It was announced a few hours ago, that on May 1st, the first era after Heisei will be "Reiwa", apparently meaning a decree of peace. Showa and Heisei era toys are our main interests here, I'm looking forward to seeing what the future will bring with the first Reiwa era Ultras, Godzilla, etc.
Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt are currently using "Excellent Harmony" but there's going to be a lot of discussion in the next few days: https://twitter.com/ninetail_foxq https://twitter.com/Matt_Alt
The characters are taken from a Japanese poem, rather than Chinese sources as with all previous era names. In the context of this poem, Rei means auspicious and Wa means calm. Without this background, though, the main connotations for the two characters are "order" and "Japan" respectively. So combined with the pointed use of a Japanese source, and against a backdrop of remilitarization and resurgent nationalism... Excellent Harmony indeed.
Looks like they've settled on "beautiful harmony": https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2...l-translation-beautiful-harmony/#.XKP1cC3APjA Get ready for the calendar change to Reiwa 1!
They didn't like the way foreign media outlets were translating the name, so they put out a wildly creative "official translation" to gloss over the fact that it can easily be interpreted as authoritarian/nationalist sounding, and you're lapping the shit up...but my reply is stupid.
What's stupid about it, Roger? Pretty much just stating the facts. Japan isn't just one big toy manufacturer that you're a fan of.
I would find this much more interesting if people weren't calling each other stupid. I'd like to hear more about this, but only if it's actually worth reading...
