Shōwa era

The Shōwa era (昭和時代, Shōwa jidai; [ɕoːwadʑidai] ) was a 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 and succeeded by the Heisei era. In the late 1920s, Japan had begun moving into political totalitarianism, ultranationalism and statism, culminating in Japan's invasion of China in 1937, part of a global period of social upheavals and conflicts such as the Great Depression and the Pacific War. Defeat in the Second World War brought about radical change in Japan.