Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 1989 until his abdication in 2019. The era of his rule was named the Heisei era, Heisei being an expression of achieving peace worldwide.
Born in 1933, Akihito is the fifth child and first son of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun. During the Second World War, he moved out of Tokyo with his classmates and remained in Nikkō until 1945.
