Date In Japanese

How to write the date in Japanese

⏱ 3 minutes

Telling the date in Japanese is not awfully complicated. Here is a short summary of how to express the date in Japanese and how to refer to and pronounce the names of the days, months and years.

In order to say the date in Japanese, you can for example say 今日は２０１９年２月１７日です。 Here are the elements of this sentence presented separately:

  • 今日は kyô wa: today...
  • ２０１９年 ni-sèn' jû-kyû-nèn' : year 2019
  • ２月 ni-gatsu: February
  • １７日 jûshichi-nichi: the 17th
  • です desu: to keep things simple, the verb "to be"

The order is reversed compared to English: the year comes first, then the month and finally the day; this is the “big endian” format, which is widely used in Asia.

What follows is a detailed account of each element in the sentence above.

The years in Japanese

Just mention the year concerned and then add the kanji 年 nen for year.

The Japanese will typically use the Gregorian calendar although they will also often use the Japanese periods based on the reigns of Japanese emperors. Since May 2019, Japan has entered the 令和 reiwa imperial era. You will see this printed on tickets for example when you travel to Japan.

Here are the correspondences of the years:

Japanese Meaning Gregorian calendar
平成２９年 year 29 of the Heisei era 2017
平成３０年 year 30 of the Heisei era 2018
平成３１年 year 31 of the Heisei era 2019 (From January to April)
令和１年 year 1 of the Reiwa era 2019 (From May to December)
令和２年 year 2 of the Reiwa era 2020
令和３年 year 3 of the Reiwa era 2021
令和４年 year 4 of the Reiwa era 2022

There is actually an application called Gengou Free to easily convert any year of the Gregorian calendar into its traditional Japanese counterpart.

The months in Japanese

It works in the same way for Japanese months: First write the number corresponding to the month concerned, then the kanji 月 gatsu. Thus:

  • １月 ichi-gatsu: January
  • ２月 ni-gatsu: February
  • ３月 san-gatsu: March
  • ４月 shi-gatsu: April
  • ５月 go-gatsu: May
  • ６月 roku-gatsu: June
  • ７月 shichi-gatsu: July
  • ８月 hachi-gatsu: August
  • ９月 ku-gatsu: September
  • １０月 jû-gatsu: October
  • １１月 jûichi-gatsu: November
  • １２月 jûni-gatsu: December

The days of the week and of the month in Japanese

The days of the week

The week officially begins on Sunday.

  • 日曜日 nichi-yôbi: Sunday (“Day of the Sun”)
  • 月曜日 getsu-yôbi: Monday ("Day of the Moon")
  • 火曜日 ka-yôbi: Tuesday ("Day of Fire")
  • 水曜日 sui-yôbi: Wednesday ("Day of Water")
  • 木曜日 moku-yôbi: Thursday ("Day of Wood")
  • 金曜日 kin-yôbi: Friday ("Day of Gold")
  • 土曜日 do-yôbi: Saturday ("Day of the Earth")

The days of the month

They follow a simple rule (number + 日 nichi) but almost half of them are irregular! See the complete list below, with an asterisk after each irregular word:

  • １日 tsuitachi*
  • ２日 futsuka*
  • ３日 mikka*
  • ４日 yokka*
  • ５日 itsuka*
  • ６日 muika*
  • ７日 nanoka*
  • ８日 yôka*
  • ９日 kokonoka*
  • １０日 tôka*
  • １１日 jûichi-nichi
  • １２日 jûni-nichi
  • １３日 jûsan-nichi
  • １４日 jûyokka*
  • １５日 jûgo-nichi
  • １６日 jûroku-nichi
  • １７日 jûshichi-nichi
  • １８日 jûhachi-nichi
  • １９日 jûku-nichi
  • ２０日 hatsuka*
  • ２１日 nijûichi-nichi
  • ２２日 nijûni-nichi
  • ２３日 nijûsan'-nichi
  • ２４日 nijûyokka*
  • ２５日 nijûgo-nichi
  • ２６日 nijûroku-nichi
  • ２７日 nijûshichi-nichi
  • ２８日 nijûhachi-nichi
  • ２９日 nijûku-nichi
  • ３０日 sanjû-nichi
  • ３１日 sanjûichi-nichi

---

Don’t forget to look at the calendar of events in Japan.

Updated on July 13, 2023 La date en japonais