Mesoamerican Long Count calendar the use of zero as a place-holder and presents one of the earliest uses of the zero concept in history. On Maya monuments, the Long Count syntax is more complex. The date sequence is given once, at the beginning of the inscription and opens with the so-called ISIG (Introductory Series Initial Glyph) which reads "tzik-a(h) hab’ [patron of Haab' month]" ("revered was the year-count with the patron [of the month]"). Next come the 5 digits of the Long Count, followed by the Calendar Round (tzolk'in and Haab') and supplementary series. The supplementary series is optional and contains lunar data, for
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar the old style calendars were similar but not all the same. The Arabic numerals may be used for both calendar dates in modern Japanese and Korean languages, but not for Chinese old-style dates. Japan started using the Gregorian calendar on 1 January 1873, locally known as . The preceding day, 31 December 1872, was . Japan currently uses two eras: the western era and a modified traditional Japanese era name (nengō). The months and days are those of the Gregorian calendar, but the year is either the western year number or a year of the nengō of the emperor on