How to read it

2008 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 20: 平成20年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 20 − 12 = 08. On paper it is H20: 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 2008 turns 18 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 19. The kazoedoshi number is the one that counts for yakudoshi 厄年, the traditional unlucky years — and 19 is one of them for women, which is why shrines sell so many protective charms to people born in 2008 this year.

2008 in the Chinese zodiac

2008 is the year of the Earth Rat (戊子). The zodiac year began on 7 February 2008.

Other years

• 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
• 2009平成21年
• 2010平成22年
• 2011平成23年
• 2012平成24年
• 2013平成25年

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