Year in Japan

2016 in Japanese History

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

Era name: Heisei era 平成 (year 28 of the era)

What happened 出来事

2016 Kumamoto earthquakes 熊本地震 · Earthquake — natural disaster in Japan

Reading the year 2016 in Japanese

Japanese sources from this period date events by era name, not by the Western calendar. 2016 corresponds to Heisei era 平成 (year 28 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 2016年 (2016ねん) in modern Japanese. Browse the full timeline to see where this year sits in the wider arc, or the 21st century for its neighbours.