diff --git a/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/text/SimpleDateFormat.java b/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/text/SimpleDateFormat.java
index f3513e43add..ffff47451a3 100644
--- a/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/text/SimpleDateFormat.java
+++ b/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/text/SimpleDateFormat.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
  *******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (C) 1996-2013, International Business Machines Corporation and    *
+ * Copyright (C) 1996-2014, International Business Machines Corporation and    *
  * others. All Rights Reserved.                                                *
  *******************************************************************************
  */
@@ -2819,7 +2819,7 @@ public class SimpleDateFormat extends DateFormat {
                 /* Skip this for Chinese calendar, moved from ChineseDateFormat */
                 if ( override != null && (override.compareTo("hebr") == 0 || override.indexOf("y=hebr") >= 0) && value < 1000 ) {
                     value += HEBREW_CAL_CUR_MILLENIUM_START_YEAR;
-                } else if (count == 2 && (pos.getIndex() - start) == 2 && !isChineseCalendar
+                } else if (count == 2 && (pos.getIndex() - start) == 2 && !isChineseCalendar && !cal.getType().equals("japanese")
                     && UCharacter.isDigit(text.charAt(start))
                     && UCharacter.isDigit(text.charAt(start+1)))
                     {