document_title: When Calls the Heart

question_text: who plays cyrus on when calls the heart

question_tokens: who plays cyrus on when calls the heart

text: When Calls the Heart

text: Plot[edit]

text: When Calls the Heart tells the story of Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow), a young teacher accustomed to her high-society life. She receives her first classroom assignment in Coal Valley, a small coal-mining town in Western Canada which is located just south of Robb, Alberta. There, life is simple—but often fraught with challenges. Elizabeth charms most everyone in Coal Valley, except Royal North West Mounted Police Constable Jack Thornton (Daniel Lissing). He believes Thatcher’s wealthy father has doomed the lawman's career by insisting he be assigned in town to protect the shipping magnate’s daughter. The town of Coal Valley was renamed Hope Valley in Episode 2, Season 2 after the coal mine was closed.

text: Living in this 1910 coal town, Elizabeth must learn the ways of the Canadian frontier movement if she wishes to thrive in the rural west on her own. Lori Loughlin portrays Abigail Stanton, whose husband, the foreman of the mine, and her only son—along with 44 other miners—have recently been killed in an explosion, which turns out to have been a tragic accident waiting to happen—a result of the mining-company site manager's irresponsible management and lack of due care in his management of the mine. The newly widowed women find their faith tested when they must go to work in the mine to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table, and compile a wage for the town's teacher.[8]

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally aired

First aired
Last aired

1
12
January 11, 2014 (2014-01-11)
March 29, 2014 (2014-03-29)

2
7
April 25, 2015 (2015-04-25)
June 13, 2015 (2015-06-13)

New Year's Wish
December 26, 2015 (2015-12-26)

3
8
February 21, 2016 (2016-02-21)
April 10, 2016 (2016-04-10)

Christmas
December 25, 2016 (2016-12-25)

4
10
February 19, 2017 (2017-02-19)
April 23, 2017 (2017-04-23)

The Christmas Wishing Tree
December 25, 2017 (2017-12-25)

5
--
February 18, 2018 (2018-02-18)
2018 (2018)

text: As of December 25, 2017, 40 episodes of When Calls the Heart have aired, including the third Christmas movie.

text: Production[edit]

text: The series, originally planned to be filmed in Colorado, is filmed south of Vancouver, British Columbia, on a farm surrounded by vineyards. The fictional frontier town of Coal Valley was erected in late 2013. Some of the set trimmings and a stage coach came from the Hell on Wheels set.[9] The Thatcher home is the University Women's Club of Vancouver.[10]

text: The series was renewed for a second season,[11] which aired from April 25 to June 13, 2015. Hallmark Channel announced in July 2015 that the series had been renewed for a third season, which aired from February 21 to April 10, 2016,[12] with a sneak peek airing during the 2015 Christmas season.[13]

text: In mid-2016, it was announced that Season 4 would premier on the Hallmark Channel Christmas Day with a two-hour special. On April 11, 2016, Lissing and Krakow announced via the series' Facebook page that Hallmark Channel had renewed the series for a fourth season, which aired from February 19 to April 23, 2017.[14][15]

text: Filming for season five began in Vancouver on August 22, 2017, and ended on December 21, 2017.[16][17]

text: Cast[edit]

text: Main cast[edit]

text:
Erin Krakow as Elizabeth Thatcher
Daniel Lissing as Jack Thornton
Lori Loughlin as Abigail Stanton
Jack Wagner as Bill Avery
Martin Cummins as Henry Gowen
Pascale Hutton as Rosemary LeVeaux-Coulter
Kavan Smith as Leland Coulter

text: Recurring cast[edit]

text:
Gracyn Shinyei as Emily Montgomery
Loretta Walsh as Florence Blakeley
Erica Carroll as Dottie Ramsey
Mark Humphrey as Frank Hogan
Johannah Newmarch as Molly Sullivan
Mitchell Kummen as Gabe Montgomery
Logan Williams as Miles Montgomery
Ben Rosenbaum as Hickam
Carter Ryan Evancic as Cody Hastings
Chelah Horsdal as Cat Montgomery
Steve Bacic as Charles Spurlock
Kristina Wagner as Nora Avery
Aren Buchholz as Jesse
Charlotte Hegele as Julie Thatcher
Andrea Brooks as Faith Carter
Eva Bourne as Clara Stanton
Ava Grace Cooper as Opal
Max Lloyd-Jones as Tom Thornton
Brooke Shields as Charlotte Thornton
Devon Weigel as Viola Thatcher
Marcus Rosner as Charles Kensington
Mamie Laverock as Rosaleen Sullivan
Adrian Hough as Reverend Anderson
Lynda Boyd as Grace Thatcher
Will Verchere-Gopaulsingh as Caleb Dunbar
Ali Skovbye as Becky Hastings
Garwin Sanford as William Thatcher
Laura Bertram as Mary Dunbar
Derek Hamilton as Dewitt Graves
Niall Matter as Shane Cantrell (season 4)
Spencer Drever as Cyrus Rivera (season 4)

text: Characters[edit]

