How to read it

2002 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 14: 平成14年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 14 − 12 = 02. On paper it is H14: 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 2002 turns 24 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 25. The kazoedoshi number is the one that counts for yakudoshi 厄年, the traditional unlucky years — and 25 is one of them for men, which is why shrines sell so many protective charms to people born in 2002 this year.

2002 in the Chinese zodiac

2002 is the year of the Water Horse (壬午). The zodiac year began on 12 February 2002.

Other years

• 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
• 2003平成15年
• 2004平成16年
• 2005平成17年
• 2006平成18年
• 2007平成19年

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