Hirohito , referred to as , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order , reigning from December 25 , 1926 , until his death in 1989 . Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito , in Japan he is now referred to primarily by his posthumous name Emperor Shōwa . The word " Shōwa " is the name of the era that corresponded with the Emperor ' s reign , and was made the Emperor ' s own name upon his death . The name 裕仁 means " abundant benevolence " . At the start of his reign , Japan was already one of the great power s — the ninth - largest economy in the world after Italy , the third - largest naval power , and one of the four permanent members of the council of the League of Nations . He was the head of state under the limitation of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan during Japan ' s imperial expansion , militarization , and involvement in World War II . After the war , he was not prosecuted for war crimes as many other leading government figures were , despite his involvement . During the postwar period , he became the symbol of the new state and Japan ' s recovery , and by the end of his reign , Japan had emerged as the world ' s second largest economy . Early life . Born in Tokyo ' s Aoyama Palace , 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 . In 1908 , he began elementary studies at the Gakushūin ( Peers School ) . When his grandfather , Emperor Meiji , died on July 30 , 1912 , Hirohito ' s father , Yoshihito , assumed the throne ; Hirohito became the heir apparent . At the same time , he was formally commissioned in both the army and navy as a second lieutenant and ensign , respectively , and was also decorated with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum . In 1914 , he was promoted to the ranks of lieutenant in the army and sub - lieutenant in the navy , then to captain and lieutenant in 1916 . He was formally proclaimed Crown Prince and heir apparent on November 2 , 1916 ; but an investiture ceremony was not strictly necessary to confirm this status as heir to the throne . Hirohito attended the Y . M . C . A . of Gakushūin Peers ' School from 1908 to 1914 and then a special institute for the crown prince ( Tōgū - gogakumonsho ) from 1914 to 1921 . In 1920 , Hirohito was promoted to the rank of Major in the army and Lieutenant Commander in the navy . In 1921 , 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 ( Sesshō ) on November 29 , 1921 , in place of his ailing father who was affected by a mental illness . During Hirohito ' s regency , a number of important events occurred : In the Four - Power Treaty on Insular Possessions signed on December 13 , 1921 , Japan , the United States , Britain , and France agreed to recognize the status quo in the Pacific , and Japan and Britain agreed to terminate formally the Anglo - Japanese Alliance . The Washington Naval Treaty was signed on February 6 , 1922 . Japan withdrew troops from the Siberian Intervention on August 28 , 1922 . The Great Kantō earthquake devastated Tokyo on September 1 , 1923 . On December 27 , 1923 , communist Daisuke Namba attempted to assassinate Hirohito in the Toranomon Incident but his attempt failed . The General Election Law was passed on May 5 , 1925 , giving all men above age 25 the right to vote . In 1923 , he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant - Colonel in the army and Commander in the navy , and to army Colonel and Navy Captain in 1925 . Marriage and issue . Prince Hirohito married his distant cousin Princess Nagako Kuni ( the future Empress Kōjun ) , the eldest daughter of Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi , on January 26 , 1924 . They had two sons and five daughters . ( see Issue ) The daughters who lived to adulthood left the imperial family as a result of the American reforms of the Japanese imperial household in October 1947 ( in the case of Princess Higashikuni ) or under the terms of the Imperial Household Law at the moment of their subsequent marriages ( in the cases of Princesses Kazuko , Atsuko , and Takako ) . Ascension . On December 25 , 1926 , Hirohito assumed the throne upon his father , Yoshihito ' s , death . The Crown Prince was said to have received the succession ( " senso " ) . The Taishō era ' s end and the Shōwa era ' s beginning ( Enlightened Peace ) were proclaimed . The deceased Emperor was posthumously renamed Emperor Taishō within days . Following Japanese custom , the new Emperor was never referred to by his given name , but rather was referred to simply as , which may be shortened to . In writing , the Emperor was also referred to formally as . In November 1928 , the Emperor ' s ascension was confirmed in ceremonies ( " sokui " ) which are conventionally identified as " enthronement " and " coronation " ( " Shōwa no tairei - shiki " ) ; but this formal event would have been more accurately described as a public confirmation that his Imperial Majesty possesses the Japanese Imperial Regalia , also called the Three Sacred Treasures , which have