text:
Elizabeth Thatcher is an independent, strong-minded, passionate and dedicated young teacher from the city. The middle daughter of William and Grace Thatcher, Elizabeth has two sisters, older sister Viola and younger sister Julie. Elizabeth finds herself in Coal Valley, a small community on the Canadian frontier in need of a teacher, and quickly discovers it is not an easy place to live, lacking the creature comforts and luxuries of her privileged life with her family. She soon meets the newly appointed and charismatic Mountie Jack Thornton and develops an immediate dislike for him. However, over time they become good friends, and develop an obvious attraction to one another. In the final episode of season 1, "Prelude to a Kiss," (also titled as "Final Adieu"), after overcoming many obstacles throughout the season, Jack tells Elizabeth, "You're the one, you're the only one" and they share a kiss. Throughout season 2, Elizabeth's feelings for Jack are high at times as well as low. Finally, in the season 2 finale, she admits that his job as a Mountie scares her. After being comforted both admitting that they love each other, Jack and Elizabeth kiss.
Jack Thornton is a laid back country boy. Jack is the son of Mountie Thomas Thornton and his wife Charlotte Thornton. Jack has a younger brother, Tom (named after his father). As a Mountie and a man of stout character and integrity, he often finds himself protecting and saving people. In season 1's "A Telling Silence," Jack finds a basset hound whom he names Rip (after Rip Van Winkle) and takes home with him. A source of comfort and companion in the small town, Jack often goes to Rip when times in his life are difficult. In season 2's "With All My Heart," Rip, who's afraid of thunder, hides in the mine shafts during a storm. Jack and Elizabeth search for him; in their search, their relationship grows stronger. Upon his first meeting of Elizabeth, he developed an instant dislike and it appeared she irritated him. However, he grew to like and then fall madly and completely in love with her over time. In "Rules of Engagement" (S.1), it is revealed that Jack was briefly engaged to Rosemary LeVeaux when she comes looking for him. However, they have both changed and realize that they cannot have a relationship as they once did ever again. In "Prelude to a Kiss" (S.1), Jack found out that Elizabeth may be leaving Coal Valley. Taking her on a walk and giving her a framed picture of them that he had sketched, he asks her not to leave Coal Valley and tells her, "You're the one, you're the only one." She replied that she was "not going anywhere", Coal Valley was where she belonged before they share a kiss. In season 2, Elizabeth and Jack share a hot-and-cold relationship until the finale, "With All My Heart." They both admit that they love each other and share another kiss. Jack's brother, Tom, is introduced season 2's "Trials of the Heart," and their rocky relationship continues until "Coming Together, Coming Apart." Jack gently reminds his younger brother how their father was so proud of him, but he wouldn't be proud of the way he was currently living. Both in tears, Jack tells his younger brother that he believes in him and that he can turn his life around. More recently, Jack has become good friends with the sawmill operator, Lee Coulter. In season 3, Jack begins the new year knowing that Elizabeth only has eyes for him and that her relationship with Charles is over for good. In "Hearts In Question," Jack's mother Charlotte shows up unexpectedly. She meets Elizabeth and is suspicious of her, but through staying her sees Elizabeth for who she really is: a trustworthy, dedicated teacher. In the season finale, "Prayers From The Heart," Jack is injured in a flood. But he miraculously recovers in time to serve as Lee's best man at his wedding.
Abigail Stanton is a Coal Valley woman who tragically lost her husband and son in the mining accident. Abigail is a very kind woman, and she stands strongly for the things she believes in. She is one of the first women to welcome Elizabeth and the two women quickly become friends. When Elizabeth accidentally burns down the little teacherage, Abigail gladly welcomes her into her home to live. After being complimented on her cooking, Abigail decides to open a cafe in Coal Valley. Together, Abigail and Elizabeth move into the rooms above the cafe. At the end of season 1, Abigail enjoys the company of Bill Avery, a Mountie, serving as a Forensic Investigator and friend of Jack Thornton's. In season 2, Abigail takes in her daughter-in-law, Clara, the wife of her late son Peter whom Abigail sees as the daughter she never had. With Bill's past being revealed, Abigail ends their friendship and spends more time with the new pastor, Frank Hogan. Also, she is a strong independent woman that is set on doing the things that are right and tries to help Elizabeth.
Bill Avery is a mysterious, quiet man. He first appears in season 1's "Rules of Engagement," in order to help Jack expose Mr. Gowen's wrongdoings. Bill is immediately attracted to widow Abigail Stanton. Things are going well until Abigail discovers a picture of Bill's family and his wedding ring. He later tells her that his son died, as well as his wife. However, his wife, Nora, comes to confront him in season 2's "Heart's Desire."
Henry Gowen is a cold, cynical man who formerly owned the coal mine. After the mine was shut down, Henry became the mayor of Hope Valley and still creates a cold, cynical presence whenever people are around him. Henry is highly disliked and feared in the town. He frequently uses bribery to get what he wants, which is never for the good of the town.
Rosemary "Rosie" LeVeaux is a flamboyant, enthusiastic actress from New York. She was briefly engaged to Jack Thornton, but they both realized that it wouldn't work out. Rosie immediately disliked Elizabeth and viewed her as "the competition," but eventually came to really care about Elizabeth, even if she has a hard time showing it. At the beginning of season 2, Rosemary began working at the cafe with Abigail and the two quickly became friends. Spending time with Abigail helped tone down some of Rosemary's enthusiasm and made her a more likable person. Rosemary even came to like Elizabeth, even if only on an acquaintance level. Truthfully, she cares about everyone in Hope Valley, especially Lee, with whom she shares an mutual attraction. When Rosie is not spending time with Lee, talking to Abigail, or dreaming about the glamorous life of an actress, she can often be found somewhere writing her weekly advice column for Hope Valley's newspaper! In season 3, Rosemary's friendship with Elizabeth deepened. Instead of viewing her as an adversary, she finds a friend in Elizabeth. Throughout season 3, Rosemary's relationship with Lee becomes more romantic. In "Heart Of A Hero," seeing that Lee needs to spend more time at the sawmill to help the new settlers find jobs, Rosemary tells Lee that the theatre doesn't have to be built. He insists, but she says how important his job is. He smiles and tells her he will one day build her theatre, telling her that she is "the best part of his life." The couple shares in their first kiss. In "A Gentle Heart," Lee is injured. Thinking he is asleep, Rosemary pours out her heart to him, telling how much she loves him. In "Heartbreak," Rosemary is offered a job in Hollywood filming. This has always been Rosemary's dream, to be an actress. Lee unselfishly tells her to do whatever she feels best, but it is obvious that the thought of her leaving Hope Valley hurts him. Rosemary considers her options and realizes that her place is in Hope Valley, with Lee. Lee then tells her that he has another "role" that he thinks would be perfect for her and proposes marriage. She happily accepts. In "Hearts In Question," Rosemary enthusiastically plans for their wedding. The couple weds in the season 3 finale "Prayers From The Heart," with Elizabeth and Abigail as her maids of honor.
Leland "Lee" Coulter is a kind, laidback, patient man who opens a sawmill in Hope Valley. When timber becomes Coal Valley's major source of natural resources, the town is renamed Hope Valley. He shares a mutual attraction to Rosemary and proves to be one of the few people who can outwit her. When she declines his romantic intentions, Lee recruits his friend, Molly Sullivan, to make Rosemary jealous; the ploy succeeds and Rosemary accepts his suit, appreciating Lee's good qualities. Despite her dramatic and occasionally prickly personality, Lee's compassion and patience never fails with her. With Rosemary's help, Lee beat Mr. Gowen at his own game in "Heart and Home." When not at work, Lee enjoys being with friends, including Jack Thornton, who shares Lee's simple and laidback outlook, allowing the men to discuss their lives and exchange romantic advice. In season 3, Lee's mill is unfortunately sabotaged by a man inside. Through Bill and Jack's investigation, they find the culprit. In season 3's "Heart Of A Hero," Rosemary unselfishly gives up the theatre that Lee promised to build her. Lee promises that one day, he will build her the theatre at a time when he isn't so involved with the sawmill and finding people jobs. In "A Gentle Heart," Lee is injured. Thinking Lee is asleep, Rosemary pours out her heart to Lee, telling him how afraid she was when she heard he had been injured. He however hears each and every word. She told him how much she loves him and to never leave her. In the episode "Heartbreak," Lee thinks Rosemary may leave Hope Valley when she is offered a movie job in Hollywood. When she gives up the movie, seeing her future in Hope Valley with him, he asks her to marry him. The couple weds in the season 3 finale, "Prayers From The Heart." Jack serves the role of Lee's best man.
Julie Thatcher is Elizabeth's hopeless romantic younger sister. She often gets herself into sticky situations by falling head over heels for men who aren't quite what they seem. In season 2 she gets involved with Jack's brother Tom, which causes trouble with her family and for Jack and Elizabeth's relationship.
Cat Montgomery is a kind, encouraging woman in Coal Valley. She is a widow and mother of three: Gabe, Miles, and Emily. Cat was one of the first mothers to show kindness to Elizabeth when she first came. She desperately wants her children to remember the good memories of their father as seen by her self-sacrificing acts in "Secrets and Lies." Possessing a great sense of teamwork and encouragement, Cat supports the women of Coal Valley while working in the mines in "Cease and Desist." She is good friends with Elizabeth and Abigail. In "These Games," she also helps Jack catch a thief.
Florence Blakeley is a feisty gossip in Hope Valley. She often has a pessimistic perspective and always seems to find the negative, even in a very positive situation. In "Heart and Home," Abigail told Florence what she really thought about her, which causes Florence to rein in her negativity somewhat, though she remains fairly outspoken. While not always likable, Florence adds spice to life in Hope Valley.
Molly Sullivan is a friend of Lee Coulter and Elizabeth Thatcher. Molly's husband was killed in the mine disaster. She has a daughter Rosaleen. In season 1's "A Telling Silence," Rosaleen has trouble in school because she misses her father so much. When she runs away, Elizabeth finds her in the mine, feeling guilty that she didn't bring her father his lunch the day of the disaster because she wanted to play with a friend instead. She fears her mother will blame her, but Elizabeth convinces her that Molly will "say that she loves her more than life itself." Molly is reunited with her daughter, to the joy of the town's people. In season 2's "With All My Heart," Lee feels it's time to "play hard to get" with Rosemary, so he enlists help from Molly. She pretends to be interested in him romantically. This ploy works and Rosemary admits that she does in fact like him. Molly is a kind woman and was among the first to welcome Elizabeth to town.
Clara Stanton is the wife of Abigail's late son Peter, and is a sweet, quiet, and sensitive young woman. Abigail never knew she had a daughter-in-law until season 2's "Trials of the Heart;" with Peter having married Clara only three days before he was killed. In "Heart's Desire," Abigail invites Clara to come live with her in Hope Valley, an offer that Clara accepts.
Charles Kensington III is an old friend of Elizabeth with whom she reconnects while in Hamilton. He is interested in her, though her feelings for Jack get in the way of their relationship.

