How to read it

2009 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 21: 平成21年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 21 − 12 = 09. On paper it is H21: 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 2009 turns 17 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 18.

2009 in the Chinese zodiac

2009 is the year of the Earth Ox (己丑). The zodiac year began on 26 January 2009.

Other years

• 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
• 2010平成22年
• 2011平成23年
• 2012平成24年
• 2013平成25年
• 2014平成26年

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