How to read it

2003 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 15: 平成15年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 15 − 12 = 03. On paper it is H15: 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 2003 turns 23 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 24.

2003 in the Chinese zodiac

2003 is the year of the Water Goat (癸未). The zodiac year began on 1 February 2003.

Other years

• 1998平成10年
• 1999平成11年
• 2000平成12年
• 2001平成13年
• 2002平成14年
• 2004平成16年
• 2005平成17年
• 2006平成18年
• 2007平成19年
• 2008平成20年

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