How to read it

1955 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 30: 昭和30年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 30 + 25 = 55. On paper it is S30: 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 1955 turns 71 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 72.

1955 in the Chinese zodiac

1955 is the year of the Wood Goat (乙未). The zodiac year began on 24 January 1955.

Other years

• 1950昭和25年
• 1951昭和26年
• 1952昭和27年
• 1953昭和28年
• 1954昭和29年
• 1956昭和31年
• 1957昭和32年
• 1958昭和33年
• 1959昭和34年
• 1960昭和35年

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