Is it important to learn about Era?

[derick78b]

Hello everyone.

Looking through some websites I always find a thing about Era.

Is it important to learn about it?


Thank you very much.

 

[Toritoribe]

What "Era" are you talking about?

 

[derick78b]

What "Era" are you talking about?

Japanese era name - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For example: Edo period , Heisei and Meiji.
I've seen a lot of "eras" in Newspaper, always refering to some time.

That's why I'm asking.

 

[Mike Cash]

If you keep seeing them, then it must be important to know them, don't you think?

 

[derick78b]

If you keep seeing them, then it must be important to know them, don't you think?

I really don't know, that's why I'm asking you. I've seen a lot but I don't know if it's vital to know or if I should deepen about it.


Thank you.

 

[Toritoribe]

Are you going to remember 100+ names of eras??? First of all, can you understand all the words in Japanese sentences except era's names? You look up dictionaries when you come across unknown words whether it's an era's name or not, don't you? Anyway, if it's indeed critical for you, you'll remember them spontaneously in the near future.

 

[Mike Cash]

You need to know the current era is Heisei and the previous era was Showa. Knowing the years (even roughly) would help.

Beyond that, it is nice to know there was a Taisho and before that a Meiji. Knowing the years is nice, but not essential. For those eras it is enough to have a vague idea and to be aware of what state of development Japan was in.

Anything prior to those, don't worry about them and just look them up if necessary. I have a free app on my iPhone which is very handy when I need to look up older dates, which I do fairly often as one of my hobbies is hunting up old religious statues and tombstones. The dates on those are always one of the older eras that nobody bothers to memorize.

 

[derick78b]

You need to know the current era is Heisei and the previous era was Showa. Knowing the years (even roughly) would help.

Beyond that, it is nice to know there was a Taisho and before that a Meiji. Knowing the years is nice, but not essential. For those eras it is enough to have a vague idea and to be aware of what state of development Japan was in.

Anything prior to those, don't worry about them and just look them up if necessary. I have a free app on my iPhone which is very handy when I need to look up older dates, which I do fairly often as one of my hobbies is hunting up old religious statues and tombstones. The dates on those are always one of the older eras that nobody bothers to memorize.

That's what I'm going to do. I won't care too much about it, only when I see it.


Thank you all very much.