text: Broadcast[edit]

text: The first season of the series was subsequently picked up by CBC Television for rebroadcast as a summer series in 2015.[18] The network has since aired the second and third seasons.[19][20] The series became available internationally on Netflix in August 2017.


document_title: Hirohito

question_text: who was the emperor of japan in ww2

question_tokens: who was the emperor of japan in ww2

root

text: Hirohito

text: Early life

text: Born in Tokyo's Aoyama Palace (during the reign of his grandfather, Emperor Meiji) on 29 April 1901, Hirohito was the first son of 21-year old Crown Prince Yoshihito (the future Emperor Taishō) and 17-year old Crown Princess Sadako (the future Empress Teimei).[4] He was the grandson of Emperor Meiji and Yanagihara Naruko. His childhood title was Prince Michi. On the 70th day after his birth, Hirohito was removed from the court and placed in the care of the family of Count Kawamura Sumiyoshi, a former vice-admiral, who was to rear him as if he were his own grandchild. At the age of 3, Hirohito and his brother Chichibu were returned to court when Kawamura died – first to the imperial mansion in Numazu, Shizuoka, then back to the Aoyama Palace.[5] In 1908, he began elementary studies at the Gakushūin (Peers School).

tag: p

text: When his grandfather, Emperor Meiji, died on 30 July 1912, Hirohito's father, Yoshihito, assumed the throne and Hirohito became the heir apparent. At the same time, he was formally commissioned in both the army and navy as a second lieutenant and ensign, respectively, and was also decorated with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum. In 1914, he was promoted to the ranks of lieutenant in the army and sub-lieutenant in the navy, then to captain and lieutenant in 1916. He was formally proclaimed Crown Prince and heir apparent on 2 November 1916; but an investiture ceremony was not strictly necessary to confirm this status as heir to the throne.[6]

text:
Hirohito attended Gakushūin Peers' School from 1908 to 1914 and then a special institute for the crown prince (Tōgū-gogakumonsho) from 1914 to 1921.
In 1920, Hirohito was promoted to the rank of Major in the army and Lieutenant Commander in the navy. In 1921, Hirohito took a six-month tour of Western Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

text: Regency

text: After his return to Japan, Hirohito became Regent of Japan (Sesshō) on 29 November 1921, in place of his ailing father who was affected by a mental illness. In 1923, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the army and Commander in the navy, and to army Colonel and Navy Captain in 1925.

text: During Hirohito's regency, a number of important events occurred:

text: In the Four-Power Treaty on Insular Possessions signed on 13 December 1921, Japan, the United States, Britain, and France agreed to recognize the status quo in the Pacific, and Japan and Britain agreed to terminate formally the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The Washington Naval Treaty was signed on 6 February 1922. Japan withdrew troops from the Siberian Intervention on 28 August 1922. The Great Kantō earthquake devastated Tokyo on 1 September 1923. On 27 December 1923, Daisuke Namba attempted to assassinate Hirohito in the Toranomon Incident but his attempt failed. During interrogation, he claimed to be a communist and was executed but some have suggested that he was in contact with the Nagacho faction in the Army.[citation needed]

text: Marriage

text: Prince Hirohito married his distant cousin Princess Nagako Kuni (the future Empress Kōjun), the eldest daughter of Prince Kuniyoshi Kuni, on 26 January 1924. They had two sons and five daughters.[7] (see Issue)

text: The daughters who lived to adulthood left the imperial family as a result of the American reforms of the Japanese imperial household in October 1947 (in the case of Princess Shigeko) or under the terms of the Imperial Household Law at the moment of their subsequent marriages (in the cases of Princesses Kazuko, Atsuko, and Takako).

text: Ascension

text: On 25 December 1926, Hirohito assumed the throne upon his father, Yoshihito's, death. The Crown Prince was said to have received the succession (senso).[8] The Taishō era's end and the Shōwa era's beginning (Enlightened Peace) were proclaimed. The deceased Emperor was posthumously renamed Emperor Taishō within days. Following Japanese custom, the new Emperor was never referred to by his given name, but rather was referred to simply as "His Majesty the Emperor", which may be shortened to "His Majesty". In writing, the Emperor was also referred to formally as "The Reigning Emperor".

text: In November 1928, the Emperor's ascension was confirmed in ceremonies (sokui)[8] which are conventionally identified as "enthronement" and "coronation" (Shōwa no tairei-shiki); but this formal event would have been more accurately described as a public confirmation that his Imperial Majesty possesses the Japanese Imperial Regalia,[9] also called the Three Sacred Treasures, which have been handed down through the centuries.[10]

text: Early reign

text: The first part of Hirohito's reign took place against a background of financial crisis and increasing military power within the government, through both legal and extralegal means. The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy held veto power over the formation of cabinets since 1900, and between 1921 and 1944 there were no fewer than 64 incidents of political violence.

text: Hirohito narrowly missed assassination by a hand grenade thrown by a Korean independence activist, Lee Bong-chang, in Tokyo on 9 January 1932, in the Sakuradamon Incident.

text: Another notable case was the assassination of moderate Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in 1932, which marked the end of civilian control of the military. This was followed by an attempted military coup in February 1936, the February 26 incident, mounted by junior Army officers of the Kōdōha faction who had the sympathy of many high-ranking officers including Prince Chichibu (Yasuhito), one of the Emperor's brothers. This revolt was occasioned by a loss of political support by the militarist faction in Diet elections. The coup resulted in the murders of a number of high government and Army officials.

text: When Chief Aide-de-camp Shigeru Honjō informed him of the revolt, the Emperor immediately ordered that it be put down and referred to the officers as "rebels" (bōto). Shortly thereafter, he ordered Army Minister Yoshiyuki Kawashima to suppress the rebellion within the hour, and he asked reports from Honjō every thirty minutes. The next day, when told by Honjō that little progress was being made by the high command in quashing the rebels, the Emperor told him "I Myself, will lead the Konoe Division and subdue them." The rebellion was suppressed following his orders on 29 February.[11]

text: Second Sino-Japanese War

text: Starting from the Mukden Incident in 1931, Japan occupied Chinese territories and established puppet governments. Such "aggression was recommended to Hirohito" by his chiefs of staff and prime minister Fumimaro Konoe, and Hirohito never personally objected to any invasion of China.[12] His main concern seems to have been the possibility of an attack by the Soviet Union in the north. His questions to his chief of staff, Prince Kan'in, and minister of the army, Hajime Sugiyama, were mostly about the time it could take to crush Chinese resistance.

