Hirohito (1901-1989), emperor of Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989, the last Japanese ruler to uphold the divinity of the Japanese emperor. Hirohito’s reign lasted longer than that of any other monarch in Japanese history. Born in the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo, Prince Hirohito was the first son of Crown Prince Yoshihito (the future Emperor Taishō) and Crown Princess Sadako (the future Empress Teimei). His childhood title was Prince Michi (Michi no miya?). He became heir apparent upon the death of his grandfather, Emperor Meiji, on July 30, 1912. His formal investiture as crown prince took place on November 2, 1916.
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Emperor Hirohito. Video hosted on Youtube. He attended the boy's department of Gakushuin Peers School from 1908 to 1914 and then a special institute for the crown prince (Tōgū-gogakumonsho) from 1914 to 1921. In 1921, Prince Hirohito took a six month tour of Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, becoming the first Japanese crown prince to travel abroad. After his return to Japan, he became regent of Japan on November 29, 1921, in place of his ailing father affected with a mental illness. Born in Tokyo, Hirohito was the eldest son of Crown Prince Yoshihito. When Yoshihito became emperor in 1912, Hirohito became the new crown prince. Beginning in 1914, Hirohito was educated at a palace school established to prepare the crown prince for his future responsibilities. After graduating in 1921, Hirohito took a six-month tour of Britain and five other European countries, becoming the first member of the Japanese imperial family to travel outside Japan. Shortly after returning to Japan, Hirohito became regent for his father, who had become mentally ill. As regent, Hirohito performed imperial duties on his father’s behalf. In 1924 Hirohito married Princess Nagako, the eldest daughter of Prince Kuninomiya. After his father's death in December 1926, Hirohito became emperor. He adopted the name Shōwa (Enlightened Peace) as the official designation of his reign.
In an effort to reform and revive the monarchy, in January 1946 Hirohito made a national radio broadcast in which he renounced the myth that the emperor was divine. In 1947 he promulgated a new, revised constitution for Japan, drafted by the American occupation forces and approved by the national legislature, that vested sovereignty in the people and made the emperor merely a symbol of the nation.Between 1946 and 1951 Hirohito traveled throughout Japan, visiting schools, factories, mines, and other public sites to survey the progress of the country’s postwar reconstruction and to win popularity for the imperial institution. The national press, allowed for the first time to photograph the imperial family, depicted them as warm and close, enjoying the pleasures of ordinary middle-class life. Public opinion polls in the 1950s revealed a generally positive attitude toward the emperor.
As the emperor of a democratic country, Hirohito continued to express political views in private but had no official influence in governmental affairs. He performed the ceremonial duties assigned to him by the 1947 constitution, such as presiding over the opening and closing of the national legislature; receiving foreign ambassadors; and attending national events, including the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and the Ōsaka Exposition in 1970. In 1971 Hirohito toured seven European countries, becoming the first reigning Japanese monarch to travel abroad. Although Japanese officials made every effort to distance Hirohito from Japan’s decision to participate in the war and to associate him with the ultimate decision to make peace, Hirohito nevertheless encountered hostile demonstrators on his European tour. He received a friendlier welcome on his visit to the United States in 1975. However, questions about his responsibility for Japan’s role in World War II remained strong. In his later years, Hirohito was often seen seated in the imperial box at sumo wrestling tournaments, carefully noting winners and losers. He wrote several books on marine biology, a topic of lifelong interest. Hirohito died in 1989 after a lengthy illness. He was succeeded by his first son, Akihito.
 Hirohito
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