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At the time of Hirohito’s death, he was the longest-reigning and longest-lived Japanese Emperor in history.

They then installed the young Puyi as emperor of the puppet state. He married an imperial princess, Nagako, in 1924 and they had seven children. Under their leadership, during the 1930s, an expansionist mentality and an aggressive worldview gradually began to dominate Japan’s political system.

However, Japan’s most significant military and political expansion act against China came in July 1937, in what is widely known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.

From January 7 until January 31, 1989, his formal appellation was “The Departed Emperor.” However, on January 13, 1989, his posthumous name, “Showa Tenno,” was concluded and made public by Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on January 31.

His state funeral, which took place on February 24, 1989, was organized formally, just like his predecessor’s but lacked the strict Shinto nature of Japanese funerals.

He reluctantly supported the invasion of Manchuria and the war against China, and attempted to encourage cooperation with Britain and the USA. However, he had no choice but to approve the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that led to war between Japan and the United States in December 1941. He also broadly supported the plans to increase Japan’s military dominance in the Philippines in early 1942.

For example, in 1913, while addressing the Diet (Imperial Parliament), he interrupted his speech to roll the paper on which his text was written into a crude spyglass and then peeked through the paper looking at the puzzled parliamentarians.

Taisho’s mental health worsened over the next few years. Many heads of state and world leaders were present at his funeral.

The “Marco Polo Bridge Incident” also led to theSino-Japanese War, which involved the Nanjing Massacre. The US, in particular, had begun making huge investments in nuclear weapons in their super top secrete Manhattan Project.

The very successful multi-billion project helped produce the world’s first nuclear weapons. They declared the beginning of the “Showa era” (Enlightened Peace) and the end of the “Taisho era.”

Following Japanese tradition, the new Emperor was never addressed by his real name but rather referred to as “His Majesty the Emperor.” However, his name was always formally written as “The Reigning Emperor.”

His ascension was officially confirmed in the ceremonies (sokui) in November 1928.

Then in 1920, he became a Major and Commander in the imperial army and navy.

Hirohito was educated at Gakushuin Peers’ School from 1908 to 1914 and then at a special institute called Tōgū-gogakumonsho from 1914 to 1921. He also represented Japan abroad. Despite his lack of enthusiasm over the decision to go to war, he was pleased with the Japanese military and naval successes that followed.

Surrender and New Constitution

In September 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito broke the precedent of imperial silence and announced the nation's unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces. He was the first son of Crown Prince Yoshihito (later Emperor Taisho) and Princess Sadako (later Empress Teimei).

At the time, there was nothing in Hirohito’s military arsenal that could stop such weapons.

In fact, on July 26, 1945, the US issued an ultimatum to Japan in the “Potsdam Declaration,” calling for Japan’s unconditional surrender, or else they would face the most devastating destruction in the history of the Empire.

Hirohito and his generals called the United States’ bluff, hardly believing they’d carry out the threat.