On 7 January 1989,

Emperor Shōwa Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

, the 124th

Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his positio ...

according to the traditional order of succession, died in his sleep at 6:33 am JST after suffering from

intestinal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

for some time. He was 87 years old. The late emperor's

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...

was held on 24 February, when he was buried near his parents at the Musashi Imperial Graveyard in Hachiōji, Tokyo.

Illness and death

On 22 September 1987, the Emperor underwent surgery on his

pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an end ...

after having digestive problems for several months. The doctors discovered that he had

duodenal cancer Duodenal cancer is a cancer in the first section of the small intestine known as the duodenum. Cancer of the duodenum is relatively rare compared to stomach cancer and colorectal cancer. Its histology is usually adenocarcinoma. Familial adeno ...

. The Emperor appeared to be making a full recovery for several months after the surgery. About a year later, however, on 19 September 1988, he collapsed in his palace, and his health worsened over the next several months as he suffered from continuous internal bleeding. On 7 January 1989, at 7:55 am, the

Grand Steward The is the head department of the Imperial Household Agency of Japan. History The origins of the structure of the Imperial Household can be traced back to the reign of Emperor Monmu, with the organisation of the government structure in 701 AD ...

of Japan's

Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial Family, and also the keeping of the Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century AD, up until the Second World War, it ...

Shōichi Fujimori Shōichi Fujimori ( ja, 藤森昭一) (December 26, 1926 – June 25, 2016) was Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Agency (1988–1996). He was born in Nagano Prefecture. He was a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun.

, officially announced the death of Emperor Shōwa at 6:33 am, and revealed details about his cancer for the first time. He was survived by his wife, five children, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Succession and posthumous title

Emperor Shōwa's death ended the

Shōwa era The was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the Taishō era. The pre-1945 and post-war Shōwa periods are almos ...

. He was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince

Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. Bo ...

. With Emperor Akihito's accession, a new

era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

began: the

Heisei era The is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, ...

, effective at midnight the day after Emperor Shōwa's death. The new Emperor's formal enthronement ceremony was held in Tokyo on 12 November 1990. From 7 January until 31 January 1989, the late Emperor's formal appellation was . The late Emperor's definitive

posthumous name A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments or ...

, , was officially determined on 13 January and formally released on 31 January by

Noboru Takeshita was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989 during the bubble economy. Takeshita led the largest faction at the time in the Liberal Democratic Party, which he inherited from Kakuei Tanaka, from the 1980s u ...

, the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

State funeral

On Friday, 24 February Emperor Shōwa's state funeral was held, and unlike that of his predecessor, although formal it was not conducted in a strictly

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

manner.Ronald E. Yates, ''World Leaders Bid Hirohito Farewell'',

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

, 24 February 198
(online)
accessed 13 Oct 2015 It was a funeral carefully designed both as a tribute to the late Emperor and as a showcase for the peaceful, affluent society into which Japan had developed during his reign.Susan Chira, '' With Pomp and on a Global Stage, Japanese Bury Emperor Hirohito'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 24 February 198
(online)
accessed 13 Oct 2015 Unlike

Emperor Taishō was the 123rd Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and the second ruler of the Empire of Japan from 30 July 1912 until his death in 1926. The Emperor's personal name was . According to Japanese custom, while reigni ...

's funeral 62 years earlier, there was no ceremonious parade of officials dressed in military uniforms, and there were far fewer of the Shinto rituals used at that time to glorify the Emperor as a near-deity. These changes were meant to highlight that the Emperor Shōwa's funeral would be the first of an emperor under the postwar democratic Constitution, and the first imperial funeral held in daylight. The delay of 48 days between his death and the funeral was about the same as that for the previous Emperor, and allowed time for numerous ceremonies leading up to the funeral. The late Emperor's body lay in three coffins; some personal items such as books and stationery were also placed into them.

Ceremony at the Imperial Palace

The ceremonies began at 7:30 a.m. when Emperor Akihito conducted a private ''Ceremony of Farewell'' for his father in the Imperial Palace.

