{\b Hirohito}.

{\b Date of Birth}.: 29 April 1901

{\b Date of Death}.: 7 January 1989

{\b Works}.

Apart from his part in drafting the Japanese surrender documents at the close 
of World War Two, Hirohito was an emperor of many firsts. On 15 August 1945, 
he broadcast the acceptance of the Allies demand for surrender and, just a few 
months later, on the first of January 1946, followed this with a repudiation 
of the traditionally quasi-divine status of the Japanese emperor. Both of 
these were firsts for an emperor, as was the very length of his reign as 
emperor, from Christmas Day 1926 to his death in 1989. His reign was known as 
'Showa' or "enlightened peace", a name that was also bestowed upon Hirohito 
himself after his death.

{\b General Comment}.

During the sixty-three years of his reign a number of other firsts took place: 
having already become the first Japanese crown prince to leave his 
home-country's shores with his 1921 journey to Europe, he repeated the gesture 
in 1975, when he became the first ever ruling monarch to visit foreign lands.

Hirohito was born at the Aoyoma Palace and educated at the Crown Prince's 
Institute, where he developed an interest in marine biology, a field in which 
he later wrote several books. He married a princess in 1924 and became emperor 
two years later.

By the time of his death sixty-five years later, Japan's constitutional face 
was radically changed. With the new, American-drafted constitution that came 
at the end of the war, Japan became a constitutional monarchy and the 
emperor's powers were severely curtailed. Hirohito kept the monarchy close to 
the people's hearts with a number of public appearances and various other 
concessions made to an already strong public interest in the man who gave 
Japan peace.