| Hirohito, b. Apr. 29, 1901, d. Jan. 7, 1989, was
emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989. His 62-year reign followed that of his father, the
Taisho emperor, Yoshihito. Hirohito was succeeded on the throne by Crown Prince Akihito.
Although Hirohito may have opposed Japan's drift to war in the 1930s, including the
invasion of Manchuria and the alliance with Germany, he was apparently powerless to
restrain the military. Nonetheless, he is credited with influencing the decision to
surrender to the Allies in 1945, thus ending World War II. The new constitution of 1946
stripped him of all but ceremonial powers; although he remained a symbol of the Japanese
state, he personally disavowed the traditional claim to imperial divinity. He had a
lifelong interest in marine biology, a subject on which he wrote several books. |
