On Dec. 23, 2018, Emperor Akihito gave an emotional birthday news conference, his last before abdicating.
The Emperor told reporters he felt ¡°sincerely relieved¡± that there had been no war on his watch and that, while some global developments had not entirely ¡°proceeded in the direction that we desired,¡± the Heisei Era was looking as though it would wind up being pretty much as written on the lid: Over the era¡¯s three decades, peace had been achieved. Mission accomplished.
The previous era ¡ª Showa (1926-89) ¡ª had seen two major conflicts. As a 3-year-old, the Emperor would have little recollection of the first conflict, the Sino-Japanese war. The second was World War II, which ended for Japan with the surrender speech by his father, Emperor Hirohito, when then-Prince Akihito was 11 ¡ª an event that, as for many Japanese of that period, would likely be etched in his memory.
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