been handed down through the centuries . Early reign . The first part of Hirohito ' s reign took place against a background of financial crisis and increasing military power within the government , through both legal and extralegal means . The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy had held veto power over the formation of cabinets since 1900 , and between 1921 and 1944 there were no fewer than 64 incidents of political violence . Hirohito narrowly missed assassination by a hand grenade thrown by a Korean independence activist , Lee Bong - chang in Tokyo on January 9 , 1932 , in the Sakuradamon Incident . Another notable case was the assassination of moderate Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in 1932 , which marked the end of civilian control of the military . This was followed by an attempted military coup in February 1936 , the February 26 incident , mounted by junior Army officers of the " Kōdōha " faction who had the sympathy of many high - ranking officers including Prince Chichibu ( Yasuhito ) , one of the Emperor ' s brothers . This revolt was occasioned by a loss of political support by the militarist faction in Diet elections . The coup resulted in the murders of a number of high government and Army officials . When Chief Aide - de - camp Shigeru Honjō informed him of the revolt , the Emperor immediately ordered that it be put down and referred to the officers as " rebels " ( " bōto " ) . Shortly thereafter , he ordered Army Minister Yoshiyuki Kawashima to suppress the rebellion within the hour , and he asked reports from Honjō every thirty minutes . The next day , when told by Honjō that little progress was being made by the high command in quashing the rebels , the Emperor told him " I Myself , will lead the Konoe Division and subdue them . " The rebellion was suppressed following his orders on February 29 . Sino - Japanese War and World War II . Entering World War II . Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and parts of China in 1937 ( the Second Sino - Japanese War ) . Hirohito never really objected to China ' s invasion . It had been recommended to him by his chiefs of staff and prime minister Fumimaro Konoe . His main concern seems to have been the possibility of an attack by the Soviet Union in the north . His questions to his chief of staff , Prince Kan ' in , and minister of the army , Hajime Sugiyama , were mostly about the time it could take to crush Chinese resistance . According to Akira Fujiwara , Hirohito personally ratified the Japanese Army ' s proposal to remove the constraints of international law on the treatment of Chinese prisoners on August 5 . And the works of Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno show that the Emperor authorized , by specific orders ( rinsanmei ) , the use of chemical weapons against the Chinese . During the invasion of Wuhan , from August to October 1938 , the Emperor authorized the use of toxic gas on 375 separate occasions , despite the resolution adopted by the League of Nations on May 14 condemning Japanese use of toxic gas . On September 27 , 1940 , ostensibly under Hirohito ' s leadership , Japan formed Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy , forming the Axis Powers . Before that , in July 1939 , the Emperor quarreled with his brother , Prince Chichibu , who was visiting him three times a week to support the treaty , and reprimanded the army minister Seishirō Itagaki . But after the success of the Wehrmacht in Europe , the Emperor consented to the alliance . On September 4 , 1941 , the Japanese Cabinet met to consider war plans prepared by Imperial General Headquarters , and decided that : The objectives to be obtained were clearly defined : a free hand to continue with the conquest of China and Southeast Asia , no increase in US or British military forces in the region , and cooperation by the West " in the acquisition of goods needed by our Empire . " On September 5 , Prime Minister Konoe informally submitted a draft of the decision to the Emperor , just one day in advance of the Imperial Conference at which it would be formally implemented . On this evening , the Emperor had a meeting with the chief of staff of the army , Sugiyama , chief of staff of the navy , Osami Nagano , and Prime Minister Konoe . The Emperor questioned Sugiyama about the chances of success of an open war with the Occident . As Sugiyama answered positively , the Emperor scolded him : Chief of Naval General Staff Admiral Nagano , a former Navy Minister and vastly experienced , later told a trusted colleague , " I have never seen the Emperor reprimand us in such a manner , his face turning red and raising his voice . " According to the traditional view , Hirohito was deeply concerned by the decision to place " war preparations first and diplomatic negotiations second " , and he announced his intention to break with tradition . At the Imperial Conference on the following day , the Emperor directly questioned the chiefs of the Army and Navy general staffs , which