text: According to Akira Fujiwara, Hirohito endorsed the policy of qualifying the invasion of China as an "incident" instead of a "war"; therefore, he did not issue any notice to observe international law in this conflict (unlike what his predecessors did in previous conflicts officially recognized by Japan as wars), and the Deputy Minister of the Japanese Army instructed the Chief of staff of Japanese China Garrison Army on August 5 to not use the term "prisoners of war" for Chinese captives. This instruction led to the removal of the constraints of international law on the treatment of Chinese prisoners.[13] And the works of Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno show that the Emperor authorized, by specific orders (rinsanmei), the use of chemical weapons against the Chinese.[14] During the invasion of Wuhan, from August to October 1938, the Emperor authorized the use of toxic gas on 375 separate occasions,[15] despite the resolution adopted by the League of Nations on May 14 condemning Japanese use of toxic gas.

text: World War II

text: Preparations

text: On September 27, 1940, ostensibly under Hirohito's leadership, Japan was a contracting partner of the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy forming the Axis Powers. Before that, in July 1939, the Emperor quarrelled with his brother, Prince Chichibu, who was visiting him three times a week to support the treaty, and reprimanded the army minister Seishirō Itagaki.[16] But after the success of the Wehrmacht in Europe, the Emperor consented to the alliance.

text: On September 4, 1941, the Japanese Cabinet met to consider war plans prepared by Imperial General Headquarters, and decided that:

text: Our Empire, for the purpose of self-defence and self-preservation, will complete preparations for war ... [and is] ... resolved to go to war with the United States, Great Britain, and the French if necessary. Our Empire will concurrently take all possible diplomatic measures vis-à-vis the United States and Great Britain, and thereby endeavor to obtain our objectives ... In the event that there is no prospect of our demands being met by the first ten days of October through the diplomatic negotiations mentioned above, we will immediately decide to commence hostilities against the United States, Britain and the French.

text: The objectives to be obtained were clearly defined: a free hand to continue with the conquest of China and Southeast Asia, no increase in US or British military forces in the region, and cooperation by the West "in the acquisition of goods needed by our Empire".

text: On September 5, Prime Minister Konoe informally submitted a draft of the decision to the Emperor, just one day in advance of the Imperial Conference at which it would be formally implemented. On this evening, the Emperor had a meeting with the chief of staff of the army, Sugiyama, chief of staff of the navy, Osami Nagano, and Prime Minister Konoe. The Emperor questioned Sugiyama about the chances of success of an open war with the Occident. As Sugiyama answered positively, the Emperor scolded him:

text: —At the time of the China Incident, the army told me that we could achieve peace immediately after dealing them one blow with three divisions... but you can't still beat Chiang Kai-shek even today! Sugiyama, you were army minister at that time.—China is a vast area with many ways in and ways out, and we met unexpectedly big difficulties.....—You say the interior of China is huge; isn't the Pacific Ocean even bigger than China?.. Didn't I caution you each time about those matters? Sugiyama, are you lying to me?[17]

text: Chief of Naval General Staff Admiral Nagano, a former Navy Minister and vastly experienced, later told a trusted colleague, "I have never seen the Emperor reprimand us in such a manner, his face turning red and raising his voice."

text: According to the traditional view, Hirohito was deeply concerned by the decision to place "war preparations first and diplomatic negotiations second", and he announced his intention to break with tradition. At the Imperial Conference on the following day, the Emperor directly questioned the chiefs of the Army and Navy general staffs, which was quite an unprecedented action.

text: Nevertheless, all speakers at the Imperial Conference were united in favor of war rather than diplomacy.[18] Baron Yoshimichi Hara, President of the Imperial Council and the Emperor's representative, then questioned them closely, producing replies to the effect that war would be considered only as a last resort from some, and silence from others.

text: At this point, the Emperor astonished all present by addressing the conference personally, and in breaking the tradition of Imperial silence left his advisors "struck with awe." (Prime Minister Konoe's description of the event.) Hirohito stressed the need for peaceful resolution of international problems, expressed regret at his ministers' failure to respond to Baron Hara's probings, and recited a poem written by his grandfather, Emperor Meiji which, he said, he had read "over and over again":

text:
The seas of the four directions—
all are born of one womb:
why, then, do the wind and waves rise in discord?[19]

text: Recovering from their shock, the ministers hastened to express their profound wish to explore all possible peaceful avenues. The Emperor's presentation was in line with his practical role as leader of the State Shinto religion.

text: At this time, Army Imperial Headquarters was continually communicating with the Imperial household in detail about the military situation. On October 8, Sugiyama signed a 47-page report to the Emperor (sōjōan) outlining in minute detail plans for the advance into Southeast Asia. During the third week of October, Sugiyama gave the Emperor a 51-page document, "Materials in Reply to the Throne", about the operational outlook for the war.[20]

text: As war preparations continued, Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe found himself more and more isolated and gave his resignation on October 16. He justified himself to his chief cabinet secretary, Kenji Tomita, by stating:

text: Of course His Majesty is a pacifist, and there is no doubt he wished to avoid war. When I told him that to initiate war was a mistake, he agreed. But the next day, he would tell me: "You were worried about it yesterday, but you do not have to worry so much." Thus, gradually, he began to lean toward war. And the next time I met him, he leaned even more toward. In short, I felt the Emperor was telling me: my prime minister does not understand military matters, I know much more. In short, the Emperor had absorbed the view of the army and navy high commands.[21]

text: The army and the navy recommended the candidacy of Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, one of the Emperor's uncles. According to the Shōwa "Monologue", written after the war, the Emperor then said that if the war were to begin while a member of the imperial house was prime minister, the imperial house would have to carry the responsibility and he was opposed to this.[22]

text: Instead, the Emperor chose the hard-line General Hideki Tōjō, who was known for his devotion to the imperial institution, and asked him to make a policy review of what had been sanctioned by the Imperial Conferences. On November 2, Tōjō, Sugiyama and Nagano reported to the Emperor that the review of eleven points had been in vain. Emperor Hirohito gave his consent to the war and then asked: "Are you going to provide justification for the war?"[23] The decision for war against the United States was presented for approval to Hirohito by General Tōjō, Naval Minister Admiral Shigetarō Shimada, and Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Tōgō.[24]

text: On November 3, Nagano explained in detail the plan of the attack on Pearl Harbor to the Emperor.[25] On November 5, Emperor Hirohito approved in imperial conference the operations plan for a war against the Occident and had many meetings with the military and Tōjō until the end of the month. On November 25 Henry L. Stimson, United States Secretary of War noted in his diary that he had discussed with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt the severe likelihood that Japan was about to launch a surprise attack, and that the question had been "how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves".

text: On the following day, November 26, 1941, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull presented the Japanese ambassador with the Hull note, which as one of its conditions demanded the complete withdrawal of all Japanese troops from French Indochina and China. Japanese Prime Minister Tojo Hideki said to his cabinet, "this is an ultimatum". On December 1, an Imperial Conference sanctioned the "War against the United States, United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands".

text: War: advance and retreat

text: On December 8 (December 7 in Hawaii), 1941, in simultaneous attacks, Japanese forces struck at the Hong Kong Garrison, the US Fleet in Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines and began the invasion of Malaya.

