How to read it

2015 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 27: 平成27年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 27 − 12 = 15. On paper it is H27: 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 2015 turns 11 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 12.

2015 in the Chinese zodiac

2015 is the year of the Wood Goat (乙未). The zodiac year began on 19 February 2015.

Other years

• 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
• 2016平成28年
• 2017平成29年
• 2018平成30年
• 2019令和元年
• 2020令和2年

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