Heisei (平成) is the current era name in Japan. The name was introduced by Akihito, the current emperor of Japan, after the death of his father, Hirohito, the Showa Emperor in 1989. 1989 thus corresponds to Heisei 1, and 2004 is Heisei 16.
In 1993, the Liberal Democratic Party, which had controlled the Japanese government for 38 years, was ousted by a coalition led by Hosokawa Morihiro.
In 1995, there was a large earthquake in Kobe. The same year, there was a sarin gas terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway system by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo.Events