Abstract: The Japanese era name was originally selected from ancient Chinese classics, its been a tradition for over a thousand years. However, the era name “Reiwa” was chosen from Japanese classic instead of classical Chinese literature. Behind this change lies the nationalistic activities of the Japanese rightists. Theyre trying to “desinicize” on this issue to implement rightist nationalistic policy. In addition, the “desinicization” of the era name is also a political exchange between Abe and the rightwing organization “Japanese Conference” on constitutional amendments and other issues. However, the rightists strongly advocated the legalization of the era name to preserve Japanese traditions, and then changed the tradition by promoting the era name from “national book”. This reflects their cultural and political difficulties.

Key words: legalization of the era name, national book, de-sinicization, nationalism