve after his death. It’s the name the marks his reign. One should never approach the emperor, and say, “Yo, my man, Heisei, what be happenin’?”
After this, we want to state how many years the emperor has been on the throne, and for those who aren’t counting, this is the 19th year of the emperor’s reign. When you put them together you get ‘heisei 19′, or ‘平成１９’. This is the way the date is stated on most important documents. You might know this year marker by its English name, ‘2007′. Eventually, the emperor will pass on, and the name will change. The number will reset back to 1. This is how this do it, baby. It’s not rocket science. It’s emperor science.
Okay, so we know how the date is made, but how do we differentiate between the fiscal year and the regular year? This is actually quite simple. Just add a ‘do’ or ‘度’ to the year. therefore, ‘heisei 19′ becomes ‘heisei 19 do’, or ‘平成１９度’. Now you won’t be a lamer in Japan. Your boss will probably still think you’re a English Monkey, but you can now show them you’re an English Monkey who knows what year it is.
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