How to read it

2013 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 25: 平成25年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 25 − 12 = 13. On paper it is H25: 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 2013 turns 13 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 14.

2013 in the Chinese zodiac

2013 is the year of the Water Snake (癸巳). The zodiac year began on 10 February 2013.

Other years

• 2008平成20年
• 2009平成21年
• 2010平成22年
• 2011平成23年
• 2012平成24年
• 2014平成26年
• 2015平成27年
• 2016平成28年
• 2017平成29年
• 2018平成30年

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