The new era starts in Japan
Hello, travelers. This is Kumi. Did you hear some news about Japan? The previous Emperor abdicated as of April 30, 2019, and the new Emperor has ascended to the Throne on May 1, 2019. The following CNN's article tells you more.
Japan's new Emperor Naruhito ascends throne as Reiwa era begins
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/30/asia/japan-emperor-naruhito-reiwa-era-intl/index.html
I assume quite many Japanese people watched the ceremonies on TV.
Also, a lot of people visited the Imperial Palace to feel the atmosphere. Others visited famous temples and shrines to get "goshuin (stamp and calligraphy)" dated the first day of the new era.
Post offices had long lines. I'm sure some of them wish to have their letters and cards stamped today (postmark).
Train companies issued the special tickets commemorating the new era, but they were sold out quite soon!
Shops are selling some items with the new era's name 令和 (Reiwa). This is a huge pudding I found at a Seven Eleven. (I didn't buy this as it was too big!)
I was looking for something to commemorate this day and bought this lily of the valley as a gift for my parents (this is actually a French tradition to offer this flower to the loved ones on May 1).
By the way, does this new era bring us any huge changes? The answer is yes and no. For some people who have been using this traditional year counting system, it's a huge change as yesterday was "Heisei 31" and today is "Reiwa 1." Official documents may need to be reprinted (or at least amended) and computer programs may need to be fixed. On the other hand, if you stick to the universal four digits, yesterday was the year 2019 and today is also 2019.
It's a beautiful thing to keep the tradition, but using this unique year-counting-system is actually a bit too complicated. For example, if someone was born in Showa 22 (1947) and you want to know his/her age, you need this kind of year conversion table.
http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~watson/ref/mtsh.html
Or you could calculate, but Showa 64 has only 7 days, and after January 8, it's Heisei 1, so you know how complicated it is. And you might be surprised that our driving licenses have only this traditional year for a birthday. Therefore, we cannot use our driving licenses as IDs to prove our age!
So I've been saying we should stick to the universal 4-digits. However, today, I experienced a funny thing. As I couldn't get the special train ticket, I thought it may be a good idea to buy a regular train ticket dated today (the first day of Reiwa). And what I got was...
It had this very practical 4-digits (2019) on it. Not 1.-5.-1 This may be the first and last time I get disappointed by the universal year. LOL
Japan's new Emperor Naruhito ascends throne as Reiwa era begins
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/30/asia/japan-emperor-naruhito-reiwa-era-intl/index.html
I assume quite many Japanese people watched the ceremonies on TV.
Also, a lot of people visited the Imperial Palace to feel the atmosphere. Others visited famous temples and shrines to get "goshuin (stamp and calligraphy)" dated the first day of the new era.
Post offices had long lines. I'm sure some of them wish to have their letters and cards stamped today (postmark).
Train companies issued the special tickets commemorating the new era, but they were sold out quite soon!
Shops are selling some items with the new era's name 令和 (Reiwa). This is a huge pudding I found at a Seven Eleven. (I didn't buy this as it was too big!)
I was looking for something to commemorate this day and bought this lily of the valley as a gift for my parents (this is actually a French tradition to offer this flower to the loved ones on May 1).
By the way, does this new era bring us any huge changes? The answer is yes and no. For some people who have been using this traditional year counting system, it's a huge change as yesterday was "Heisei 31" and today is "Reiwa 1." Official documents may need to be reprinted (or at least amended) and computer programs may need to be fixed. On the other hand, if you stick to the universal four digits, yesterday was the year 2019 and today is also 2019.
It's a beautiful thing to keep the tradition, but using this unique year-counting-system is actually a bit too complicated. For example, if someone was born in Showa 22 (1947) and you want to know his/her age, you need this kind of year conversion table.
http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~watson/ref/mtsh.html
Or you could calculate, but Showa 64 has only 7 days, and after January 8, it's Heisei 1, so you know how complicated it is. And you might be surprised that our driving licenses have only this traditional year for a birthday. Therefore, we cannot use our driving licenses as IDs to prove our age!
So I've been saying we should stick to the universal 4-digits. However, today, I experienced a funny thing. As I couldn't get the special train ticket, I thought it may be a good idea to buy a regular train ticket dated today (the first day of Reiwa). And what I got was...
It had this very practical 4-digits (2019) on it. Not 1.-5.-1 This may be the first and last time I get disappointed by the universal year. LOL
