Japanese printers scramble as new era’s name unveiled

ToKyo: At the Tokyo offices of a major calendar maker, executives and employees clustered around a television broke into applause as the country’s next imperial era name was announced: Reiwa.

While the Gregorian calendar is in common use in Japan, the country’s imperial era system is also widely used and the announcement has been closely watched.

And for Kunio Kowaguchi, president of the Todan calendar and diary manufacturer, the announcement was more than just symbolic: It kickstarts a frantic period churning out new products bearing the Reiwa name.

About 30 members of the company gathered around a television at the firm’s Tokyo offices when Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga held up the traditional calligraphy revealing the new name.

“I like it, it’s very good,” Kowaguchi said yesterday, pointing out that not many Japanese words begin with an ‘r’ sound.

“Reiwa sounds modern but when you see the characters, it’s solemn,” he added.

The government has not yet issued the official translation of the name’s meaning, but it combines the characters Rei which can mean “order” but also “auspicious”, and Wa meaning “peace” or “harmony”.

As soon as the name was announced, a Todan designer rushed to her computer to start preparing new layouts for products bearing gengo or imperial era dates.

For the year 2020, “we are talking about production plans for 50 kinds of calendars with gengo,” Kowaguchi said.

Japan is the only country still using Chinesestyle imperial calendars, and many people still remember events by the era year rather than the corresponding Gregorian date.