Today April 1st, Japan revealed new imperial era name. It’s not April Fool’s joke. 😉
It’s 令和（れいわ）. Does it spell with “R”? or “L”? They announced it will be “Reiwa” with “R”.
Whether a Japanese word spells with “L” or “R”, it’s always tricky. That’s probably why very few Japanese can distinguish those 2 and pronounce correctly.
What does Reiwa stand for? It’s definitely not Real Estate Institute of Western Australia. 😎 The actual real estate company’s website reiwa.com has experienced excessive access today. They took “Reiwa” from Japanese ancient poetry. According to Mainichi Japan, it means the following.
The name is composed of two Chinese characters, or kanji. The first, “rei,” has meanings including “good” or “beautiful,” as well as “order” or “rule.” The meanings of the second character, “wa,” include “harmony,” “peace,” and “Japanese style.”
When does exactly “Reiwa” start? It starts from May 1st. So until the end of April, it’s actually Heisei（平成）. Confusing, huh? Having IT background, when I heard that, the first thing in my mind was that there would be so much system bugs around that… lol. Good luck IT guys!
My son who is one-year-old no longer lives in the current era. He didn’t get to enjoy his era for even 2 full years. 🙁