Funeral procession through Tokyo

At 9:35 a.m., a black motor hearse carrying the body of Emperor Shōwa left the Imperial Palace for the two-mile-long drive to the

Shinjuku Gyoen is a large park and garden in Shinjuku and Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally a residence of the Naitō family in the Edo period. Afterward, it became a garden under the management of Japan Imperial Household Agency. It is now a nation ...

Garden, where the Shinto and state ceremonies were held. The hearse was accompanied by

traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

played on the , a Japanese free reed aerophane; the crowd was largely silent as the hearse bearing the Emperor's coffin drove over a stone bridge and out through the Imperial Palace gates. A brass band played a dirge composed for the funeral of Emperor Shōwa's great-grandmother in the late 19th century, and cannon shots were fired in accompaniment. The motor hearse was accompanied by a procession of 60 cars. The route of the cortege through Tokyo was lined by an estimated 800,000 spectators and 32,000 special police, who had been mobilized to guard against potential terrorist attacks. The path of the funeral procession passed the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

, the democratic core of modern Japan, and the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

, where the emperor opened the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

and heralded Japan's postwar re-emergence.

Ceremonies at Shinjuku Gyoen Garden

The 40-minute procession, accompanied by a brass band, ended when it pulled into the

Garden, until 1949 reserved for the use of the Imperial family and now one of Tokyo's most popular parks. At the Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, the funeral ceremonies for Emperor Shōwa were conducted in a Sojoden, a specially constructed funeral hall. The funeral hall was constructed of

Japanese cypress ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' (Japanese cypress, hinoki cypress or hinoki; ja, 檜 or , ) is a species of cypress native to central Japan in East Asia, and widely cultivated in the temperate northern hemisphere for its high-quality timber and orname ...

and held together with bamboo nails, in keeping with ancient imperial tradition. The official guests were seated in two white tents located in front of the funeral hall. Because of the low temperatures, many guests used chemical hand-warmers and wool blankets to keep warm as the three-hour Shinto and state ceremonies progressed.

Palanquin procession

Emperor Shōwa's coffin was transferred into a

palanquin The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...

made of cypress wood painted with black lacquer. Attendants wearing and bearing white and yellow banners, shields and signs of the sun and moon, led a 225-member procession as musicians played traditional court music (). Next came gray-robed attendants carrying two sacred trees draped with cloth streamers and ceremonial boxes of food and silk cloths to be offered to the spirit of the late Emperor. In a nine-minute procession, 51 members of the

, clad in traditional gray Shinto clothing, carried the 1.5 ton ( Imperial Palanquin) containing the three-layered coffin of the Emperor Shōwa into the funeral hall, as they walked up the aisle between the white tents with domestic and foreign dignitaries. Behind the coffin walked a chamberlain dressed in white, who carried a platter with a pair of white shoes, as it is traditionally held that the deceased Emperor would wear them to heaven. The new Emperor, Akihito, and the Empress Michiko, carrying their own large umbrellas, followed the palanquin with other family members. The procession passed through a small wooden gate, the Shinto symbol marking the entrance to sacred space, and filed into the Sojoden.

Shinto ceremony

The events in the Sojoden were divided into a religious ceremony, followed by the state ceremony. When the procession entered the funeral hall, the Shinto portion of the funeral began and a black curtain partition was drawn closed. It opened to reveal a centuries-old ceremony. To the accompaniment of chanting, officials approached the altar of the Emperor, holding aloft wooden trays of sea bream, wild birds, kelp, seaweed, mountain potatoes, melons and other delicacies. The foods, as well as silk cloths, were offered to the spirit of the late Emperor. The chief of ceremony, a childhood classmate and attendant of Emperor Shōwa, then delivered an address, followed by Emperor Akihito. The funeral continued as the black curtain closed, signalling the end of the Shinto portion of the funeral.

State ceremony

As the curtain parted again, Japan's

Chief Cabinet Secretary The is a member of the cabinet and is the leader and chief executive of the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. The Chief Cabinet Secretary coordinates the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch, and also serves as the government ...

opened the state portion of the funeral. At noon, he called for a minute of silence throughout Japan. Prime Minister Takeshita delivered a short eulogy, in which he said that the reign of the late emperor would be remembered for its eventful and tumultuous times, including the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the eventual reconstruction of Japan. Foreign dignitaries approached the altar one at a time to pay their respects.

