Hirohito, known posthumously as Emperor Showa (29 April 1901 - 7 January 1989) was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, beginning his reign in 1926. Under his reign, Japan become a member of the Axis, and fought the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Although he symbolized Japanese evils in U.S. propaganda during the War, the Emperor cooperated with the reorganization of the Japanese state during the Allied occupation of Japan (which had surrendered unconditionally in 1945), and was found not guilty of war crimes. Hirohito was the only head of state of a major Axis partner not to be killed or overthrown in the immediate post-war period. He lived to see Japan become a highly urbanized democracy and one of the industrial and technological power