How to Write the Date in Japanese: Years, Months, Days, and Era Names

Key takeaways

• Japanese dates are written in year-month-day order (年月日, nen-gatsu-nichi), the reverse of the European day-month-year format and different from the American month-day-year format.
• Japanese has two parallel date systems: the Western calendar (Gregorian, using AD years) and the Japanese imperial era system, which resets the year count with each new emperor. The current era is Reiwa (令和), which began in May 2019.
• Months in Japanese use numbers: 一月 (ichigatsu, January) through 十二月 (juunigatsu, December). There are no separate names for months.
• Days of the month use 日 (nichi or ka), with irregular readings for days 1-10, the 14th, 20th, and 24th that require specific attention.

Writing the date correctly in Japanese requires knowing more than vocabulary.

The format is different from what most learners are used to, the era system is still actively used on official documents and in everyday life, and the readings for days of the month have a set of irregular forms that do not follow any pattern.

Getting these right matters in practice: Japanese forms, letters, receipts, and timetables all use Japanese date conventions.

This guide covers the full system for writing and reading dates in Japanese: year-month-day order, how to say each month, how to read the days of the month with their irregular forms, the Japanese era system, and the date-related vocabulary used in everyday contexts.

Date expressions come up immediately in practical Japanese: filling in forms, writing letters, confirming appointments, and reading calendars. Getting the era year wrong on an official document or blanking on the reading for the 14th in a conversation is the kind of error that self-study does not catch quickly enough.

italki has connected 10M+ learners with teachers since 2007, giving learners access to Japanese teachers who run date-reading and form-filling exercises in practical sessions, so the format becomes automatic before it matters in real life.

Find a Japanese tutor and practice writing and saying today’s date in both Gregorian and era formats from the first session.

Date order in Japanese

Japanese dates always follow the order: year (年) – month (月) – day (日).

Japanese format	Example	English reading
年月日	2026年6月25日	25 June 2026
Western digits	2026/6/25	25 June 2026
Era format	令和8年6月25日	25 June 2026 (Reiwa 8)

This order (largest unit first) matches how Japanese handles other measurements: time also runs hour-minute-second, and addresses run from country down to room number.

How to say and write the year

Years are stated by reading out the four digits followed by 年 (nen):

Year	Japanese	Reading
2024	2024年	nisen nijuuyo-nen
2025	2025年	nisen nijuugo-nen
2026	2026年	nisen nijuuroku-nen
1990	1990年	sen kyuuhyaku kyuujuu-nen

The word 何年 (nan-nen) means what year, used to ask about a year.

The Japanese imperial era system

Japan uses a second calendar system based on imperial reign periods (gengō, 元号). Each new emperor brings a new era name, and the year count restarts from 1.

Era name	Kanji	Period	Conversion
Meiji	明治	1868-1912	add 1867 to get AD year
Taisho	大正	1912-1926	add 1911
Showa	昭和	1926-1989	add 1925
Heisei	平成	1989-2019	add 1988
Reiwa	令和	2019-present	add 2018

Current era conversion: Reiwa year + 2018 = AD year. So Reiwa 6 = 2024, Reiwa 7 = 2025, Reiwa 8 = 2026.

The era system is used on official documents, government forms, receipts, and Japanese-language publications. Western years (西暦, seireki) are used in international contexts, business, and everyday conversation. Both systems appear side by side in modern Japan.

Example: 令和8年6月25日 is read Reiwa hachi-nen roku-gatsu nijuugo-nichi (25 June, Reiwa 8 / 2026).

A private Japanese tutor can walk through era name conversion with real forms and documents, which is the fastest way to make this system intuitive rather than something that requires calculation every time. italki has 30,000+ teachers across 150+ languages, including qualified Japanese teachers who use form-filling exercises in lessons.

How to say and write the months

Japanese months use number + 月 (gatsu). There are no separate month names:

Month	Japanese	Reading
January	一月	ichigatsu
February	二月	nigatsu
March	三月	sangatsu
April	四月	shigatsu
May	五月	gogatsu
June	六月	rokugatsu
July	七月	shichigatsu
August	八月	hachigatsu
September	九月	kugatsu
October	十月	juugatsu
November	十一月	juuichigatsu
December	十二月	juunigatsu

何月 (nan-gatsu) means what month.

Pronunciation note: April (四月) is shigatsu, not yongatsu. July (七月) is shichigatsu. These use the older readings shi (4) and shichi (7) rather than the modern alternatives yon and nana used in other contexts.

