How to read it

2006 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 18: 平成18年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 18 − 12 = 06. On paper it is H18: 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 2006 turns 20 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 21. Twenty is the age honoured on Coming-of-Age Day each January — still, even though Japan lowered the legal age of adulthood to 18 in 2022.

2006 in the Chinese zodiac

2006 is the year of the Fire Dog (丙戌). The zodiac year began on 29 January 2006.

Other years

• 2001平成13年
• 2002平成14年
• 2003平成15年
• 2004平成16年
• 2005平成17年
• 2007平成19年
• 2008平成20年
• 2009平成21年
• 2010平成22年
• 2011平成23年

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