Year in Japan

1989 in Japanese History

2 recorded entries for this year. It falls in the Heisei period (平成時代, 1989 – 2019).

Era name: Heisei era 平成 (year 1 of the era)

What happened 出来事

Heisei era 平成 · Japanese era name — period of Japanese history from 1989 to 2019
Bunkamura Bunkamura · Historic site — building in Tokyo, Japan

Reading the year 1989 in Japanese

Japanese sources from this period date events by era name, not by the Western calendar. 1989 corresponds to Heisei era 平成 (year 1 of the era). Years are written with 年 (ねん, nen) — so 1600 appears as 慶長5年, "the fifth year of Keichō".

The year itself is read 1989年 (1989ねん) in modern Japanese. Browse the full timeline to see where this year sits in the wider arc, or the 20th century for its neighbours.