2008 in Japanese
二千八
Updated May 2026
Heisei 20 (the global financial crisis year)
NUMERAL
2,008
KANJI
二千八
HIRAGANA
にせんはち
ROMAJI
ni-sen-hachi
Year context
Heisei 20 (平成20年). The year of the Lehman Brothers collapse (15 September 2008) and the global financial crisis. The Beijing Olympics took place in August 2008. Heisei-era arithmetic: Heisei 1 = 1989, so Heisei 20 = 2008.
Real sentence examples
二〇〇八年の九月にリーマンショックが起きました (ni-sen-hachi-nen no ku-gatsu ni riiman-shokku ga okimashita): the Lehman Shock happened in September 2008.
平成二十年は経済的に厳しい年でした (heisei ni-jū-nen wa keizai-teki ni kibishii toshi deshita): Heisei 20 was an economically difficult year.
Pronunciation and morphology notes
For years in the 2000s, Japanese typically reads 2008 as ni-sen-hachi (literally “two thousand eight”). In writing, the form 二〇〇八 with the literal zero kanji 〇 is also seen, especially in formal documents. Both are correct. In the Heisei era, this year is Heisei 20.
Related numbers
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