How to read it

2016 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 28: 平成28年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 28 − 12 = 16. On paper it is H28: 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 2016 turns 10 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 11.

2016 in the Chinese zodiac

2016 is the year of the Fire Monkey (丙申). The zodiac year began on 8 February 2016.

Other years

• 2011平成23年
• 2012平成24年
• 2013平成25年
• 2014平成26年
• 2015平成27年
• 2017平成29年
• 2018平成30年
• 2019令和元年
• 2020令和2年
• 2021令和3年

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