was quite an unprecedented action . Nevertheless , all speakers at the Imperial Conference were united in favor of war rather than diplomacy . Baron Yoshimichi Hara , President of the Imperial Council and the Emperor ' s representative , then questioned them closely , producing replies to the effect that war would only be considered as a last resort from some , and silence from others . At this point , the Emperor astonished all present by addressing the conference personally , and in breaking the tradition of Imperial silence left his advisors " struck with awe . " ( Prime Minister Konoe ' s description of the event . ) Hirohito stressed the need for peaceful resolution of international problems , expressed regret at his ministers ' failure to respond to Baron Hara ' s probings , and recited a poem written by his grandfather , Emperor Meiji which , he said , he had read " over and over again " : Recovering from their shock , the ministers hastened to express their profound wish to explore all possible peaceful avenues . The Emperor ' s presentation was in line with his practical role as leader of the Shinto religion . At this time , Army Imperial Headquarters was continually communicating with the Imperial household in detail about the military situation . On October 8 , Sugiyama signed a 47 - page report to the Emperor ( sōjōan ) outlining in minute detail plans for the advance into Southeast Asia . During the third week of October , Sugiyama gave the Emperor a 51 - page document , " Materials in Reply to the Throne " , about the operational outlook for the war . As war preparations continued , Prime Minister Konoe found himself more and more isolated and gave his resignation on October 16 . He justified himself to his chief cabinet secretary , Kenji Tomita : The army and the navy recommended the candidacy of Prince Higashikuni , one of the Emperor ' s uncles . According to the Shōwa " Monologue " , written after the war , the Emperor then said that if the war were to begin while a member of the imperial house was prime minister , the imperial house would have to carry the responsibility and he was opposed to this . Instead , the Emperor chose the hard - line General Hideki Tōjō , who was known for his devotion to the imperial institution , and asked him to make a policy review of what had been sanctioned by the Imperial Conferences . On November 2 , Tōjō , Sugiyama and Nagano reported to the Emperor that the review of eleven points had been in vain . Emperor Hirohito gave his consent to the war and then asked : " Are you going to provide justification for the war ? " The decision for war ( against United States ) was presented for approval to Hirohito by General Tōjō , Naval Minister Admiral Shigetarō Shimada , and Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Tōgō . On November 3 , Nagano explained in detail the plan of the attack on Pearl Harbor to the Emperor . On November 5 , Emperor Hirohito approved in imperial conference the operations plan for a war against the Occident and had many meetings with the military and Tōjō until the end of the month . On November 25 Henry L . Stimson , United States Secretary of War noted in his diary that he had discussed with US President Franklin D . Roosevelt the severe likelihood that Japan was about to launch a surprise attack , and that the question had been " how we should maneuver them [ the Japanese ] into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves . ' " On the following day , November 26 , 1941 , Hull presented the Japanese ambassador with the Hull note , which as one of its conditions demanded the complete withdrawal of all Japanese troops from French Indochina and China . It did not refer to Manchukuo , in which hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians were already living . At the time , The United States did not officially approve of the Japanese occupation of and claim to Manchukuo , so Japan assumed that " China " included Manchukuo . Japanese Prime Minister Tojo Hideki said to his cabinet , " this is an ultimatum . " On December 1 , an Imperial Conference sanctioned the " War against the United States , United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands . " On December 8 ( December 7 in Hawaii ) 1941 , in simultaneous attacks , Japanese forces struck at the US Fleet in Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines and began the invasion of Malaya . With the nation fully committed to the war , the Emperor took a keen interest in military progress and sought to boost morale . According to Akira Yamada and Akira Fujiwara , the Emperor made major interventions in some military operations . For example , he pressed Sugiyama four times , on January 13 and 21 and February 9 and 26 , to increase troop strength and launch an attack on Bataan . On February 9 , March 19 and May 29 , the Emperor ordered the Army Chief of staff to examine the possibilities for an attack on Chungking , which led to Operation Gogo . As the tide of war began to turn ( around late 1942 