this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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Yeah but half the time is actually: EYY/MM/DD. Like this year is 令5/MM/DD.
And some years have two values, 2019 was both 平31, from 01/01 until 04/30, then 令1 from 05/01 onwards.
Wat? Like their alphabet, do the Japanese have some double system?
China does this normally. Either YYYY.MM.DD OR YYYY年MM月DD日
Yes, they have two date systems in common use. It's only the year that changes though. And there's no way to confuse the two, usually. If you write "2023" instead of "令5" it's pretty obvious. I suppose there is a potential for confusion if one just writes a two-digit year though.
Is the kanji the name of the period the year belongs to or something? That looks interesting. Where can I find out more?
Yup, it's a single character from the name of the era, and the era changes every time the emperor does.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_era_name