How to read it

1991 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 3: 平成3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 — 3 + 88 = 91. On paper it is H3: 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 1991 turns 35 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 36.

1991 in the Chinese zodiac

1991 is the year of the Metal Goat (辛未). The zodiac year began on 15 February 1991.

Other years

• 1986昭和61年
• 1987昭和62年
• 1988昭和63年
• 1989平成元年
• 1990平成2年
• 1992平成4年
• 1993平成5年
• 1994平成6年
• 1995平成7年
• 1996平成8年

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