and early 1943 ) , some people argue that the flow of information to the palace gradually began to bear less and less relation to reality , while others suggest that the Emperor worked closely with Prime Minister Tōjō , continued to be well and accurately briefed by the military , and knew Japan ' s military position precisely right up to the point of surrender . The chief of staff of the General Affairs section of the Prime Minister ' s office , Shuichi Inada , remarked to Tōjō ' s private secretary , Sadao Akamatsu : In the first six months of war , all the major engagements had been victories . As the tide turned in the summer of 1942 with the battle of Midway and the landing of the American forces on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in August , the Emperor recognized the potential danger and pushed the navy and the army for greater efforts . In September 1942 , Emperor Hirohito signed the Imperial Rescript condemning to death American Fliers : Lieutenants Dean E . Hallmark and William G . Farrow and Corporal Harold A . Spatz and commuting to life sentences : Lieutenants Robert J . Meder , Chase Nielsen , Robert L . Hite and George Barr and Corporal Jacob DeShazer . When informed in August 1943 by Sugiyama that the American advance through the Solomon Islands could not be stopped , the Emperor asked his chief of staff to consider other places to attack : " When and where on are you ever going to put up a good fight ? And when are you ever going to fight a decisive battle ? " On August 24 , the Emperor reprimanded Nagano and on September 11 , he ordered Sugiyama to work with the Navy to implement better military preparation and give adequate supply to soldiers fighting in Rabaul . Throughout the following years , the sequence of drawn and then decisively lost engagements was reported to the public as a series of great victories . Only gradually did it become apparent to the people in the home islands that the situation was very grim . U . S . air raids on the cities of Japan starting in 1944 made a mockery of the unending tales of victory . Later that year , with the downfall of Hideki Tōjō ' s government , two other prime ministers were appointed to continue the war effort , Kuniaki Koiso and Kantarō Suzuki — each with the formal approval of the Emperor . Both were unsuccessful and Japan was nearing defeat . Civilian deaths and suicides . As the war turned against the Japanese , Hirohito personally found the threat of defection of Japanese civilians disturbing because there was a risk that live civilians would be surprised by generous U . S . treatment . Native Japanese sympathizers would hand the Americans a powerful propaganda weapon to subvert the " fighting spirit " of Japan in radio broadcasts . At the end of June 1944 during the Battle of Saipan , Hirohito sent out the first imperial order encouraging all Japanese civilians to commit suicide rather than be taken prisoner . The Imperial order authorized Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito , the commander of Saipan , to promise civilians who died there an equal spiritual status in the afterlife with those of soldiers perishing in combat . General Tojo intercepted the order on June 30 and delayed its sending , but it was issued anyway the next day . By the time the Marines advanced on the north tip of the island , from 8 – 12 July , most of the damage had been done . Over 1 , 000 Japanese civilians committed suicide in the last days of the battle to take the offered privileged place in the afterlife , some jumping from " Suicide Cliff " and " Banzai Cliff " . Emperor and atomic bomb . Japan was doing basic research on the atomic bomb . However , according to one Japanese source , Hirohito was opposed to the atomic bomb plan from the beginning . The Emperor thought that use of an atomic bomb would bring about the extermination of mankind . The Navy ( F - go ) and Army ( Ni - go ) atomic bomb research projects were in operation until the end of World War II . On August 15 , 1945 , after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , he made apparent reference to the atomic bomb in his Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War : " Moreover , the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb , the power of which to do damage is , indeed , incalculable , taking the toll of many innocent lives . Should We continue to fight , not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation , but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization . " However , in his first ever press conference given in Tokyo in 1975 , when he was asked what he thought of the bombing of Hiroshima , the Emperor answered : " It ' s very regrettable that nuclear bombs were dropped and I feel sorry for the citizens of Hiroshima but it couldn ' t be helped because that happened in wartime . " Last days of the war . In early 1945 , in the wake of the losses in Battle of Leyte , Emperor Hirohito began a series of individual meetings with senior government officials to