Hirohito was the 124th emperor of Japan. He was born on April 29, 1901 at Aoynama Palace in Tokyo, to Crown Prince Yoshihito and Empress Sadako. His grandfather was the Meiji emperor, Mutsuhito, Japans first modern emperor. (Meiji meaning Enlightened Ruler) Seventy days after his birth he was removed from his parents and entrusted to foster parents, a Vice Admiral of the Imperial Navy. When he died, Hirohito was returned to Akasaka Palace, which was a miniature …showed first 75 words of 1973 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1973 total…a Cabinet meeting in 1941, when his ministers agitated for the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Emperor surprised them all by suddenly reciting a poem composed by his grandfather, the Emperor Meiji: ‘In a world/ Where all the seas/ Are brethren/ Why then do wind and wave/ So stridently clash?’ With that, he fell silent.”(Time, p30) The Next Day Hirohito’s Fifty-Six year old son Crown Prince Akihito took over his father’s imperial duties.