How to read it

1968 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 43: 昭和43年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 43 + 25 = 68. On paper it is S43: 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 1968 turns 58 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 59.

1968 in the Chinese zodiac

1968 is the year of the Earth Monkey (戊申). The zodiac year began on 30 January 1968.

Other years

• 1963昭和38年
• 1964昭和39年
• 1965昭和40年
• 1966昭和41年
• 1967昭和42年
• 1969昭和44年
• 1970昭和45年
• 1971昭和46年
• 1972昭和47年
• 1973昭和48年

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