How to read it

1993 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 5: 平成5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 — 5 + 88 = 93. On paper it is H5: 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 1993 turns 33 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 34.

1993 in the Chinese zodiac

1993 is the year of the Water Rooster (癸酉). The zodiac year began on 23 January 1993.

Other years

• 1988昭和63年
• 1989平成元年
• 1990平成2年
• 1991平成3年
• 1992平成4年
• 1994平成6年
• 1995平成7年
• 1996平成8年
• 1997平成9年
• 1998平成10年

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