How to read it

1938 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 13: 昭和13年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 13 + 25 = 38. On paper it is S13: 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 1938 turns 88 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 89. That makes 2026 a celebration year: 88 is beiju 米寿, because 米 comes apart into 八十八.

1938 in the Chinese zodiac

1938 is the year of the Earth Tiger (戊寅). The zodiac year began on 31 January 1938.

Other years

• 1933昭和8年
• 1934昭和9年
• 1935昭和10年
• 1936昭和11年
• 1937昭和12年
• 1939昭和14年
• 1940昭和15年
• 1941昭和16年
• 1942昭和17年
• 1943昭和18年

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