text: With the nation fully committed to the war, the Emperor took a keen interest in military progress and sought to boost morale. According to Akira Yamada and Akira Fujiwara, the Emperor made major interventions in some military operations. For example, he pressed Sugiyama four times, on January 13 and 21 and February 9 and 26, to increase troop strength and launch an attack on Bataan. On February 9, March 19 and May 29, the Emperor ordered the Army Chief of staff to examine the possibilities for an attack on Chungking, which led to Operation Gogo.[26]

text: As the tide of war began to turn against Japan (around late 1942 and early 1943), some people[who?] argue that the flow of information to the palace gradually began to bear less and less relation to reality, while others suggest that the Emperor worked closely with Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō, continued to be well and accurately briefed by the military, and knew Japan's military position precisely right up to the point of surrender. The chief of staff of the General Affairs section of the Prime Minister's office, Shuichi Inada, remarked to Tōjō's private secretary, Sadao Akamatsu:

text: There has never been a cabinet in which the prime minister, and all the ministers, reported so often to the throne. In order to effect the essence of genuine direct imperial rule and to relieve the concerns of the Emperor, the ministers reported to the throne matters within the scope of their responsibilities as per the prime minister's directives ... In times of intense activities, typed drafts were presented to the Emperor with corrections in red. First draft, second draft, final draft and so forth, came as deliberations progressed one after the other and were sanctioned accordingly by the Emperor.[27]

text: In the first six months of war, all the major engagements had been victories. Japanese advances were stopped in the summer of 1942 with the battle of Midway and the landing of the American forces on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in August. The Emperor recognized the potential danger and pushed the navy and the army for greater efforts. In September 1942, Emperor Hirohito signed an Imperial Rescript condemning to death American fliers Lieutenants Dean E. Hallmark and William G. Farrow and Corporal Harold A. Spatz and commuting to life sentences Lieutenants Robert J. Meder, Chase Nielsen, Robert L. Hite and George Barr and Corporal Jacob DeShazer. All had participated in the Doolittle Raid and had been captured.

text: When informed in August 1943 by Sugiyama that the American advance through the Solomon Islands could not be stopped, the Emperor asked his chief of staff to consider other places to attack: "When and where are you ever going to put up a good fight? And when are you ever going to fight a decisive battle?"[28] On August 24, the Emperor reprimanded Nagano and on September 11, he ordered Sugiyama to work with the Navy to implement better military preparation and give adequate supply to soldiers fighting in Rabaul.[29]

text: Throughout the following years from 1943 to 1945, the sequence of drawn and then decisively lost naval and land engagements was reported to the public as a series of great victories. Only gradually did it become apparent to the Japanese people that the situation was very grim due to growing shortages of food, medicine, and fuel as U.S submarines began wiping out Japanese shipping. Starting in mid 1944, U.S. air raids on the cities of Japan made a mockery of the unending tales of victory. Later that year, with the downfall of Hideki Tōjō's government, two other prime ministers were appointed to continue the war effort, Kuniaki Koiso and Kantarō Suzuki—each with the formal approval of the Emperor. Both were unsuccessful and Japan was nearing defeat.

text: Surrender

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: In early 1945, in the wake of the losses in Battle of Leyte, Emperor Hirohito began a series of individual meetings with senior government officials to consider the progress of the war. All but ex-Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe advised continuing the war. Konoe feared a communist revolution even more than defeat in war and urged a negotiated surrender. In February 1945, during the first private audience with the Emperor which he had been allowed in three years,[30] Konoe advised Hirohito to begin negotiations to end the war. According to Grand Chamberlain Hisanori Fujita, the Emperor, still looking for a tennozan (a great victory) in order to provide a stronger bargaining position, firmly rejected Konoe's recommendation.[31]

text: With each passing week victory became less likely. In April the Soviet Union issued notice that it would not renew its neutrality agreement. Japan's ally Germany surrendered in early May 1945. In June, the cabinet reassessed the war strategy, only to decide more firmly than ever on a fight to the last man. This strategy was officially affirmed at a brief Imperial Council meeting, at which, as was normal, the Emperor did not speak.

text: The following day, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Kōichi Kido prepared a draft document which summarized the hopeless military situation and proposed a negotiated settlement. Extremists in Japan were also calling for a death-before-dishonor mass suicide, modeled on the "47 Ronin" incident. By mid-June 1945, the cabinet had agreed to approach the Soviet Union to act as a mediator for a negotiated surrender, but not before Japan's bargaining position had been improved by repulse of the anticipated Allied invasion of mainland Japan.

text: On June 22, the Emperor met with his ministers, saying "I desire that concrete plans to end the war, unhampered by existing policy, be speedily studied and that efforts be made to implement them." The attempt to negotiate a peace via the Soviet Union came to nothing. There was always the threat that extremists would carry out a coup or foment other violence. On July 26, 1945, the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding unconditional surrender. The Japanese government council, the Big Six, considered that option and recommended to the Emperor that it be accepted only if one to four conditions were agreed upon, including a guarantee of the Emperor's continued position in Japanese society. The Emperor decided not to surrender.

text: That changed after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war. On August 9, Emperor Hirohito told Kōichi Kido: "the Soviet Union has declared war and today began hostilities against us."[32] On August 10, the cabinet drafted an "Imperial Rescript ending the War" following the Emperor's indications that the declaration did not compromise any demand which prejudiced the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler.

text: On August 12, 1945, the Emperor informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender. One of his uncles, Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, asked whether the war would be continued if the kokutai (national polity) could not be preserved. The Emperor simply replied "of course."[33] On August 14, the Suzuki government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration.

text: On August 15, a recording of the Emperor's surrender speech ("Gyokuon-hōsō", literally "Jewel Voice Broadcast") was broadcast over the radio (the first time the Emperor was heard on the radio by the Japanese people) announcing Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration. During the historic broadcast the Emperor stated: "Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization." The speech also noted that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage" and ordered the Japanese to "endure the unendurable". The speech, using formal, archaic Japanese, was not readily understood by many commoners. According to historian Richard Storry in A History of Modern Japan, the Emperor typically used "a form of language familiar only to the well-educated" and to the more traditional samurai families.[34]

text: A faction of the army opposed to the surrender attempted a coup d'état on the evening of 14 August. They seized the Imperial Palace (the Kyūjō incident), but the physical recording of the emperor's speech was hidden and preserved overnight. The coup was crushed by the next morning, and the speech was broadcast.

text: In his first ever press conference given in Tokyo in 1975, when he was asked what he thought of the bombing of Hiroshima, the Emperor answered: "It's very regrettable that nuclear bombs were dropped and I feel sorry for the citizens of Hiroshima but it couldn't be helped because that happened in wartime" (shikata ga nai).[35]

text: Accountability for Japanese war crimes

text: Some historians believe Emperor Hirohito was directly responsible for the atrocities committed by the imperial forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War and in World War II. They feel that he, and some members of the imperial family such as his brother Prince Chichibu, his cousins Prince Takeda and Prince Fushimi, and his uncles Prince Kan'in, Prince Asaka, and Prince Higashikuni, should have been tried for war crimes.[36][37]

text: The debate over Hirohito's responsibility for war crimes concerns how much real control the Emperor had over the Japanese military during the two wars. Officially, the imperial constitution, adopted under Emperor Meiji, gave full power to the Emperor. Article 4 prescribed that, "The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution", while, according to article 6, "The Emperor gives sanction to laws and orders them to be promulgated and executed", and article 11, "The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and the Navy." The Emperor was thus the leader of the Imperial General Headquarters.[38]

text: Poison gas weapons, such as phosgene, were produced by Unit 731 and authorized by specific orders given by Hirohito himself, transmitted by the chief of staff of the army. For example, Hirohito authorised the use of toxic gas 375 times during the battle of Wuhan from August to October 1938.[2]

