The 73rd anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II marks the last one under Emperor Akihito, whose abdication next April will officially end his reign and the Heisei Era. The fact that Emperor Akihito, who in 1989 became the first emperor to ascend the throne as "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people" under the postwar Constitution, is stepping down soon due to his advanced age testifies to the lengthy time that has passed since the end of the war.
The Showa Era of his late father, Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, witnessed the turbulence that Japan experienced during its 64-year period — from its rush into war and its devastating defeat in 1945 to the postwar reconstruction and development under the war-renouncing Constitution.
As the subsequent Heisei Era is set to wrap up next year, memories of the last war that Japan fought and lost — which left 3.1 million Japanese dead — may be fading fast for a large majority of the nation's citizens. The number of bereaved families of the war dead taking part in the government-organized annual Aug. 15 ceremony to mourn for those who died in the war is declining each year. Today, the number of people born after the war has topped 100 million, accounting for more than 80 percent of the population.