Reiwa Decided as New Era Name after Final Push by Abe

April 19, 2019

Tokyo- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at the end of a meeting of all cabinet members on April 1 that he wanted Reiwa to be the name of the next Japanese era, and his preference was approved by other participants, according to a summary of the meeting released on Friday.

Abe's final push for Reiwa came despite a cabinet member's argument that Reiwa sounded similar in part to Showa, the era that preceded the current Heisei, which will end on April 30, the summary showed.

At a separate cabinet meeting later on April 1, Reiwa was formally decided as the name of the era that starts on May 1.

On Friday, the government also released summaries of other era name-related meetings held on April 1.

None of those summaries identified the proposer of Reiwa or revealed era name candidates other than Reiwa. Jiji Press