How to say and write the days

Days of the month use number + 日, but the reading changes significantly for days 1-10 and a handful of others:

Day	Japanese	Reading
1st	一日	tsuitachi
2nd	二日	futsuka
3rd	三日	mikka
4th	四日	yokka
5th	五日	itsuka
6th	六日	muika
7th	七日	nanoka
8th	八日	youka
9th	九日	kokonoka
10th	十日	tooka
11th	十一日	juuichi-nichi
12th	十二日	juuni-nichi
13th	十三日	juusan-nichi
14th	十四日	juuyokka
15th	十五日	juugo-nichi
20th	二十日	hatsuka
21st	二十一日	nijuuichi-nichi
24th	二十四日	nijuuyokka
25th	二十五日	nijuugo-nichi
31st	三十一日	sanjuuichi-nichi

Irregular days to memorise:

• 1st: tsuitachi (completely irregular)
• 2nd-10th: native Japanese number readings (futsuka, mikka, yokka, itsuka, muika, nanoka, youka, kokonoka, tooka)
• 14th: juuyokka (not juushi-nichi)
• 20th: hatsuka (not nijuu-nichi)
• 24th: nijuuyokka (not nijuushi-nichi)

From the 11th onward, most days use the Sino-Japanese reading + nichi, except for the three noted above.

何日 (nan-nichi) means what day (of the month).

Days of the week

Day	Japanese	Reading
Monday	月曜日	getsuyoubi
Tuesday	火曜日	kayoubi
Wednesday	水曜日	suiyoubi
Thursday	木曜日	mokuyoubi
Friday	金曜日	kin-youbi
Saturday	土曜日	doyoubi
Sunday	日曜日	nichiyoubi

The days of the week are based on classical elements: 月 (moon/Monday), 火 (fire/Tuesday), 水 (water/Wednesday), 木 (tree/Thursday), 金 (gold/Friday), 土 (earth/Saturday), 日 (sun/Sunday). This same element-based system appears in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese calendars.

何曜日 (nanyoubi) means what day of the week.

For the time vocabulary that pairs with date expressions in scheduling conversations, the guide to how to tell the time in Japanese covers hours, minutes, and AM/PM with the same structure used here.

Reading full dates

Practice reading these complete date expressions:

Japanese	Reading	English
2026年6月25日（水曜日）	nisen nijuuroku-nen rokugatsu nijuugo-nichi (suiyoubi)	Wednesday, 25 June 2026
令和8年1月1日	Reiwa hachi-nen ichigatsu tsuitachi	1 January 2026 (Reiwa 8)
2025年3月14日	nisen nijuugo-nen sangatsu juuyokka	14 March 2025
昭和64年1月7日	Showa rokujuuyo-nen ichigatsu nanoka	7 January 1989

On forms: When filling in a Japanese form asking for 生年月日 (seinen-gappi, date of birth), the fields are usually year-month-day in that order, and the form may ask for the era year or offer a choice between 西暦 (Western calendar) and 元号 (era calendar).

Date vocabulary for forms, letters, and conversation

Japanese	Reading	English
今日	kyou	today
明日	ashita / asu	tomorrow
昨日	kinou	yesterday
今週	konshuu	this week
来週	raishuu	next week
先週	senshuu	last week
今月	kongetsu	this month
来月	raigetsu	next month
先月	sengetsu	last month
今年	kotoshi	this year
来年	rainen	next year
去年	kyonen	last year
生年月日	seinen-gappi	date of birth
日付	hizuke	date (written on a document)
締め切り	shimekiri	deadline
予定	yotei	schedule, plan

In a formal letter: Japanese letters use the date at the top-right in the format 令和〇年〇月〇日, with the era year written out in kanji. The guide to how to write a letter in Japanese shows exactly where the date appears in the letter structure.

Putting dates into practice

Date expressions appear on every Japanese form, every appointment card, every diary entry, and every formal letter. The irregular day readings (days 1-10, 14th, 20th, 24th) are the part that requires specific drilling, they do not follow the pattern and need to be memorised through production.

italki has Japanese teachers who run date-reading and form-filling exercises in practical sessions, because administrative Japanese is one of the first real-world contexts where learners need accuracy. Book a trial lesson and ask the teacher to quiz you on day readings and on converting between Western and Reiwa dates.

FAQ

What order is the date written in Japanese?

Year-month-day (年月日). 2026年6月25日 reads as 2026, June, 25th. This applies to both written and spoken Japanese dates.

What is the current Japanese era?

Reiwa (令和), which began on 1 May 2019, when Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne. To convert a Reiwa year to a Western year, add 2018. Reiwa 8 = 2026.

How do you say the 1st of a month in Japanese?

一日, read as tsuitachi, not ichi-nichi. The 1st has a completely irregular reading that comes from an older Japanese calendar system.

Why does the 20th have a special reading?

二十日 (hatsuka) uses the native Japanese reading for 20, similar to the pattern seen in days 2-10. Several days in Japanese (14th as juuyokka, 20th as hatsuka, 24th as nijuuyokka) preserve these older native-number readings rather than switching to Sino-Japanese readings.

Is the Western calendar or the era calendar more common in daily life?

Both are used. Everyday conversation and international contexts use Western years. Official documents, government paperwork, receipts, and traditional correspondence often use the era system. Japanese people switch between them naturally.