In part 2 I think he's referring to the japanese practise of referring to the current year relative to the ascension of the emperor. Right now we're in Heisei 22, because there was a new emperor in 1989 - so 1989 was Heisei 1. Before then it was the Showa era, aka Hirohito - now it's his son, Akihito (they get a special "emperor name").<p>Unfortunately Hirohito held on for freaking ages - he was emperor for 64 years - so Akihito is old too, he's 80-something I think. Sooner or later he's going to die and then all programs which display or print dates are going to have to be updated to reflect the new era.<p>The Japanese are really serious about this, too - on their drivers' licenses, for example, you won't see the date of birth written as, eg, "1970", but instead according to the emperor. So if your girlfriend's license reads 平成１ or more .. let me shake your hand ; )