Overview
It began with an abdication rather than a death — the first in about two hundred years, arranged by a one-off law passed in 2017 for Emperor Akihito alone. The two characters come from the preface to a set of plum-blossom poems in the fifth book of the Man’yoshu, and the government issued its own English gloss, beautiful harmony, because the first character more usually means command. The era opened with the enthronement rites of 2019 and then with the pandemic, which pushed the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 and emptied their stadiums.
Key developments
Early Reiwa was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, postponed from 2020, were held in 2021 largely without spectators.
End and transition
The Reiwa era is ongoing and has no end date.