Big tech warns of 'Japan's millennium bug' ahead of Akihito's abdication

Emperor's 2019 exit will be first era change of information age, and switchover could be as big as Y2K say industry figures

On 30 April 2019, Emperor Akihito of Japan is expected to abdicate the chrysanthemum throne. The decision was announced in December 2017 so as to ensure an orderly transition to Akihito's son, Naruhito, but the coronation could cause concerns in an unlikely place: the technology sector.

The Japanese calendar counts up from the coronation of a new emperor, using not the name of the emperor, but the name of the era they herald. Akihito's coronation in January 1989 marked the beginning of the Heisei era, and the end of the ShAwa era that preceded him; and Naruhito's coronation will itself mark another new era.