How to read it

1943 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 18: 昭和18年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 18 + 25 = 43. On paper it is S18: 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 1943 turns 83 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 84.

1943 in the Chinese zodiac

1943 is the year of the Water Goat (癸未). The zodiac year began on 5 February 1943.

Other years

• 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
• 1944昭和19年
• 1945昭和20年
• 1946昭和21年
• 1947昭和22年
• 1948昭和23年

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