nintendofan85
Good grief.
Because Akihito, Japan's current emperor since 1989, is abdicating the throne on April 30, and thus Japan will enter a new period (the current period in Japan is the Heisei period, which began when Akihito took the throne in 1989), this could very likely cause many problems for Japan's computers. See, when using this date format, years are counted from 1988, so the current year, 2018, is thus Heisei 30, as 2018 comes 30 years after 1988. The problem is that since Japan will be entering a new era in 2019 after Crown Prince Naruhito (Akihito's son) takes the throne, the years will be counting from 2018, not 1988, and a new kanji character must be put in the place of the era instead. The problem is, in contrast to the preparation made back in the mid-late '90s for when the year rolled over from 1999 to 2000 worldwide, in which many computers were able to be patched as all that was needed to be changed was the way the date was input in the computer (in case you didn't know about the Y2K fears surrounding the year 2000, because many computers up until the '90s used two-digit dates for the year, with "19" assumed to be the beginning, there were fears that many computers would crash when the year changed from 1999 to 2000), the name of the new era will not be named until after Naruhito takes the throne around April-May 2019, as it's a Japanese cultural tradition to not name a new era until after the new emperor takes the throne so the current emperor is not disrespected. For example, the Heisei era did not get its name until later in 1989 after Hirohito died in January and Akihito ascended to the throne (Japan has not had an emperor abdicate since Kokaku abdicated in 1817). For this reason, it likely means that computers and other technological equipment in Japan can't be updated until mid-2019, when failures could have very likely already happened.
At least since many computers in Japan do use the Gregorian calendar, it's very likely that this won't be a major problem like Y2K could have been (which was still massively overblown, since it was turned into an end of the world scenario) and will be more like the Y1C problem that occurred in Taiwan in 2011. The Y1C problem occurred in Taiwan seven years ago because many computers and other technology were using the Minguo calendar, which counts the years from 1911 because in 1912, the Nationalists took control and formed the Republic of China (which Taiwan is the rump state of, and according to that calendar, the current year would be Minguo 107) and many computers used by Taiwan's government were programmed to only have a two-digit date to count the amount of years since 1911. However, in 2010, many computers were fixed in preparation for New Year's Day 2011, and practically no failures occurred in Taiwan when the day came.
It has also been mentioned that many legacy computers that still use the Showa calendar (the era name for Hirohito's reign from 1926 to 1989), as they count the years from 1925, will fail in 2025 and also face a Y2K-type scenario. However, those computers couldn't have been made any later than in the '80s, so it's very likely that won't be a major problem.
What are y'all's thoughts? I don't see this being a major problem in Japan, and I doubt it will get overblown to the proportions that Y2K got to be by 1998-1999, especially since this is limited to one country. These potential failures, however, definitely do need to be addressed by the time the Summer Olympics are hosted in Tokyo in July 2020. Here's an article with more information.
At least since many computers in Japan do use the Gregorian calendar, it's very likely that this won't be a major problem like Y2K could have been (which was still massively overblown, since it was turned into an end of the world scenario) and will be more like the Y1C problem that occurred in Taiwan in 2011. The Y1C problem occurred in Taiwan seven years ago because many computers and other technology were using the Minguo calendar, which counts the years from 1911 because in 1912, the Nationalists took control and formed the Republic of China (which Taiwan is the rump state of, and according to that calendar, the current year would be Minguo 107) and many computers used by Taiwan's government were programmed to only have a two-digit date to count the amount of years since 1911. However, in 2010, many computers were fixed in preparation for New Year's Day 2011, and practically no failures occurred in Taiwan when the day came.
It has also been mentioned that many legacy computers that still use the Showa calendar (the era name for Hirohito's reign from 1926 to 1989), as they count the years from 1925, will fail in 2025 and also face a Y2K-type scenario. However, those computers couldn't have been made any later than in the '80s, so it's very likely that won't be a major problem.
What are y'all's thoughts? I don't see this being a major problem in Japan, and I doubt it will get overblown to the proportions that Y2K got to be by 1998-1999, especially since this is limited to one country. These potential failures, however, definitely do need to be addressed by the time the Summer Olympics are hosted in Tokyo in July 2020. Here's an article with more information.
That definitely did increase worries about Y2K, especially by around 1998-1999. However, what's interesting to note about Y2K is that while many countries were considered by the US State Department to be unprepared (China, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Russia, and Spain being examples), many of these countries had the same amount of problems as countries that did spend large amounts of money on Y2K preparation before 2000 came, such as the US, UK, and interestingly enough, Japan too. In the weeks leading up to the new year in December 1999, China, Italy, and Russia were countries that were strongly advised against traveling to as there were fears that many computers in those countries would fail. However, computers and other electronic equipment in those three countries hardly failed at all, with the same also occurring in Germany and South Korea, which is why, even today, there is considerable debate on whether or not the governments of leaders such as Bill Clinton in the United States and Tony Blair in the United Kingdom over-prepared for Y2K in the late '90s. Italy and South Korea notably spent hardly any money at all preparing for Y2K, and the Italian government did not even make any efforts to upgrade computers earlier than August of 1999. There's been a lot of defense made for the amount of preparation the US and UK did because it's been claimed that if they hadn't prepared so much, then it could've been a real catastrophe, but it was still seriously overblown. I really don't think planes were going to fall out of the sky. However, it has been said that the preparation made for Y2K in the US helped the US when 9/11 happened and that was part of the reason why the financial markets were then able to recover in late 2001, but I don't know if it was worth the $100 billion spent in the US that was confirmed by the Senate in March 2000.