Ceremony at the Imperial Graveyard

Following the state ceremony, the Emperor Shōwa's coffin was taken to the Musashi Imperial Graveyard in the

Hachiōji is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 561,344, and a population density of 3000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography ...

district of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

for burial. At

's funeral in 1927, the trip to the Musashi Imperial Graveyard was carried out as a 3-hour procession, but at the Emperor Shōwa's funeral, the trip was made by motor hearse and cut to 40 minutes. Several hours of ceremonies followed there, until the late emperor was laid to rest at nightfall, the traditional time to bury emperors.

Visitors and guests

Summary

An estimated 200,000 people lined the site of the procession – far fewer than the 860,000 that officials had projected. The Emperor Shōwa's funeral was attended by some 10,000 official guests. A total of 163 countries (out of 166 at that time) and 27 international organizations sent representatives to the event. More than 70 world leaders attended the funeral of the Emperor. In total, there were 53 heads of state, 15 heads of government, 19 deputy heads of state, 17 members of royal families, 43 foreign ministers and other officials present, all of which required placing Tokyo under an unprecedented blanket of security. Because of security concerns for the dignitaries and because of threats from Japanese left-wing extremists to disrupt the funeral, authorities decided to scrap many of the traditional events that normally accompany funerals for Japanese monarchs. Officials also overrode protocol to give US president Bush a front-row seat, even though tradition would have put him toward the back, at the fifty fifth seat, because of his short time in office. Bush, who arrived in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon, attended the funeral on Friday afternoon and departed for China on Saturday. Japanese officials said it was the biggest funeral in modern Japanese history, and the unprecedented turnout of world leaders was recognition of Japan's emergence as an economic superpower. The Emperor Shōwa was the longest-reigning emperor in Japanese history and the last of the major leaders from World War II. Many also viewed the burial of the emperor as the nation's final break with a militaristic past that plunged much of Asia into war in the 1930s. The late emperor's wife, the Empress Dowager

Nagako Nagako is an uncommon Japanese given name for females. Although written romanized the same way, the kanji can be different. Notable people with the name include: *, later Empress Kōjun of Japan (香淳皇后) * Nagako Konishi (born 1945), a fema ...

, did not attend the ceremonies due to a lingering back and leg malady. The event hold records for the largest gathering of international leaders in world history at that time for a state funeral, surpassed the funeral of

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

in 1980. It would stand for the next 16 years until

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

's funeral in 2005.

Foreign dignitaries

The foreign dignitaries who attended the funeral: Members of royal houses (no Head of State) * Personal Representative of H.H. the Amir of Bahrain Shaikh Ali Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa *

Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark Prince Henrik of Denmark (; born Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat; 11 June 1934 – 13 February 2018) was the husband of Margrethe II of Denmark. He served as her royal consort from Margrethe's accession on 14 January 1972 unt ...

(representing the

Queen of Denmark The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark was a ...

) * Prince of the

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

royal family,

Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Muhriz ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir (born 14 January 1948) is the eleventh Yang di-Pertuan Besar (Grand Ruler) of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Early life Tunku Muhriz is the only son out of six children of the late Tuanku Munawir ibni A ...

* Crown Prince Sidi Mohammed of Morocco (representing the

King of Morocco This is the list of rulers of Morocco, since the establishment of the state in 789. The common and formal titles of these rulers has varied, depending on the time period. Since 1957, the designation King has been used. The present King of Moroc ...

) *

Crown Prince Harald of Norway Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the lin ...

(representing the

King of Norway The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty kingdoms ...

) * The Queen of Spain, Dona Sofia *

Queen Silvia of Sweden Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

* Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn of Thailand (representing the

King of Thailand The monarchy of Thailand (whose monarch is referred to as the king of Thailand; th, พระมหากษัตริย์ไทย, or historically, king of Siam; th, พระมหากษัตริย์สยาม) refers to the c ...

) * Queen Mata'aho *

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

(representing the

Queen of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

) Head of State *

President of Argentina The president of Argentina ( es, Presidente de Argentina), officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation ( es, Presidente de la Nación Argentina), is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Ar ...

Raul Alfonsin *

President of Bangladesh The president of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের রাষ্ট্রপতি — ) officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশে ...

