How to read it

1931 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 6: 昭和6年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 6 + 25 = 31. On paper it is S6: forms print the era options — 明・大・昭・平・令, or the letters M T S H R — beside the date box, and you circle one and write the number. Someone born in 1931 turns 95 in 2026. In kazoedoshi 数え年 — the traditional count that starts at one at birth and adds a year every New Year — they are 96.

1931 in the Chinese zodiac

1931 is the year of the Metal Goat (辛未). The zodiac year began on 17 February 1931.

Other years

• 1926昭和元年
• 1927昭和2年
• 1928昭和3年
• 1929昭和4年
• 1930昭和5年
• 1932昭和7年
• 1933昭和8年
• 1934昭和9年
• 1935昭和10年
• 1936昭和11年

Every year of the Shōwa era → · How the Japanese calendar works, and every year 1868–2050