Hirohito[a] (裕仁, 29 April 1901 – 7 January 1989) was the 124th emperor of Japan

according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned as the emperor of the

Empire of Japan (大日本帝國) from 25 December 1926 until 2 May 1947 and of the state
of Japan (日本国) from 3 May 1947 until his death on 7 January 1989. He was
succeeded by his fifth child and eldest son, Akihito. Hirohito and his wife,
Empress Kojun, had seven children, two sons and five daughters. In Japan, reigning
emperors are known only as "the Emperor." He is now referred to primarily by his
posthumous name, Shōwa (昭和), which is the name of the era coinciding with his
reign; for this reason, he is also known as the Shōwa Emperor or Emperor Shōwa. By
1979, Hirohito was the only monarch in the world with the monarchical title
"emperor." Hirohito was the longest-lived and longest-reigning historical Japanese
emperor and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world.

At the start of his reign, Japan was already one of the great powers—the ninth
largest economy in the world, the third-largest naval power, and one of the four
permanent members of the council of the League of Nations.[3] He was the head of
state under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan during Japan's imperial
expansion, militarization, and involvement in World War II. After Japan's
surrender, he was not prosecuted for war crimes as many other leading government
figures were. His degree of involvement in wartime decisions remains controversial.
[4] During the post-war period, he became the symbol of the state of Japan under
the post-war constitution and Japan's recovery. By the end of his reign, Japan had
emerged as the world's second-largest economy.[5]