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad ( bn, হুসেইন মুহাম্মদ এরশাদ; 1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi Army Chief politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, a time ma ...

King of Belgium Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's he ...

Baudouin *

King of Bhutan The Druk Gyalpo (; 'Dragon King') is the head of state of the Kingdom of Bhutan. In the Dzongkha language, Bhutan is known as ''Drukyul'' which translates as "The Land of the Thunder Dragon". Thus, while kings of Bhutan are known as ''Druk ...

Jigme Singye Wangchuck Jigme Singye Wangchuck ( dz, འཇིགས་མེད་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, ; born 11 November 1955) is a member of the House of Wangchuck who was the king of Bhutan (Druk Gyalpo) from 1972 until his abdicati ...

President of Brazil The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...

Jose Sarney * Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah * President Pierre Buyoya * President of Comoros Salim Ben Ali * President of Cyprus George Vassiliou * President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak * President of Fiji Penaia Ganilau * President of Finland Mauno Koivisto * President of France François Mitterrand * President of Ghana Jerry Rawlings * President of Greece Christos Sartzetakis * President of the Council of State João Bernardo Vieira, Joao Bernardo Vieira * President of Honduras José Azcona del Hoyo * President of Hungary Brunó Ferenc Straub * President of Iceland Vigdis Finnbogadottir * President of India Ramaswamy Venkataraman * President of Indonesia Suharto * Vice President of Iran Mostafa Mir-Salim * Vice President of Iraq Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf * President of Ireland Patrick J. Hillery * President of Israel Chaim Herzog * President of Italy Francesco Cossiga * King of Jordan Hussein of Jordan, Hussein * President of Kenya Daniel arap Moi * Vice President of Laos Phoun Sipaseut * King of Lesotho Moshoeshoe II * President of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom * President of Mongolia Jambyn Batmönkh * Queen of the Netherlands Beatrix of the Netherlands, Beatrix * President of Nigeria Ibrahim Babangida * Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said al Said * President of Palestine Yasser Arafat * President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino * President of Poland, Vice President of Poland Kazimierz Barcikowski * President of Portugal Mário Soares * King of Spain Juan Carlos I of Spain, Juan Carlos I * President of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa * King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf * President of Syria Hafez al-Assad * President of Togo Gnassingbe Eyadema * King of Tonga Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV * President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni * President of the United States George H. W. Bush * President of Vanuatu Fred Timakata * President of Germany, President of West Germany Richard von Weizsäcker * Vice President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia Stane Dolanc * President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President of Zaire Mobutu Sese SekoMeredith, Martin. ''The Fate of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence'' (Revised and Updated), p. 308. * President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda * President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe Prime Minister/Vice-President * Prime Minister Wilfried Martens * Vice-President of Council of Ministers and Minister of Education José Ramón * Prime Minister of Djibouti Barkat Gourad Hamadou * Vice-President Carlos Morales Troncoso * Prime Minister Fikre Selassie Wogderess, Fikre-Selassie Wogderess * First Vice-President and Prime Minister Hamilton Green * Vice-President Teatao Teannaki * Vice-President Harry Moniba, Harry F. 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Dashtseren * Ambassador Abdelaziz Benjelloun * Ambassador Lopes Tembe Ndelana * Ambassador Narayan Prasad Arjal * Ambassador Herman Ch. Posthumus Meyjes * Ambassador Rodney James Gates * Ambassador Jorge Huezo Castrillo * Ambassador Mai-Bukar Garba Dogon-Yaro * Ambassador Hakon W. Freihow * Ambassador Dawood bin Hamdan bin Abdulla Al-Hamdan, * Ambassador Mansur Ahmad * Ambassador Alberto A. Calvo Ponce * Ambassador Joseph Kaal Nombri * Ambassador Juan Carlos Hrase Von Bargen * Ambassador Luis J. Macchiavello Amoros * Ambassador Ramon V. del Rosario * Ambassador Ryszard Frackiewicz * Ambassador Jose Eduardo Mello Gouveia * Ambassador Mohammed Ali Al-Ansari * Ambassador Constantin Vlad * Ambassador Joseph Nizeyimana * Ambassador Manlio Cadelo * Ambassador Fawzi Bin Abdul Majeed Shobokshi * Ambassador Keba Birane Cisse * Ambassador Sheku Badara Basiru Dumbuya * Ambassador Cheng Tong Fatt * Ambassador Hassan Abshir Farah * Ambassador Lee Won-Kyung * Ambassador Solovjev Nikolai Nikolaevich * Ambassador Camilo Barcia Garcia-Villamil * Ambassador Karunasena Kodituwakku * Ambassador Mohammed Abdel Dayim Basheer * Ambassador to the Netherlands Cyrill Ramkisoor * Ambassador Ove F. Heyman * Ambassador Roger Bar * Ambassador Ali Said Mchumo * Ambassador Birabhongse Kasemsri * Ambassador Yao Bloua Agbo * Ambassador to India Premchand J. Dass * Ambassador Abdelhamid Ben Messaouda, Ambassador * Ambassador Umut Arik * Ambassador William Wycliffe Rwetsiba * Ambassador Hamad Salem Al-Maqami * Ambassador John Whitehead and Lady Whitehead * Ambassador Alfredo Giro Pintos * Ambassador Fernando Baez-Duarte * Ambassador Vo Van Sung * Ambassador Hans-Joachim Hallier * Ambassador Mohamed Abdul Koddos Alwazir * Ambassador Tarik Ajanovic * Ambassador Murairi Mitima Kaneno * Ambassador Boniface Salimu Zulu Representatives * Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines * Personal Representative of the President Bukarii Mahamadu Gabriel * Personal Representative Prince Norodom Ranariddh * Vice-President of Council of Ministers and Minister of Education José Ramón * Represented by the Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines * Personal Representative of the President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Ali Ben Bongo * Represented by the Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines * Personal Representative of H.M. the Sultan Sayyid Thuwaini bin Shihab Al-Busaidi * Represented by the Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines * Represented by the Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines * Personal Secretary for the Federal Councillor Pierre Combernous

