How to read it

2018 minus 1989, the year Heisei began, plus one, gives 30: 平成30年. The shortcut Japanese people use: subtract 12 from a Heisei year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 30 − 12 = 18. On paper it is H30: 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 2018 turns 8 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 9.

2018 in the Chinese zodiac

2018 is the year of the Earth Dog (戊戌). The zodiac year began on 16 February 2018.

Other years

• 2013平成25年
• 2014平成26年
• 2015平成27年
• 2016平成28年
• 2017平成29年
• 2019令和元年
• 2020令和2年
• 2021令和3年
• 2022令和4年
• 2023令和5年

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