consider the progress of the war . All but ex - Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe advised continuing the war . Konoe feared a communist revolution even more than defeat in war and urged a negotiated surrender . In February 1945 , during the first private audience with the Emperor which he had been allowed in three years , Konoe advised Hirohito to begin negotiations to end the war . According to Grand Chamberlain Hisanori Fujita , the Emperor , still looking for a " tennozan " ( a great victory ) in order to provide a stronger bargaining position , firmly rejected Konoe ' s recommendation . With each passing week a great victory became less likely . In April the Soviet Union issued notice that it would not renew its neutrality agreement . Japan ' s ally Germany surrendered in early May 1945 . In June , the cabinet reassessed the war strategy , only to decide more firmly than ever on a fight to the last man . This strategy was officially affirmed at a brief Imperial Council meeting , at which , as was normal , the Emperor did not speak . The following day , Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Kōichi Kido prepared a draft document which summarized the hopeless military situation and proposed a negotiated settlement . According to some commentators , the Emperor privately approved of it and authorized Kido to circulate it discreetly amongst less hawkish cabinet members ; others suggest that the Emperor was indecisive , and that the delay cost many tens of thousands of lives . Extremists in Japan were also calling for a death - before - dishonor mass suicide , modeled on the " 47 Ronin " incident . By mid - June 1945 , the cabinet had agreed to approach the Soviet Union to act as a mediator for a negotiated surrender , but not before Japan ' s bargaining position had been improved by repulse of the anticipated Allied invasion of mainland Japan . On June 22 , the Emperor met with his ministers , saying " I desire that concrete plans to end the war , unhampered by existing policy , be speedily studied and that efforts be made to implement them . " The attempt to negotiate a peace via the Soviet Union came to nothing . There was always the threat that extremists would carry out a coup or foment other violence . On July 26 , 1945 , the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding unconditional surrender . The Japanese government council , the Big Six , considered that option and recommended to the Emperor that it be accepted only if one to four conditions were agreed , including a guarantee of the Emperor ' s continued position in Japanese society . The Emperor decided not to surrender . On August 9 , 1945 , following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war , Emperor Hirohito told Kido to " quickly control the situation " because " the Soviet Union has declared war and today began hostilities against us . " On August 10 , the cabinet drafted an " Imperial Rescript ending the War " following the Emperor ' s indications that the declaration did not compromise any demand which prejudiced the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler . On August 12 , 1945 , the Emperor informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender . One of his uncles , Prince Asaka , asked whether the war would be continued if the " kokutai " ( national polity ) could not be preserved . The Emperor simply replied " of course . " On August 14 , the Suzuki government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration . On August 15 , a recording of the Emperor ' s surrender speech was broadcast over the radio ( the first time the Emperor was heard on the radio by the Japanese people ) signifying the unconditional surrender of Japan ' s military forces . The historic broadcast is known as the " Gyokuon - hōsō " ( " Jewel Voice Broadcast " ) . Die - hard army fanatics opposed to the surrender attempted a coup d ' état . They seized the Imperial Palace ( the Kyūjō Incident ) . However , the physical recording of the surrender speech was hidden and preserved overnight , and the coup was quickly crushed on the Emperor ' s order . The surrender speech noted that " the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan ' s advantage " and ordered the Japanese to " endure the unendurable " in surrender . It was the first time the public had heard the Emperor ' s voice . The speech , using formal , archaic Japanese was not readily understood by many commoners . According to historian Richard Storry in " A History of Modern Japan " , the Emperor typically used " a form of language familiar only to the well - educated " and to the more traditional samurai families . Accountability for Japanese war crimes . Many historians see Emperor Hirohito as responsible for the atrocities committed by the imperial forces in the Second Sino - Japanese War and in World War II and feel that he , some members of the imperial family such as his brother Prince Chichibu , his cousins Prince Takeda and Prince Fushimi , and his uncles Prince