This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)

History of Japan
Tokyo skyline
Paleolithic 35,000–14,000 BCE Jōmon period 14,000–300 BCE Yayoi period 300 BCE–250 CE Kofun period 250–538 Asuka period 538–710 Nara period 710–794 Heian period 794–1185 Kamakura period 1185–1333 Kenmu restoration 1333–36 Muromachi period (Ashikaga) 1336–1573 Nanboku-chō period 1336–92 Sengoku period >1467–1573 Azuchi–Momoyama period 1568–1603 Nanban trade Edo period (Tokugawa) 1603–1868 Bakumatsu Meiji period 1868–1912 Meiji Restoration Taishō period 1912–26 Japan during World War I Shōwa period 1926–89 Shōwa financial crisis Militarism Occupation Post-occupation Heisei period 1989–present Lost Decade
Empire of Japan (prewar) 1868–1945 (political entity) Postwar Japan 1945–present (political entity) Economic history Currency Educational history Military history Naval history Earthquakes
Glossary Timeline
v t e

Heisei (平成^?) is the current era 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 "Emperor Shōwa" on 31 January.

Thus 1989 corresponds to Shōwa 64 up to the seventh day of the first month (7 January) and to Heisei 1 (平成元年, Heisei gannen^?, gannen means "first year") since the eighth day of the first month (8 January). To convert a Western era year after 2000 to Heisei, take the year, subtract 2000 and add 12. Example for 2012: 2012−2000+12 = Heisei 24.

History and meaning[link]

On 7 January 1989, at 07:55 JST, the grand steward of Japan's Imperial Household Agency, Shōichi Fujimori, announced Emperor Shōwa's death, and revealed details about his cancer for the first time. Shortly after the death of the Emperor, Keizō Obuchi, then Chief Cabinet Secretary and later Prime Minister of Japan, announced the end of the Shōwa era, and heralded the new era name "Heisei" for the new incoming Emperor, and explained the meaning of the name.

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[link]

1989 marked the culmination of one of the most rapid economic growth spurts in Japanese history. With a strong yen and a favorable exchange rate with the US$, the Bank of Japan kept interest rates low, sparking an investment boom that drove Tokyo property values up 60 percent within the year. Shortly before New Year's Day, the Nikkei 225 reached its record high of 39,000. By 1991, it had fallen to 15,000, signifying the end of Japan's famed "bubble economy". Subsequently, Japan experienced the "Lost Decade", which actually consisted of more than ten years of price deflation and largely stagnant GDP as Japan's banks struggled to resolve their bad debts and companies in other sectors struggled to restructure.

The Recruit scandal of 1988 had already eroded public confidence in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), 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 only to 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 6.8 earthquake in Kobe, and sarin gas terrorist attacks were carried out on the Tokyo Metro by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. Failure of the Japanese government to react to these events promptly led to the formation of non-government organisations which have been playing an increasingly important role in Japanese politics since.

During this period, Japan reemerged as a military power. In 1991, Japan pledged billions of U.S. dollars for the Gulf War but constitutional arguments prevented a participation in actual war. Iran criticised Japan for just pledging money and did not 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 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 UN.

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

After an election defeat, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe resigned suddenly, and in Autumn 2007 Yasuo Fukuda became Prime Minister. Fukuda in turn resigned on September 2008 citing political failings, and Taro Aso was selected by his party.

In August 2009, for the first time, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won 308 seats in the lower house election, which ended 50 years of political domination by the LDP. 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.

In 2011 a Sumo tourney was cancelled for the first time in 65 years over a match fixing scandal, while the Kuril Islands dispute remained unresolved.^[1]

On 11 March 2011, Japan suffered the strongest recorded earthquake in its history, affecting places in the northeast of Honshū, including the Tokyo area.^[2] The quake's magnitude of 9.0^[3] surpassed that of the severe 2004 megathrust earthquake. A tsunami with waves of up to 10 meters (32.5 feet) flooded inland areas several kilometers from shore,^[4] 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.^[5] At the Fukushima Daiichi (Fukushima I) and three other nuclear power plants, there occurred serious problems with the cooling systems,^[6] ultimately leading to the most serious case of radioactive contamination since the Chernobyl disaster (see 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Fukushima I nuclear accidents), as well as ongoing electric power shortages.

In August 2011, Kan resigned, and Yoshihiko Noda became Prime Minister. Later that year Olympus Corporation admitted major accounting irregularities. (see Tobashi scheme). Noda pushed for Japan to consider joining the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership.

See also[link]

• 1990s in Japan
• 2000s in Japan
• 2011 in Japan

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Flath, David. The Japanese Economy (2nd ed. 2005) excerpt and text search
• Hanson, Marta E. The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics (2011) excerpt and text search
• Koo, Richard C. The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons from Japans Great Recession (2nd ed. 2009) excerpt and text search
• Pascua, Arthur. Devastation in Japan: An Economic Analysis (2012) excerpt and text search, on 2011 Tsunami
• Schoppa, Leonard J. The Evolution of Japan's Party System: Politics and Policy in an Era of Institutional Change (University of Toronto Press; 2012) 232 pages; Argues that changes starting in the 1990s set the stage for the 2009 victory of the Democratic Party