text: Historians such as Herbert Bix, Akira Fujiwara, Peter Wetzler, and Akira Yamada assert that the post-war view focusing on imperial conferences misses the importance of numerous "behind the chrysanthemum curtain" meetings where the real decisions were made between the Emperor, his chiefs of staff, and the cabinet. Historians such as Fujiwara[39] and Wetzler,[40] based on the primary sources and the monumental work of Shirō Hara,[a] have produced evidence suggesting that the Emperor worked through intermediaries to exercise a great deal of control over the military and was neither bellicose nor a pacifist, but an opportunist who governed in a pluralistic decision-making process. American historian Herbert P. Bix argues that Emperor Hirohito might have been the prime mover of most of the events of the two wars.[37]

text: The view promoted by both the Japanese Imperial Palace and the American occupation forces immediately after World War II portrayed Emperor Hirohito as a powerless figurehead behaving strictly according to protocol, while remaining at a distance from the decision-making processes. This view was endorsed by Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita in a speech on the day of Hirohito's death, in which Takeshita asserted that the war "had broken out against [Hirohito's] wishes". Takeshita's statement provoked outrage in nations in East Asia and Commonwealth nations such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.[41] According to historian Fujiwara "the thesis that the Emperor, as an organ of responsibility, could not reverse cabinet decision, is a myth fabricated after the war".[42]

text: In Japan, debate over the Emperor's responsibility was taboo while he was still alive. After his death, however, debate began to surface over the extent of his involvement and thus his culpability.[41]

text: In the years immediately after Hirohito's death, the debate in Japan was fierce. Susan Chira reported, "Scholars who have spoken out against the late Emperor have received threatening phone calls from Japan's extremist right wing."[41] One example of actual violence occurred in 1990 when the mayor of Nagasaki, Hitoshi Motoshima, was shot and critically wounded by a member of the ultranationalist group, Seikijuku. A year before, in 1989, Motoshima had broken what was characterized as "one of [Japan's] most sensitive taboos" by asserting that Emperor Hirohito bore responsibility for World War II.[43] Motoshima recovered from the attack.

text: Kentarō Awaya argues that post-war Japanese public opinion supporting protection of the Emperor was influenced by U.S. propaganda promoting the view that the Emperor together with the Japanese people had been fooled by the military.[44]

text: Postwar reign

text: As the Emperor chose his uncle Prince Higashikuni as prime minister to assist the occupation, there were attempts by numerous leaders to have him put on trial for alleged war crimes. Many members of the imperial family, such as Princes Chichibu, Takamatsu and Higashikuni, pressured the Emperor to abdicate so that one of the Princes could serve as regent until Crown Prince Akihito came of age.[45] On February 27, 1946, the Emperor's youngest brother, Prince Mikasa (Takahito), even stood up in the privy council and indirectly urged the Emperor to step down and accept responsibility for Japan's defeat. According to Minister of Welfare Ashida's diary, "Everyone seemed to ponder Mikasa's words. Never have I seen His Majesty's face so pale."[46]

text: U.S. General Douglas MacArthur insisted that Emperor Hirohito retain the throne. MacArthur saw the Emperor as a symbol of the continuity and cohesion of the Japanese people. Some historians criticize the decision to exonerate the Emperor and all members of the imperial family who were implicated in the war, such as Prince Chichibu, Prince Asaka, Prince Higashikuni and Prince Hiroyasu Fushimi, from criminal prosecutions.[47]

text: Before the war crime trials actually convened, the SCAP, the IPS, and Japanese officials worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the Imperial family from being indicted, but also to influence the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the Emperor. High officials in court circles and the Japanese government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals, while the individuals arrested as Class A suspects and incarcerated solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility.[48] Thus, "months before the Tokyo tribunal commenced, MacArthur's highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for Pearl Harbor to Hideki Tōjō"[49] by allowing "the major criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the Emperor would be spared from indictment."[50] According to John W. Dower, "This successful campaign to absolve the Emperor of war responsibility knew no bounds. Hirohito was not merely presented as being innocent of any formal acts that might make him culpable to indictment as a war criminal, he was turned into an almost saintly figure who did not even bear moral responsibility for the war."[51] According to Bix, "MacArthur's truly extraordinary measures to save Hirohito from trial as a war criminal had a lasting and profoundly distorting impact on Japanese understanding of the lost war."[52]

text: Imperial status

text: Hirohito was not put on trial, but he was forced[53] to explicitly reject the quasi-official claim that the Emperor of Japan was an arahitogami, i.e., an incarnate divinity. This was motivated by the fact that, according to the Japanese constitution of 1889, the Emperor had a divine power over his country, which was derived from the Shinto belief that the Japanese Imperial Family was the offspring of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Hirohito was however persistent in the idea that the Emperor of Japan should be considered a descendant of the gods. In December 1945, he told his vice-grand-chamberlain Michio Kinoshita: "It is permissible to say that the idea that the Japanese are descendants of the gods is a false conception; but it is absolutely impermissible to call chimerical the idea that the Emperor is a descendant of the gods."[54] In any case, the "renunciation of divinity" was noted more by foreigners than by Japanese, and seems to have been intended for the consumption of the former.[b] The theory of a constitutional monarchy had already had some proponents in Japan. In 1935, when Tatsukichi Minobe advocated the theory that sovereignty resides in the state, of which the Emperor is just an organ (the tennō kikan setsu), it caused a furor. He was forced to resign from the House of Peers and his post at the Tokyo Imperial University, his books were banned and an attempt was made on his life.[55] Not until 1946 was the tremendous step made to alter the Emperor's title from "imperial sovereign" to "constitutional monarch".

text: Although the Emperor had supposedly repudiated claims to divinity, his public position was deliberately left vague, partly because General MacArthur thought him probable to be a useful partner to get the Japanese to accept the occupation, and partly due to behind-the-scenes maneuverings by Shigeru Yoshida to thwart attempts to cast him as a European-style monarch.

text: Nevertheless, Hirohito's status as a limited constitutional monarch status was formalized with the enactment of the 1947 Constitution–officially, an amendment to the Meiji Constitution. It defined the Emperor as "the symbol of the state and the unity of the people," and stripped him of even nominal power in government matters. His role was limited to matters of state as delineated in the Constitution, and in most cases his actions in that realm were carried out in accordance with the binding instructions of the Cabinet.

text: For the rest of his life, Hirohito was an active figure in Japanese life, and performed many of the duties commonly associated with a constitutional head of state. He and his family maintained a strong public presence, often holding public walkabouts, and making public appearances on special events and ceremonies. He also played an important role in rebuilding Japan's diplomatic image, traveling abroad to meet with many foreign leaders, including Queen Elizabeth II (1971) and President Gerald Ford (1975).

text: His status and image became strongly positive in the United States.[56] However, partially as a result of intense economic rivalry between British and Japanese manufacturers in the 1970s, the image of Hirohito was seen as widely seen as negative amid a growing racism against the Japanese. During Hirohito's 1971 visit to the UK, the satirical magazine Private Eye used a racist double entendre to refer to the emperor's visit ("nasty Nip in the air").[57]

text: The Emperor was deeply interested in and well-informed about marine biology, and the Imperial Palace contained a laboratory from which the Emperor published several papers in the field under his personal name "Hirohito".[58] His contributions included the description of several dozen species of Hydrozoa new to science.[59]

text: Yasukuni Shrine

text: Emperor Hirohito maintained an official boycott of the Yasukuni Shrine after it was revealed to him that Class-A war criminals had secretly been enshrined after its post-war rededication. This boycott lasted from 1978 until his death. This boycott has been maintained by his son Akihito.

