In the Japanese era name (年号 nengō, "year name"), also known as gengō (元号), the first of the two elements identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme, the second element, a number, indicates the year number within the era, and the last part is the literal "nen (年)" meaning "year".
Until April 30th, the era name is 平成31年, the 31st year of the Heisei era. On May 1st, the era changes to: 令和元年, or the first year of the Reiwa era, meaning "order/beauty" and "harmony."
The last period is known as "Heisei" (平成), which started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, and his son, the 125th Emperor Akihito, ascended the throne.
On 30 April 2019, his planned date of abdication, the new era Reiwa (令和) starts on 1 May 2019, the day when Emperor Akihito's elder son, Naruhito, ascends to the throne as the 126th Emperor of Japan.
Though the use of era name originally came from Chinese Imperial practice, Japanese era names are the only one that is still in use, and government offices usually require era names and years for official papers.
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