How to read it

1953 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 28: 昭和28年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 28 + 25 = 53. On paper it is S28: 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 1953 turns 73 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 74.

1953 in the Chinese zodiac

1953 is the year of the Water Snake (癸巳). The zodiac year began on 14 February 1953.

Other years

• 1948昭和23年
• 1949昭和24年
• 1950昭和25年
• 1951昭和26年
• 1952昭和27年
• 1954昭和29年
• 1955昭和30年
• 1956昭和31年
• 1957昭和32年
• 1958昭和33年

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