text: On July 20, 2006, Nihon Keizai Shimbun published a front-page article about the discovery of a memorandum detailing the reason that the Emperor stopped visiting Yasukuni. The memorandum, kept by former chief of Imperial Household Agency Tomohiko Tomita, confirms for the first time that the enshrinement of 14 Class-A war criminals in Yasukuni was the reason for the boycott. Tomita recorded in detail the contents of his conversations with the Emperor in his diaries and notebooks. According to the memorandum, in 1988, the Emperor expressed his strong displeasure at the decision made by Yasukuni Shrine to include Class-A war criminals in the list of war dead honored there by saying, "At some point, Class-A criminals became enshrined, including Matsuoka and Shiratori. I heard Tsukuba acted cautiously." Tsukuba is believed to refer to Fujimaro Tsukuba, the former chief Yasukuni priest at the time, who decided not to enshrine the war criminals despite having received in 1966 the list of war dead compiled by the government. "What's on the mind of Matsudaira's son, who is the current head priest?" "Matsudaira had a strong wish for peace, but the child didn't know the parent's heart. That's why I have not visited the shrine since. This is my heart." Matsudaira is believed to refer to Yoshitami Matsudaira, who was the grand steward of the Imperial Household immediately after the end of World War II. His son, Nagayoshi, succeeded Fujimaro Tsukuba as the chief priest of Yasukuni and decided to enshrine the war criminals in 1978.[60] Nagayoshi Matsudaira died in 2006, which some commentators have speculated is the reason for release of the memo.

text: Death and state funeral

text: On September 22, 1987, the Emperor underwent surgery on his pancreas after having digestive problems for several months. The doctors discovered that he had duodenal cancer. The Emperor appeared to be making a full recovery for several months after the surgery. About a year later, however, on September 19, 1988, he collapsed in his palace, and his health worsened over the next several months as he suffered from continuous internal bleeding. On January 7, 1989, at 7:55 AM, the grand steward of Japan's Imperial Household Agency, Shoichi Fujimori, officially announced the death of Emperor Hirohito, and revealed details about his cancer for the first time. Hirohito was survived by his wife, his five surviving children, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.[7]

text: The Emperor was succeeded by his son, the current Emperor Akihito, whose enthronement ceremony was held on November 12, 1990.

text: The Emperor's death ended the Shōwa era. On the same day a new era began: the Heisei era, effective at midnight the following day. From January 7, until January 31, the Emperor's formal appellation was "Departed Emperor". His definitive posthumous name, Shōwa Tennō, was determined on January 13 and formally released on January 31 by Toshiki Kaifu, the prime minister.

text: On February 24, Emperor Hirohito's state funeral was held, and unlike that of his predecessor, it was formal but not conducted in a strictly Shinto manner. A large number of world leaders attended the funeral. Emperor Hirohito is buried in the Musashi Imperial Graveyard in Hachiōji, alongside Emperor Taishō, his father.

text: Titles, styles and honours

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
Styles ofEmperor Shōwa
Reference style
His MajestySpoken style
Your MajestyAlternative style
Sir

text:
29 April 1901 – 30 July 1912: His Imperial Highness The Prince Michi
30 July 1912 – 25 December 1926: His Imperial Highness The Crown Prince
29 November 1921 – 25 December 1926: His Imperial Highness The Regent
25 December 1926 – 7 January 1989: His Majesty The Emperor
Posthumous title: His Majesty Emperor Shōwa

tag: ul

text: Military appointments

text:
Second Lieutenant, IJA and Second Sub-Lieutenant, IJN (9 September 1912)
Lieutenant, IJA and Sub-Lieutenant, IJN (31 October 1914)
Captain, IJA and Lieutenant, IJN (31 October 1916)
Major, IJA and Lieutenant-Commander, IJN (31 October 1920)
Lieutenant-Colonel, IJA and Commander, IJN (31 October 1923)
Colonel, IJA and Captain, IJN (31 October 1924)
Grand Marshal and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Empire of Japan (25 December 1926; upon ascending the throne)[61]

text: Foreign military appointments

text:
United Kingdom : Honorary General in the British Army; appointed in May 1921[62][63]
 United Kingdom : Field-Marshal of Regular Army in the British Army; appointed in June 1930.[64]

text: National honours

text:
Collar and Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Blossoms
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Golden Kite (abolished in 1947)
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure

text: Foreign honours

text:
Germany: Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
 Finland: Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland; conferred in 1942 (Finland and Japan were on the same side in World War II 1941–1944), the swastika collar was replaced by fir cross collar within the state visit of the president of Finland Mauno Koivisto in 1986
 Norway: Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St. Olav
 Sweden: Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim
 Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant
 Poland: Knight of the Order of the White Eagle
 Thailand: The Most Auspicious Order of the Rajamitrabhorn
   Nepal: Member of the Order of Ojaswi Rajanya (19 April 1960)[65]
 Philippines: Grand Collar of the Order of Sikatuna (September 28, 1966)[66]
 Brazil: Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross
 Italy: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
 Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
 Tonga: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Order of Pouono[67]
 United Kingdom: Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) – conferred in May 1921
 United Kingdom: Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) – conferred in May 1921[68]
 United Kingdom: Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG); conferred in 1929, revoked in 1941, restored in 1971[69]
 United Kingdom: Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1971[70]
 Brunei: 1st Class of the Order of the Crown of Brunei
 Spain: Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece (6 October 1928)[71][72]
 Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer
 Greece: Collar of the Order of Saints George and Constantine

text: Issue

text:
Name
Birth
Death
Marriage
Issue

Shigeko, Princess Teru
December 6, 1925
July 23, 1961
October 10, 1943
Prince Morihiro Higashikuni
Prince Nobuhiko HigashikuniPrincess Fumiko HigashikuniNaohiko HigashikuniHidehiko HigashikuniYūko Higashikuni

Sachiko, Princess Hisa
September 10, 1927
March 6, 1928

Kazuko, Princess Taka
September 30, 1929
May 26, 1989[73]
May 20, 1950
Toshimichi Takatsukasa
Naotake Takatsukasa (adopted)

Atsuko, Princess Yori
March 7, 1931

October 10, 1952
Takamasa Ikeda

Akihito, Emperor of Japan
December 23, 1933

April 10, 1959
Michiko Shōda
Naruhito, Crown Prince of JapanFumihito, Prince AkishinoSayako, Princess Nori

