Japanese Years vs Gregorian calendar

Japan has a quite different year counting system from the rest of the world. It is called Nengo, and each era is associated with one Emperor. The year an emperor ascends the throne is the first year of a new era, and the era stays the same as long as the emperor reigns. 

Era	Hieroglyph	The beginning of the reign
Meiji	明治	1868
Taishou	大正	1912
Showa	昭和	1926
Heisei	平成	1989

So japanese year begins from first letter of Era and then year of the reign of the current emperor.
See the table below

Japanese  year	Gregorian  year	Japanese  year	Gregorian  year	Japanese  year	Gregorian  year	Japanese  year	Gregorian  year
M1	1868	T1	1912	S1	1926	H1	1989
M2	1869	T2	1913	S2	1927	H2	1990
M3	1870	T3	1914	S3	1928	H3	1991
M4	1871	T4	1915	S4	1929	H4	1992
M5	1872	T5	1916	S5	1930	H5	1993
M6	1873	T6	1917	S6	1931	H6	1994
M7	1874	T7	1918	S7	1932	H7	1995
M8	1875	T8	1919	S8	1933	H8	1996
M9	1876	T9	1920	S9	1934	H9	1997
M10	1877	T10	1921	S10	1935	H10	1998
M11	1878	T11	1922	S11	1936	H11	1999
M12	1879	T12	1923	S12	1937	H12	2000
M13	1880	T13	1924	S13	1938	H13	2001
M14	1881	T14	1925	S14	1939	H14	2002
M15	1882	T15	1926	S15	1940	H15	2003
M16	1883			S16	1941	H16	2004
M17	1884			S17	1942	H17	2005
M18	1885			S18	1943	H18	2006
M19	1886			S19	1944	H19	2007
M20	1887			S20	1945	H20	2008
M21	1888			S21	1946	H21	2009
M22	1889			S22	1947	H22	2010
M23	1890			S23	1948	H23	2011
M24	1891			S24	1949	H24	2012
M25	1892			S25	1950	H25	2013
M26	1893			S26	1951
M27	1894			S27	1952
M28	1895			S28	1953
M29	1896			S29	1954
M30	1897			S30	1955
M31	1898			S31	1956
M32	1899			S32	1957
M33	1900			S33	1958
M34	1901			S34	1959
M35	1902			S35	1960
M36	1903			S36	1961
M37	1904			S37	1962
M38	1905			S38	1963
M39	1906			S39	1964
M40	1907			S40	1965
M41	1908			S41	1966
M42	1909			S42	1967
M43	1910			S43	1968
M44	1911			S44	1969
M45	1912			S45	1970
				S46	1971
				S47	1972
				S48	1973
				S49	1974
				S50	1975
				S51	1976
				S52	1977
				S53	1978
				S54	1979
				S55	1980
				S56	1981
				S57	1982
				S58	1983
				S59	1984
				S60	1985
				S61	1986
				S62	1987
				S63	1988
				S64	1989

Now you can easily compare the year of production of your JDM car with Gregorian calendar.

Good luck!

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