Pardons

To mark the funeral, the government pardoned 30,000 people convicted of minor criminal offenses. The pardons also allowed an additional 11 million people to recover such civil rights as the right to vote and run for public office, which they had lost as a punishment for offenses.

Protests

The late emperor's funeral, like the man it honored, was dogged by bitter memories of the past. Many Allies of World War II, Allied veterans of World War II regarded Emperor Shōwa as a war criminal and called upon their countries to boycott the funeral. Nevertheless, of the 166 foreign states invited to send representatives, all but three accepted. Some Japanese, including a small Christian community, constitutional scholars and opposition politicians, denounced the pomp at the funeral as a return to past exaltation of the emperor and contended that the inclusion of Shinto rites violated Japan's post-war separation of church and state. Some groups, opposed to the Japanese monarchy, also staged small protests. The Shinto rites, witnessed by official funeral guests and held at the same site as the state-sponsored portion of the funeral, prompted criticism that the Government was violating the constitutional separation of state and religion. This separation is especially important in Japan because Shinto was used as the religious basis for the ultra-nationalism and militaristic expansion of wartime Japan. Some opposition party delegates to the funeral boycotted that part of the ceremony. During the funeral procession in Tokyo, a man stepped into the street as the cortege approached. He was quickly apprehended by police who hustled him away. At 1:55 pm, half an hour before the hearse carrying the late emperor's casket passed by, policemen patrolling the highway leading to the Musashi Imperial Graveyard heard an explosion and found debris scattered along the highway. They quickly cleared away the rubble, and the hearse passed without incident. In total, the police also arrested four people, two for trying to disrupt the procession.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Death and funeral of Emperor Showa Hirohito Japanese monarchy Empire of Japan Deaths by person in Japan, Hirohito State funerals, Hirohito Funerals by person, Hirohito 1989 in Japan January 1989 events in Asia February 1989 events in Asia

Illness and death

Succession and posthumous title

State funeral

Ceremony at the Imperial Palace

Funeral procession through Tokyo

Ceremonies at Shinjuku Gyoen Garden

Palanquin procession

Shinto ceremony

State ceremony

Ceremony at the Imperial Graveyard

Visitors and guests

Summary

Foreign dignitaries

Pardons

Protests

See also

References

External links