How to read it

1940 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 15: 昭和15年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 15 + 25 = 40. On paper it is S15: 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 1940 turns 86 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 87.

1940 in the Chinese zodiac

1940 is the year of the Metal Dragon (庚辰). The zodiac year began on 8 February 1940.

Other years

• 1935昭和10年
• 1936昭和11年
• 1937昭和12年
• 1938昭和13年
• 1939昭和14年
• 1941昭和16年
• 1942昭和17年
• 1943昭和18年
• 1944昭和19年
• 1945昭和20年

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