Relationships with People
The roll as the emperor of Japan is a very complicated one. While being disjointed from the Japanese people themselves, the emperor must also be apart of the people's lives. Starting in 1978, Hirohito had an illness. This created a public health watch that highlighted the low and high points of his health until his death in 1989. Even more interesting, the Japanese attitude after his death had greatly changed as well. The Japanese thought that because Hirohito, the emperor during World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War, had died, that the guilt of war crimes committed would start to alleviate. Even people who had reasons to hate Hirohito had claimed that if they were ever to meet the emperor, that they would definitely bow down to him.