Japan uses two calendar systems. The first is the same as normal international calendar, the Gregorian calendar. The second is a system based on the year of reign of the Japanese Emperor.

Scroll down to learn more and use the online converter to convert between the two systems.

Vehicles in Japan are identified by both systems, though vehicle registration documentation and vehicle service records usually shows the Emperor system. Because of this Japanese Vehicle Auctions also use the Emperor system on vehicle inspection sheets.

The current Emperor is known as the Heisei Emperor (pronounced "Hay-Say". The previous Emperor - whose reign ended in 1989 - was known as the Showa Emperor (pronounced "Show-Wa"). These are sometimes abbreviated to H or S. For example, the year H3 or Heisei 3 is the third year of reign of the Heisei Emperor, or 1991. You can use the Japanese Year Converter below to automatically convert between the Japanese and western year systems.

If you're sourcing vehicles from the Japanese Wholesale Vehicle Auctions the date of first registration is normally shown on the vehicle auction inspection sheet. How it is shown varies between auction houses, but in the USS Auctions it normally appears like this.

In this example the 2 indicates the year (1990) and the 12 indicates the month (December).

To convert from the Japanese Year System to the western system select from Heisei or Showa in the dropdown box on the left, enter the Japanese system year next to it and click CONVERT.

To convert from the western system to the Japanese Year System enter the western system year in the box on the right hand side and click CONVERT.