How to read it

1942 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 17: 昭和17年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 17 + 25 = 42. On paper it is S17: 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 1942 turns 84 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 85.

1942 in the Chinese zodiac

1942 is the year of the Water Horse (壬午). The zodiac year began on 15 February 1942.

Other years

• 1937昭和12年
• 1938昭和13年
• 1939昭和14年
• 1940昭和15年
• 1941昭和16年
• 1943昭和18年
• 1944昭和19年
• 1945昭和20年
• 1946昭和21年
• 1947昭和22年

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