Japan has paused. In preparation for the abdication of the old emperor, and the accession of the new, companies and government offices are closed, and it is the duty of dutiful workers to stay at home; even the calendar will change. Ever since 1989 (as we count), official Japanese documents have counted years up from the year Heisei 1. On 1 May the year will reset, and babies, until then born in the year Heisei 31, will instead be born in Reiwa 1; and the years will continue to be numbered through Reiwa until the new emperor dies or abdicates.
The convention of dating events by reference to reigns, or periods of office, is not unique to Japan. In fact it was once almost universal. It reaches back as far as organised politics. In Greece, the Spartans dated by their kings, the Athenians by their judges; and the Roman republic counted from the mythical foundation of the city. None of these conventions survived the crumbling of the political structures that they both commemorated and upheld. That is why later Christians, amid the chaos of local rulers that followed the fall of the Roman empire, had to invent the dating system we still use.
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