For example the reign names Meiji year 1 = 1868 , Taisho 1 = 1912 , Showa ( Emperor Hirohito ) 1 = 1926 , Heisei ( Emperor Akahito ) 1 = 1989 , and so on . Japan replaced its traditional lunisolar calendar with the Gregorian calendar on , but adopted the numbered months it had used in its traditional calendar in place of European names , and continued to use Gengo , reign names , instead of the Common Era or Anno Domini system : Meiji 1 = 1868 , Taisho 1 = 1912 , Showa 1 = 1926 , Heisei 1 = 1989 , and so on .