Hirohito
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Hirohito was the emperor (leader) of Japan during World War II and after. He was born on April 29, 1901 and he died on January 7, 1989. He started ruling Japan in 1926 and ruled until he died. After he died, people in Japan started calling him "Emperor Showa," but he is called Emperor Hirohito, or just Hirohito, more often. He helped Japan make many important changes that made it become a rich country today.
Hirohito was the leader of Japan during the war. Some people say that he was a bad person who wanted to do bad things, but other people say that he did not have a lot of power and that Hideki Tojo, the prime minister (or elected leader), was the one who made the decisions.
Either way, Japan decided to fight instead of talk things through with their enemies. In the end, Hirohito had to give up and let the Allies win.
Some of the winners wanted Hirohito "put on trial" (taken to court where another person says he did something and a group of people says if he did or did not) for the bad things he did during the war, but the United States general Douglas MacArthur did not want that. He wanted Hirohito to still be the Emperor (leader). The people of Japan thought that their emperor was a god before this time, but the general said that Hirohito had to tell his people that he was not a god.
Hirohito did not have a job in the government of Japan anymore. He was a figurehead, a person that had importance, but not power.
Hirohito met with famous leaders and represented Japan to other countries. He helped the people of Japan learn to like the new ways of doing things (that the Americans taught them) with his example.
Hirohito died because of medical problems. He had cancer.
