How to read it

1959 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 34: 昭和34年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 34 + 25 = 59. On paper it is S34: 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 1959 turns 67 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 68.

1959 in the Chinese zodiac

1959 is the year of the Earth Boar (己亥). The zodiac year began on 8 February 1959.

Other years

• 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
• 1960昭和35年
• 1961昭和36年
• 1962昭和37年
• 1963昭和38年
• 1964昭和39年

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