Kan ' in , Prince Asaka , and Prince Higashikuni , should have been tried for war crime s . The issue of Hirohito ' s responsibility for war crimes is a debate regarding how much real control the Emperor had over the Japanese military during the two wars . Officially , the imperial constitution , adopted under Emperor Meiji , gave full power to the Emperor . Article 4 prescribed that , " The Emperor is the head of the Empire , combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty , and exercises them , according to the provisions of the present Constitution , " while , according to article 6 , " The Emperor gives sanction to laws and orders them to be promulgated and executed , " and article 11 , " The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and the Navy . " The Emperor was thus the leader of the Imperial General Headquarters . Poison gas weapons , such as phosgene , were produced by Unit 731 and authorized by specific orders given by Hirohito himself , transmitted by the chief of staff of the army . For example , Hirohito authorised the use of toxic gas 375 times during the battle of Wuhan from August to October 1938 . In 1971 , David Bergamini showed how primary sources , such as the " Sugiyama memo " and the diaries of Kido and Konoe , describe in detail the informal meetings Emperor Hirohito had with his chiefs of staff and ministers . Bergamini concluded that the Emperor was kept informed of all main military operations and that he frequently questioned his senior staff and asked for changes . Historians such as Herbert Bix , Akira Fujiwara , Peter Wetzler , and Akira Yamada assert that the post - war view focusing on imperial conferences misses the importance of numerous " behind the chrysanthemum curtain " meetings where the real decisions were made between the Emperor , his chiefs of staff , and the cabinet . Historians such as Fujiwara and Wetzler , based on the primary sources and the monumental work of Shirō Hara , have produced evidence suggesting that the Emperor worked through intermediaries to exercise a great deal of control over the military and was neither bellicose nor a pacifist , but an opportunist who governed in a pluralistic decision - making process . American historian Herbert P . Bix argues that Emperor Hirohito might have been the prime mover of most of the events of the two wars . The view promoted by both the Japanese Imperial Palace and the American occupation forces immediately after World War II portrayed Emperor Hirohito as a powerless figurehead behaving strictly according to protocol , while remaining at a distance from the decision - making processes . This view was endorsed by Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita in a speech on the day of Hirohito ' s death , in which Takeshita asserted that the war " had broken out against ( Hirohito ' s ) wishes . " Takeshita ' s statement provoked outrage in nations in East Asia and Commonwealth nations such as the United Kingdom , Canada , Australia , and New Zealand . For historian Fujiwara , however , " the thesis that the Emperor , as an organ of responsibility , could not reverse cabinet decision , is a myth fabricated after the war . " In Japan , debate over the Emperor ' s responsibility was taboo while he was still alive . After his death , however , debate began to surface over the extent of his involvement and thus his culpability . In the years immediately after Hirohito ' s death , the debate in Japan was fierce . Susan Chira reported that , " Scholars who have spoken out against the late Emperor have received threatening phone calls from Japan ' s extremist right wing . " One example of actual violence occurred in 1990 when the mayor of Nagasaki , Hitoshi Motoshima , was shot and critically wounded by a member of the ultranationalist group , Seikijuku ; Motoshima managed to recover from the attack . In 1989 , Motoshima had broken what was characterized as " one of ( Japan ' s ) most sensitive taboos " by asserting that Emperor Hirohito bore responsibility for World War II . Kentaro Awaya argues that post - war Japanese public opinion supporting protection of the Emperor was influenced by U . S . propaganda promoting the view that the Emperor together with the Japanese people had been fooled by the military . Postwar reign . As the Emperor chose his uncle Prince Higashikuni as prime minister to assist the occupation , there were attempts by numerous leaders to have him put on trial for alleged war crimes . Many members of the imperial family , such as Princes Chichibu , Takamatsu and Higashikuni , pressured the Emperor to abdicate so that one of the Princes could serve as regent until Crown Prince Akihito came of age . On February 27 , 1946 , the emperor ' s youngest brother , Prince Mikasa ( Takahito ) , even stood up in the privy council and indirectly urged the emperor to step down and accept responsibility for Japan ' s defeat . According to Minister of Welfare Ashida ' s diary , " Everyone seemed to ponder Mikasa ' s words . Never have