How to read it

1937 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 12: 昭和12年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 12 + 25 = 37. On paper it is S12: 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 1937 turns 89 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 90.

1937 in the Chinese zodiac

1937 is the year of the Fire Ox (丁丑). The zodiac year began on 11 February 1937.

Other years

• 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
• 1938昭和13年
• 1939昭和14年
• 1940昭和15年
• 1941昭和16年
• 1942昭和17年

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