How to read it

1948 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 23: 昭和23年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 23 + 25 = 48. On paper it is S23: 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 1948 turns 78 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 79.

1948 in the Chinese zodiac

1948 is the year of the Earth Rat (戊子). The zodiac year began on 10 February 1948.

Other years

• 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
• 1949昭和24年
• 1950昭和25年
• 1951昭和26年
• 1952昭和27年
• 1953昭和28年

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