Heisei period

History of Japan
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Glossary

Heisei (平成?) is the current era name in Japan. The Heisei era started on January 8, 1989, the first day after the death of the reigning Emperor, Hirohito. His son, Akihito, succeeded to the throne. In accordance with Japanese customs, Hirohito was posthumously renamed "Emperor Shōwa" on January 31, just as were his grandfather Mutsuhito (Emperor Meiji) and his father Yoshihito (Emperor Taishō).

Thus 1989 corresponds to Shōwa 64 up to the 7th day of the first month (January 7) and to Heisei 1 (平成元年 Heisei gannen?, gannen means "first year") since the 8th day of the first month (January 8). 2011 is Heisei 23. A quick way to convert the current year to Heisei is to take the last two digits and add 12. Example for 2010: 10+12 = Heisei 22.

Contents

History and meaning

On January 7, 1989, at 7:55 AM, the grand steward of Japan's Imperial Household Agency, Shōichi Fujimori, officially announced Emperor Shōwa's death, and revealed details about his cancer for the first time. Shortly after the death of the Emperor, Keizō Obuchi, then Chief Cabinet Secretary and later Prime Minister of Japan, publicly announced the end of the Shōwa era, and heralded the new era name "Heisei" for the new incoming Emperor, and explained the meaning of the name.

According to Obuchi, the name "Heisei" was taken from two Chinese history and philosophy books, namely Records of the Grand Historian (史記 Shiji) and the Classic of History (書経 Shujing). In the Shiji, the sentence "内平外成" (Kanbun: 内平かに外成る Uchi tairaka ni soto naru, peace inside and prosperity outward) appears in a section honoring the wise rule of the legendary Chinese Emperor Shun. In the Shujing, the sentence "地平天成" (Kanbun: 地平かに天成る Chi tairaka ni ten naru, the land is peaceful and the sky is clear) appears. By combining both meanings, Heisei is intended to mean "peace everywhere". The Heisei era went into effect immediately after the announcement of the new emperor on January 8, 1989.

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 US 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. Some analysts blame the extended slump on the Japanese government's continued application of Neo-Keynesian economic principles to its solution. In any event, recently 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 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.

In 1995, there was a large earthquake in Kobe. The same year, there was a sarin gas terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway system by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. 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 cautious 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. Minesweepers were sent after the war as a part of the reconstruction effort. Following the Iraq War, in 2003, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet approved a plan to send a 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 52 and injuring hundreds (see 2004 Chūetsu earthquake).

In Autumn 2007 Yasuo Fukuda became Prime Minister after the sudden resignation of Shinzō Abe, following his election defeat earlier in the year. Fukuda in turn resigned on September the following year citing political failings, and Taro Aso was selected by his party to take his place.

In August 2009, for the first time, the Democratic Party of Japan won 308 seats in the lower house election, which ended fifty years of political domination by the Liberal Democratic Party. As a result of the election, Taro Aso resigned as leader of the LDP, and Yukio Hatoyama, president of DPJ became Prime Minister on 16 September 2009. However, Minshuto soon became mired in party financing scandals, particularly involving aides close to Ichiro Ozawa. These and the Futenma relocation controversy led to the resignation of Hatoyama in June 2010. Naoto Kan was chosen by the DPJ as the next Prime Minister, but he soon lost a working majority in the Japanese House of Councillors election, 2010.

Heisei 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Gregorian 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Preceded by
Shōwa
Era
8 January 1989–present
Most recent
Preceded by
Post-Occupation Japan
Periods of Japanese history
8 January 1989–present
Most recent

External links

See also