How to read it

1939 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 14: 昭和14年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 14 + 25 = 39. On paper it is S14: 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 1939 turns 87 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 88.

1939 in the Chinese zodiac

1939 is the year of the Earth Rabbit (己卯). The zodiac year began on 19 February 1939.

Other years

• 1934昭和9年
• 1935昭和10年
• 1936昭和11年
• 1937昭和12年
• 1938昭和13年
• 1940昭和15年
• 1941昭和16年
• 1942昭和17年
• 1943昭和18年
• 1944昭和19年

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