How to read it

1999 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 11: 平成11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 — 11 + 88 = 99. On paper it is H11: 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 1999 turns 27 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 28.

1999 in the Chinese zodiac

1999 is the year of the Earth Rabbit (己卯). The zodiac year began on 16 February 1999.

Other years

• 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
• 2000平成12年
• 2001平成13年
• 2002平成14年
• 2003平成15年
• 2004平成16年

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