I seen His Majesty ' s face so pale . " U . S . General Douglas MacArthur insisted that Emperor Hirohito retain the throne . MacArthur saw the emperor as a symbol of the continuity and cohesion of the Japanese people . Some historians criticize the decision to exonerate the Emperor and all members of the imperial family who were implicated in the war , such as Prince Chichibu , Prince Asaka , Prince Higashikuni and Prince Hiroyasu Fushimi , from criminal prosecutions . Before the war crime trials actually convened , the SCAP , the IPS , and Japanese officials worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the Imperial family from being indicted , but also to slant the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the emperor . High officials in court circles and the Japanese government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals , while the individuals arrested as " Class A " suspects and incarcerated solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility . Thus , " months before the Tokyo tribunal commenced , MacArthur ' s highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for Pearl Harbor to Hideki Tōjō " by allowing " the major criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the Emperor would be spared from indictment . " According to John W . Dower , " This successful campaign to absolve the Emperor of war responsibility knew no bounds . Hirohito was not merely presented as being innocent of any formal acts that might make him culpable to indictment as a war criminal , he was turned into an almost saintly figure who did not even bear moral responsibility for the war . " According to Bix , " MacArthur ' s truly extraordinary measures to save Hirohito from trial as a war criminal had a lasting and profoundly distorting impact on Japanese understanding of the lost war . " Imperial status . The Emperor was not put on trial , but he was forced to explicitly reject ( in the ) the State Shinto claim that the Emperor of Japan was an " arahitogami " , i . e . , an incarnate divinity . This was motivated by the fact that , according to the Japanese constitution of 1889 , the Emperor had a divine power over his country , which was derived from the shinto belief that the Japanese Imperial Family was the offspring of the sun goddess Amaterasu . Hirohito was however persistent in the idea that the emperor of Japan should be considered a descendant of the gods . In December 1945 he told his vice - grand chamberlain Michio Kinoshita : " It is permissible to say that the idea that the Japanese are descendants of the gods is a false conception ; but it is absolutely impermissible to call chimerical the idea that the emperor is a descendant of the gods . " In any case , the " renunciation of divinity " was noted more by foreigners than by Japanese , and seems to have been intended for the consumption of the former . The theory of a constitutional monarchy had already had some proponents in Japan . In 1935 , when Tatsukichi Minobe advocated the theory that sovereignty resides in the states , of which the emperor is just an organ ( the " tennō kikan setsu " ) , it caused a furor . He was forced to resign from the House of Peers and his post at the Tokyo Imperial University , his books were banned and an attempt was made on his life . Not until 1946 was the tremendous step made to alter the Emperor ' s title from " imperial sovereign " to " " . Although the Emperor had supposedly repudiated claims to divine status , his public position was deliberately left vague , partly because General MacArthur thought him likely to be a useful partner to get the Japanese to accept the occupation , and partly due to behind - the - scenes maneuverings by Shigeru Yoshida to thwart attempts to cast him as a European - style monarch . While Emperor Hirohito was usually seen abroad as a head of state , there is still a broad dispute about whether he became a common citizen or retained special status related to his religious offices and participations in Shinto and Buddhist calendar rituals . For the rest of his life , Emperor Hirohito was an active figure in Japanese life , and performed many of the duties commonly associated with a constitutional head of state . The emperor and his family maintained a strong public presence , often holding public walkabouts , and making public appearances on special events and ceremonies . Emperor Hirohito also played an important role in rebuilding Japan ' s diplomatic image , traveling abroad to meet with many foreign leaders , including Queen Elizabeth II ( 1971 ) and President Gerald Ford ( 1975 ) . The emperor was deeply interested in and well - informed about marine biology , and the Imperial Palace contained a laboratory from which the emperor published several papers in the field under his personal name " Hirohito . " His contributions included the description of several dozen species of Hydrozoa new to science . Yasukuni Shrine . Emperor Hirohito maintained an official boycott of the Yasukuni Shrine after it was