Emperor Shōwa was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989.

Among non-Japan specialists, the Emperor Shōwa is best known by his personal name Hirohito. The word Shōwa is the name of the era that corresponded with the Emperor's reign, and was made the Emperor's own name posthumously, the name by which he is now exclusively referred to in Japan, even in non-Japanese language texts.

Although he often was and continues to be known as Hirohito, in Japan an emperor's personal name is never used.

The Shōwa era was the longest reign of any historical Japanese emperor, encompassing a period of tremendous change in Japanese society. At the start of his reign, Japan was still a fairly rural country with a limited industrial base.

Japan's militarization in the 1930s eventually led to Japan's involvement in World War II. After the war ended with the unconditional surrender of Japan, the Emperor co-operated with the re-organization of the Japanese state during the Occupation of Japan, and lived to see Japan becoming a highly urbanized democracy and one of the industrial and technological powerhouses of the world.