I'm posting this item from NPR's "The Writer's Almanac" because, when I lived in Japan, one of the three holidays during the annual "Golden Week" (when many people travel) was the now-deceased Emperor's birthday.


"It's the birthday of Emperor Hirohito, born in Tokyo (1901). He was the Emperor of Japan during World War II, and the Japanese people believed that he was a living god. When he announced the surrender of Japanese forces over the radio on August 15, 1945, it was the first time that his voice had ever been recorded or broadcast. People across Japan gathered around their radios to hear him. Unfortunately, they couldn't understand him, because he spoke in an ancient form of Japanese."


If I remember correctly from reading about Japanese history, part of the Emperor's radio announcement was, "The war has developed not necessarily to our advantage." How's that for an understatement?