revealed to him that Class - A war criminals had secretly been enshrined after its post - war rededication . This boycott lasted from 1978 until the time of his death . This boycott has been maintained by his son Akihito , who has also refused to attend Yasukuni . On July 20 , 2006 , " Nihon Keizai Shimbun " published a front page article about the discovery of a memorandum detailing the reason that the Emperor stopped visiting Yasukuni . The memorandum , kept by former chief of Imperial Household Agency Tomohiko Tomita , confirms for the first time that the enshrinement of 14 Class A War Criminal s in Yasukuni was the reason for the boycott . Tomita recorded in detail the contents of his conversations with the emperor in his diaries and notebooks . According to the memorandum , in 1988 , the emperor expressed his strong displeasure at the decision made by Yasukuni Shrine to include Class - A war criminals in the list of war dead honored there by saying , " At some point , Class - A criminals became enshrined , including Matsuoka and Shiratori . I heard Tsukuba acted cautiously . " Tsukuba is believed to refer to Fujimaro Tsukuba , the former chief Yasukuni priest at the time , who decided not to enshrine the war criminals despite having received in 1966 the list of war dead compiled by the government . " What ' s on the mind of Matsudaira ' s son , who is the current head priest ? " " Matsudaira had a strong wish for peace , but the child didn ' t know the parent ' s heart . That ' s why I have not visited the shrine since . This is my heart . " Matsudaira is believed to refer to Yoshitami Matsudaira , who was the grand steward of the Imperial Household immediately after the end of World War II . His son , Nagayoshi , succeeded Fujimaro Tsukuba as the chief priest of Yasukuni and decided to enshrine the war criminals in 1978 . Nagayoshi Matsudaira died in 2006 , which some commentators have speculated is the reason for release of the memo . For journalist Masanori Yamaguchi , who analyzed the " memo " and comments made by the emperor in his first - ever press conference in 1975 , the emperor ' s evasive and opaque attitude about his own responsibility for the war and the fact he said that the bombing of Hiroshima " could not be helped " , " - Does your majesty feel responsibility for the war itself , including the opening of hostilities ? - I can ' t answer that kind of question because I haven ' t thoroughly studied the literature in this field , and so I don ' t really appreciate the nuances of your words . " could mean that the emperor was afraid that the enshrinement of the war criminals at Yasukuni would reignite the debate over his own responsibility for the war . Death and state funeral . On September 22 , 1987 , the Emperor underwent surgery on his pancreas after having digestive problems for several months . The doctors discovered that he had duodenal cancer . The emperor appeared to be making a full recovery for several months after the surgery . About a year later , however , on September 19 , 1988 , he collapsed in his palace , and his health worsened over the next several months as he suffered from continuous internal bleeding . On January 7 , 1989 , at 7 : 55 AM , the grand steward of Japan ' s Imperial Household Agency , Shoichi Fujimori , officially announced the death of Emperor Hirohito , and revealed details about his cancer for the first time . The emperor was succeeded by his son , the current Emperor Akihito , who formally acceded to the throne on November 12 , 1990 . The emperor ' s death ended the Shōwa era . On the same day a new era began : the Heisei era , effective at midnight the following day . From January 7 , until January 31 , the emperor ' s formal appellation was . His definitive posthumous name , , was determined on January 13 and formally released on January 31 by Toshiki Kaifu , the prime minister . On February 24 , Emperor Hirohito ' s state funeral was held , and unlike that of his predecessor , it was formal but not conducted in a strictly Shinto manner . A large number of world leaders attended the funeral , including King Juan Carlos I of Spain , King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden , King Baudouin of Belgium , King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV , King Hussein of Jordan , Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei , King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan , Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg , Secretary - General of the United Nations Javier Pérez de Cuéllar , Managing Director of the IMF Michel Camdessus , Secretaries - General of the OECD Jean - Claude Paye , U . S . President George H . W . Bush , French President François Mitterrand , Filipino President Corazon Aquino , Indonesia President Suharto , Prince Consort of Denmark , The Duke of Edinburgh , Crown Prince of Norway , Crown Prince of Thailand , and many others . Emperor Hirohito is buried in the Imperial mausoleum in Hachiōji , alongside Emperor Taishō , his father .