Japanese citizen await the official announcement Monday of what the soon-to-be installed new emperor's next era will be called, a proclamation that has happened only twice in nearly a century.
In this Jan. 7, 1989, photo, then Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi unveils the name of a new era "Heisei" during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, following the death of Emperor Hirohito earlier that day. What’s in a name? Quite a lot if you’re a Japanese citizen awaiting the official announcement Monday. April 1, 2019 of what the soon-to-be-installed new emperor’s next era will be called.
As such, the closing days of the current Heisei era, which is what retiring Emperor Akihito's 30-year reign has been called, have inspired a collective bout of nostalgia, soul-searching and occasional goofiness, as many Japanese reflect on both Heisei and this new, yet-to-be-named block of years that will loom over a huge part of their lives.
What they settle on, however, will affect everything from calendars to train tickets to computer software to government documents, creating a windfall for printers and programmers, even as they give a name to Japan's foreseeable future. In much of the West the decades are often used to capture the spirit of a period — the Swinging '60s, the Roaring '20s. Japan's era system is a bit more like a formalized version of the way British monarchs once lent their names to an entire sweep of years — the Victorian Age, for instance.
The current wave of excitement for the new name and nostalgia for the disappearing era is in large part because these changes of the guard are so rare.
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