How to read it

1996 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 8: 平成8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 — 8 + 88 = 96. On paper it is H8: 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 1996 turns 30 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 31.

1996 in the Chinese zodiac

1996 is the year of the Fire Rat (丙子). The zodiac year began on 19 February 1996.

Other years

• 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
• 1997平成9年
• 1998平成10年
• 1999平成11年
• 2000平成12年
• 2001平成13年

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