During WWII the Emperor of Japan was Hirohito.  Hirohito was born on April 29, 1901.  He was Japan's 124th emperor he was also the longest reigning emperor.  At the age of 8 Hirohito went to Gakushuin (Peers School) where he was in a special class of 12 other students in the class with him.  The head of the school was General Maresuke Nogi.  Nogi took a special interest in young prince Hirohito and furthered his education.  Hirohito became very interested in Marine Biology and became a expert at it.  

In December 1923 Hirohito was almost killed by a radical he had many threats.  Hirohito took the throne in December 25, 1926.  When you became Emperor you chose a name he chose the name Showa, which means "Enlightened Peace" and was formally known as Showa Tenno, Tenno means "Heavenly Sovereign".  

During WWII Hirohito refused to leave the imperial palace of Tokyo.  He wanted to endure the Hardships of his men.  He did for five years until the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. One on Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. on Monday August 6, 1945 and the other on Nagasaki at 11:02 a.m. on Thursday, August 9th, 1945.  After the bombing on Nagasaki Hirohito had an imperial conference and made it clear that he wanted to surrender to the Allies.  His top ministers wanted to continue the struggle but on August 14, 1945 the Japanese agreed to unconditional surrender.  Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945.  Hirohito didn't know what would happen to him some people speculated that he would be punished as a war criminal.  After this Hirohito became more involved with the people and later became a Marine biologist.  The Emperor who ruled Japan through one of its most violent times died on January 7th, 1989 due to illness.  http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b3hirohito.htm