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I'm hoping there's a reason, because I keep forgetting which goes which way.
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2017-03-31T04:15:09.900
45072
2017-04-03T16:28:51.633
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question
words etymology definitions
Why does 近年 refer to the past, but 近日 refer to the future?
近日 in few days in past/future and 近年 in few years in past are both in a formal
speech. The speaker can be sure about few days in a future. This is why we
don't hear 近年 refer to future often.

But if you google "近年中に実現" there're many results, this way we can use 近年 for
future references.
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2017-03-31T05:50:27.483
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2017-04-03T08:54:17.933
2017-04-03T08:54:17.933
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answer
I'm quite curious too, on why "some day" always means future while "the other
day" past in English, but that's another matter.

Actually, it's not prohibited to use 近年 for future and 近日 for past in theory,
but also customary to mean the other way, as overwhelmingly supported by
actual usage. Similar words like 最近 or 近頃 usually stand for recent past, so 近日
is some kind of one odd out among them.

According to [Yamagiwa
(2014)](http://kuir.jm.kansai-u.ac.jp/dspace/handle/10112/9231):

>   * 「最近」の［この頃］が一般的に使用され始めるのは1910年代頃である。  
>  _The "recent" sense of 最近 came into common use on ca. 1910._
>   * 「近日」の［過］が減少する時期と「最近」の［この頃］が使用されるようになった時期がほぼ重なっている。  
>  _The period when the past sense of 近日 declined and the "recent" sense of 最近
> came into use is mostly overlapping._
>

He thus argues there is a correlation between the meaning shifts of 近日 and 最近;
it is either the rise of 最近 made 近日 specific to future, or 近日's loss of past
sense was made up by a new definition of 最近.
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2017-04-03T16:28:51.633
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2017-04-03T16:28:51.633
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