How to read it

1990 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 2: 平成2年. The shortcut Japanese people use for the 1990s: add 88 to a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 2 + 88 = 90. On paper it is H2: forms print the era options — 明・大・昭・平・令, or the letters M T S H R — beside the date box, and you circle one and write the number. Someone born in 1990 turns 36 in 2026. In kazoedoshi 数え年 — the traditional count that starts at one at birth and adds a year every New Year — they are 37. The kazoedoshi number is the one that counts for yakudoshi 厄年, the traditional unlucky years — and 37 is one of them for women, which is why shrines sell so many protective charms to people born in 1990 this year.

1990 in the Chinese zodiac

1990 is the year of the Metal Horse (庚午). The zodiac year began on 27 January 1990.

Other years

• 1985昭和60年
• 1986昭和61年
• 1987昭和62年
• 1988昭和63年
• 1989平成元年
• 1991平成3年
• 1992平成4年
• 1993平成5年
• 1994平成6年
• 1995平成7年

Every year of the Heisei era → · How the Japanese calendar works, and every year 1868–2050