Heisei period

is the current era name in Japan. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the first day after the death of the reigning Emperor, Hirohito. His son, Akihito, succeeded to the throne. In accordance with Japanese customs, Hirohito was posthumously renamed, to "Emperor Shōwa" on 31 January.

Thus 1989 corresponds to Shōwa 64 up to the 7th day of the first month (7 January) and to since the 8th day of the first month (8 January). To convert a Common Era year to Heisei, take the last two digits and add 12. Example for : -2000}}+12 = Heisei -1988}}.

History and meaning

According to Obuchi, the name "Heisei" was taken from two Chinese history and philosophy books, namely Records of the Grand Historian (史記 Shiji) and the Classic of History (書経 Shujing). In the Shiji, the sentence "内平外成" (Kanbun: 内平かに外成る Uchi tairaka ni soto naru, peace inside and prosperity outward) appears in a section honoring the wise rule of the legendary Chinese Emperor Shun. In the Shujing, the sentence "地平天成" (Kanbun: 地平かに天成る Chi tairaka ni ten naru, the land is peaceful and the sky is clear) appears. By combining both meanings, Heisei is intended to mean "peace everywhere". The Heisei era went into effect immediately after the announcement of the new emperor on 8 January 1989.

Events

The Recruit scandal of 1988 had already eroded public confidence in the Liberal Democratic Party, which had controlled the Japanese government for 38 years. In 1993, the LDP was ousted by a coalition led by Morihiro Hosokawa. However, the coalition collapsed as parties had gathered to simply overthrow LDP and lacked a unified position on almost every social issue. The LDP returned to the government in 1994, when it helped to elect Japan Socialist (later Social Democrat) Tomiichi Murayama as prime minister.

In 1995, there was a large earthquake in Kobe. The same year, there was a sarin gas terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway system by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. Failure of the Japanese government to react to these events promptly led to the formation of NGOs which have been playing an increasingly important role in Japanese politics since.

The Heisei period also marked Japan's cautious reemergence on the world stage as a world military power. In 1991, Japan pledged billions of dollars to support the Gulf War but constitutional arguments prevented a participation in or support of actual war. Iran criticised Japan for just pledging money and didn't appreciate the way Japan co-operated in the Gulf War. Minesweepers were sent after the war as a part of the reconstruction effort. Following the Iraq War, in 2003, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet approved a plan to send a total of about 1,000 soldiers of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to help in Iraq's reconstruction, the biggest overseas troop deployment since World War II without the sanction of the United Nations. These troops were deployed in 2004.

On 23 October 2004, the Heisei 16 Niigata Prefecture Earthquakes rocked the Hokuriku region, killing 52 and injuring hundreds (see 2004 Chūetsu earthquake).

In Autumn 2007 Yasuo Fukuda became Prime Minister after the sudden resignation of Shinzō Abe, following his election defeat earlier in the year. Fukuda in turn resigned on September the following year citing political failings, and Taro Aso was selected by his party to take his place.

In August 2009, for the first time, the Democratic Party of Japan won 308 seats in the lower house election, which ended fifty years of political domination by the Liberal Democratic Party. As a result of the election, Taro Aso resigned as leader of the LDP, and Yukio Hatoyama, president of DPJ became Prime Minister on 16 September 2009. However, DPJ soon became mired in party financing scandals, particularly involving aides close to Ichirō Ozawa. Naoto Kan was chosen by the DPJ as the next Prime Minister, but he soon lost a working majority in the House of Councillors election, and the 2010 Senkaku boat collision incident caused increased tension between Japan and China. The 2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls also took place during this time.

2011 saw a Sumo tourney cancelled for the first time in 65 years over a match fixing scandal, while the Kuril Islands dispute remained unresolved.

On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered the strongest recorded earthquake in its history, affecting places in the northeast of Honshū, including the Tokyo area. The quake′s magnitude of 8.9 (a few days later it was re-evaluated, bringing it up to 9.0) surpassed that of the severe 2004 megathrust earthquake west of Sumatra. A tsunami with waves of up to 10 meters (32.5 feet) flooded inland areas several kilometers from shore, causing a large number of considerable fires. The epicenter of the quake lay so close to coastal villages and towns that thousands could not flee in time, despite a tsunami warning system. At the Fukushima Daiichi (Fukushima I) and three other nuclear power plants, there occurred serious problems with the cooling systems, ultimately leading to the most serious case of radioactive contamination since the Chernobyl disaster,(see 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Fukushima I nuclear accidents), and ongoing electric power shortages.

See also

References