Hirohito

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Hirohito (April 29, 1901 January 7, 1989) 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, he is now referred to exclusively by his posthumous name Emperor Sh wa in Japan and increasingly by scholars outside Japan.[citation needed] The word Sh wa 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 Sh wa era was the longest reign of any historical Japanese emperor, encompassing a period of tremendous change in Japanese society. At the start of his reign, Japan was still a fairly rural country with a limited industrial base. Japan's militarization in the 1930s eventually led to Japan's invasion of China and involvement in World War II. After the war ended with the unconditional surrender of Japan, the Emperor cooperated withthe reorganization of the Japanese state during the occupation of Japan, and lived to see Japan becoming a highly urbanized democracy and one of the industrial and technological powerhouses of the world.