How to read it

1994 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 6: 平成6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 — 6 + 88 = 94. On paper it is H6: 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 1994 turns 32 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 33. The kazoedoshi number is the one that counts for yakudoshi 厄年, the traditional unlucky years — and 33 is one of them for women, which is why shrines sell so many protective charms to people born in 1994 this year.

1994 in the Chinese zodiac

1994 is the year of the Wood Dog (甲戌). The zodiac year began on 10 February 1994.

Other years

• 1989平成元年
• 1990平成2年
• 1991平成3年
• 1992平成4年
• 1993平成5年
• 1995平成7年
• 1996平成8年
• 1997平成9年
• 1998平成10年
• 1999平成11年

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