Hirohito was tormented by Japanese conduct in World War II

When Hirohito assumed the role of Emperor of Japan, the country was at the top of its game. A great world power, fresh off a victory over the Russian Empire, Japan enjoyed a booming economy, the third-largest navy, and a permanent seat at the head of the League of Nations. It soon began to unravel.

A swath of assassinations of government officials, attempts on the Emperor's life, and a failed coup by a faction of the Japanese military may have left Hirohito suspicious and paranoid. He did little to stem to the rising tide of militarism in the Japanese government and did nothing to stop the military from ending civilian oversight of the Imperial Japanese Military. Most of us know what happened in the years that followed.

Hirohito toward the end of his life.

After World War II, much of Japan was able to move forward. Hirohito was not deposed but remained Emperor. Just how much control he was able to exercise over the governing of the empire is still a subject of debate in Japan to this very day. He claimed he was little more than a figurehead but many believe his god-like status in Japanese society could have done more. Only he, and perhaps those around him, knew for sure.

One of those around him published a book about his time with the Emperor.

Hirohito, now known as Emperor Showa in Japan, lived until 1989, just shy of his 88th birthday. A recently-published diary penned by Shinobu Kobayashi, then one of the Emperor's chamberlains, one of the men who managed the Imperial household functions, says the Emperor was by no means happy about Japan's entry in the war or how it was conducted in his name.

It is true that once many in the military government of Japan learned that the Emperor would broadcast a surrender order via the use of his voice recorded on vinyl, they attempted to depose Hirohito and destroy the record. The conspirators were thwarted by the layout of the Imperial Palace and the record was smuggled out by a laundry woman and broadcast the next day. But over the years, evidence and other memoirs have been published that paint a contradictory view of the man, who was certainly one of the 20th Century's most important, controversial figures.

Kobayashi says the Emperor felt "anguish" over Japan's entry into World War II, and feared that as his life continued, he would only attract more blame for his country's actions. When the royal household attempted to reduce his workload after the death of his brother Prince Takamatsu, Hirohito was dismissive.

Hirohito next to Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the days following Japan's surrender. Many Japanese were offended by this photo, given the General's casual stance in the face of the Emperor's formality.

(U.S. Army photo)

"There is no point in living a longer life by reducing my workload," the then-86-year-old Emperor said. "It would only increase my chances of seeing or hearing things that are agonizing." Kobayashi tried to console the emperor by pointing to Japan's miraculous postwar recovery in the intervening decades.

"It's a page in history," he wrote. "You do not have to worry."

Hirohito managed to avoid being tried as a war criminal because Gen. Douglas MacArthur trusted that even the Emperor's most fervent believers would adopt democracy after the war – with the Emperor's blessing. Hirohito's continued presence on the Chrysanthemum Throne became a unifying symbol of postwar Japan.

After Hirohito's death in 1989, his son, Akihito, assumed the throne as the 125th Emperor of Japan. The line of monarchs can be traced back to 680 BC, with varying degrees of power and responsibility.