Japanese Date Converter
Convert full dates between Gregorian calendar and Japanese era calendar.
📋 Useful Japanese Month & Day Names
About Japanese Date Converter
How Dates Work in Japanese
Japanese dates follow the order 年 (year) → 月 (month) → 日 (day), the reverse of most Western formats. For example, October 8, 2026 is written as 2026年10月8日 (ni-sen ni-jū roku nen jū gatsu yōka). This year-month-day order is used in both written documents and spoken Japanese.
The date system has several irregularities that learners must memorize. The days of the month from 1st to 10th use special native Japanese readings (ついたち, ふつか, みっか...) rather than the standard Sino-Japanese numbers. These irregular readings appear frequently on the JFT Basic exam and in daily life.
Year-Month-Day Format
In Japanese documents, dates are written with kanji separators: 2026年10月8日. The year can be in Western (西暦) or era (元号) format — both are correct. Months are straightforward: just the number plus 月 (gatsu). January is 1月 (ichigatsu), February is 2月 (nigatsu), and so on through 12月 (jūnigatsu).
When writing dates on forms, some require kanji (年月日) while others use slashes (2026/10/08) or dots (2026.10.08), always in year-month-day order. Getting this order wrong — writing day first as in some Western formats — can cause confusion on official documents, so practice the Japanese order until it becomes automatic.
Days of the Week in Japanese
Japanese weekday names follow a pattern based on celestial elements: 月曜日 (getsuyōbi, Monday/Moon), 火曜日 (kayōbi, Tuesday/Fire), 水曜日 (suiyōbi, Wednesday/Water), 木曜日 (mokuyōbi, Thursday/Wood), 金曜日 (kinyōbi, Friday/Gold), 土曜日 (doyōbi, Saturday/Earth), and 日曜日 (nichiyōbi, Sunday/Sun).
In casual writing, these are often abbreviated to just the first kanji: 月, 火, 水, 木, 金, 土, 日. You will see these abbreviations on train schedules, work rosters, TV guides, and calendar apps throughout Japan. Recognizing them quickly is useful for daily life and appears in JFT reading sections.
Date Formats on Japanese Forms and Documents
Official Japanese forms typically have separate boxes or fields for 年 (year), 月 (month), and 日 (day). Some forms ask you to circle 令和/平成/昭和 before writing the year number. Bank forms, hospital registration, and city hall documents almost always use this era-year format with separate fields.
Our converter takes any date and shows it in every format you might need: full kanji with era year, Western numerical format, and the correct readings for months and days including all irregular pronunciations. This is especially helpful when you need to fill out forms quickly and accurately at government offices.
How to Use Japanese Date Converter
Select or enter a date you want to convert.
View the Japanese format with year-month-day order.
See the era year conversion alongside the Western date.
Copy the formatted date for use in documents or forms.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I write today's date in Japanese? +
What is the Japanese date format? +
How do I read dates on Japanese documents? +
Why are the first ten days of the month irregular in Japanese? +
Do I need to know Japanese dates for the JFT Basic exam? +
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