Masahito, Prince Hitachi
November 28, 1935

September 30, 1964
Hanako Tsugaru

Takako, Princess Suga
March 2, 1939

March 10, 1960
Hisanaga Shimazu
Yoshihisa Shimazu

text: Ancestry

text: showAncestors of Hirohito         16. Ayahito, Emperor Ninkō (1800-1846)      8. Osahito, Emperor Kōmei (1831-1867)         17. Lady Ōgimachi Naoko (1803-1856)      4. Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji (1852-1912)           18. Marquess Nakayama Tadayasu (1809-1888)      9. Lady Yoshiko Nakayama (1836-1907)         19. Matsura Aiko (1818-1906)      2. Yoshihito, Emperor Taishō (1879-1926)             20. Yanagihara Takamitsu (1793-1851)      10. Yanagihara Mitsunaru (1818-1885)         21. Ōgimachisanjō Noriko (1797-1859)      5. Lady Yanagihara Naruko (1859-1943)           22. Hasegawa Yukiaki      11. Utano Hasegawa (1832-1891)                1. Hirohito, Emperor Shōwa              24. Nijō Harutaka (1754-1826)      12. Regent Kujō Hisatada (1798-1871)         25. Higuchi Nobuko (1751–1845)      6. Prince Kujō Michitaka (1839-1906)           26. Matsuumein ZenYasushi      13. Lady Karahashi Meiko (1796-1881)                3. Sadako, Empress Teimei (1884-1951)                    14. Noma Yorioki                7. Noma Ikuko                  15. Yamokushi Kairi

text: Scientific publications

text:
(1967) A review of the hydroids of the family Clathrozonidae with description of a new genus and species from Japan.[75]
(1969) Some hydroids from the Amakusa Islands.[76]
(1971) Additional notes on Clathrozoon wilsoni Spencer.[77]
(1974) Some hydrozoans of the Bonin Islands[78]
(1977) Five hydroid species from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea.[79]
(1983) Hydroids from Izu Oshima and Nijima.[80]
(1984) A new hydroid Hydractinia bayeri n. sp. (family Hydractiniidae) from the Bay of Panama.[81]
(1988) The hydroids of Sagami Bay collected by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.[82]
(1995) The hydroids of Sagami Bay II. (posthumous)[83]


document_title: Internet in Ethiopia

question_text: how many internet users are there in ethiopia

text: Internet in Ethiopia

text: Availability of Internet[edit]

text: In 2005, Ethiopia announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next three years to connect all of the country’s schools, hospitals, and government offices, and most of its rural population, to broadband Internet via satellite or fiber-optic cable.[5] Between 2005 and 2007, the government spent US$40 million to install WoredaNET and SchoolNET, two nationwide[6] networks meant to increase connectivity.[4] WoredaNET provides e-mail, videoconferencing and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to local governments, and SchoolNet provides streaming audio and video through a downlink-only VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) satellite. The government has pledged to dedicate 10% of its annual budget to the development and maintenance of these networks, which are managed by the government-run Ethiopian ICT Development Authority (EICTDA).[4]

text: Ethiopia has made several attempts to increase available broadband by laying 4,000 kilometers of fiber-optic cable along the country’s major highways, by making overtures to the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and by connecting Addis Ababa to existing fiber optic networks in Port Sudan and Djibouti. These ventures have had mixed success. The domestic network is not yet operational, though the government has promised to lay 10,000 more kilometers of cable by 2010.[4] Once the cable has been laid,[clarification needed] it is said Ethiopia will consider opening the network to a second, private operator.[7] EASSy has been delayed multiple times by disagreements among the member countries (though at the time of writing it was scheduled to be completed by June 2010[8]), and the line to Djibouti was sabotaged and looted, allegedly by ONLF and OLF rebels, shortly after its completion in 2006.[4]

text: Currently satellite Internet is available to some large corporations, but individuals are not permitted to have private satellite connections. The ETC also bans the use of VoIP in Internet cafés and by the general population, though its web site lists VoIP as part of the company's future broadband strategy.

text: In 2014, the number of Internet users in Ethiopia had increased to 1,836,035, or approximately 1.9% of the population.[9] In 2015, it had risen to 3.7 million, or 3.7%.

text: Regulation and ISPs[edit]

text: The Ethio Telecom and the Ethiopian Telecommunication Agency (ETA) have exclusive control of Internet access throughout the country. The ETA is not an independent regulatory body, and its staff and telecommunications policies are controlled by the national government. It grants the Ethio Telecom a monopoly license as Ethiopia’s sole ISP and seller of domain names under the country code top-level domain, ".et". Internet cafés and other resellers of Internet services must be licensed by the ETA and must purchase their access through the ETC. Individual purchasers must also apply for Internet connections through the Ethio Telecom. In 2012, Ethiopia passed a law that prohibits anyone to "bypasses the telecom infrastructure established by the telecom service provider", which prevents any alternative internet service provider to be created.[10][11]

text: Censorship[edit]

text: In October 2012 the OpenNet Initiative listed Ethiopia as engaged in pervasive Internet filtering in the political area, selective filtering in the conflict/security and Internet tools areas, and there is no evidence of filtering in the social area, and  by ONI in October 2012.[12] Blocked content was found to be blocked through the use of forged TCP RST (reset) packets, a method that is not transparent to users.[13]

text: Ethiopia remains a highly restrictive environment in which to express political dissent online. The government of Ethiopia has long filtered critical and oppositional political content. Broad application of the country’s 2009 anti-terrorism proclamation has served as the basis for a number of recent convictions with bloggers and journalists convicted on terrorism charges based on their online and offline writings. Most notably, in July 2012 blogger Eskinder Nega was jailed for 18 years on charges of attempting to incite violence through his blog posts. This incident was the seventh arrest of Nega for his critical writings. Nega was accused of conspiring with Ginbot 7, an opposition political group labeled a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government. Also convicted in absentia were Abebe Gellaw of the online news platform Addis Voice, as well as Mesfin Negash and Abiye Teklemariam, editors of the news website Addis Neger Online. A number of other journalists and opposition political figures were also simultaneously convicted of similar offenses. In January 2012, Elias Kifle, editor of Ethiopian Review, was convicted in absentia under the same anti-terrorism laws.[13] In April 2014, a team of journalists and bloggers called Zone 9 were arrested under similar terrorism charges in Addis Ababa.[14] Similarly, in July 2014, Zelalem Workagegnehu, the contributor of the Diaspora-based De Birhan Blog along with his two friends (Yonatan Wolde and Bahiru Degu), who applied for a Digital Security Course, were arrested and later charged with the Anti-Terror Proclamation. Bahiru and Yonatan were acquitted by the court on April 15, 2016.

text: The government has also passed a law restricting the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications such as Skype.[15] While government representatives portrayed the law as a means of protecting domestic telecommunications providers, some critics described the new draft legislation as an attempt to criminalize the use of VoIP services to punish dissent.[16] A 2014 report describes the "Rules for Cafe Operators", which includes making all computer screens visible to the operator and reporting any content critical of the government,[17] or visiting sensitive political websites. Other reports describe attempts by Ethiopia's sole Internet Service Provider (ISP), Ethio telecom, to restrict the use of tools to anonymize web browsing and circumvent Internet filtering. In May 2012, developers of the Internet anonymizer software project Tor reported that the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) / Ethio telecom had begun using deep packet inspection (DPI) to block access to the Tor service.[13]

text: Surveillance[edit]

text: The Ethiopian government is engaged in extensive surveillance of Internet users both inside and outside Ethiopia. In August 2012, Ethiopia was included on a list of 10 countries that own the commercial spyware suite FinFisher. The Ethiopian government agency involved in surveillance and content blocking is called the Information Network Security Agency.[citation needed]

text: In December 2006, the Ethiopian Telecommunication Agency began requiring Internet cafés to log the names and addresses of individual customers, reportedly as part of an effort to track users who engaged in illegal activities online.[18] The lists are to be turned over to the police, and Internet café owners who fail to register users may face prison.[19]

text: Bloggers believe that their communications are being monitored, and the state maintains the right to shut down Internet access for resellers or customers who do not comply with security guidelines. The government has closed Internet cafés in the past for offering VoIP services and for other policy violations.[19]

text: A 2014 study by Human Rights Watch found extensive surveillance of the Internet and other telecommunication systems in the country. Ethiopian security and intelligence agencies can use internet surveillance capabilities to access files and activity on a target’s computer; to log keystrokes and passwords; and to remotely activate the device's webcam and microphone. The surveillance technology was provided by foreign firms, notably China-based ZTE, as well as FinFisher and Hacking Team.[20]