Despite his lack of enthusiasm over the decision to go to war, he was pleased with the Japanese military and naval successes that followed. He noted that the funeral would probably be scheduled for ''some period that would take us into the next Administration.'' He married an imperial princess, Nagako, in 1924 and they had seven children. I feel most keenly that these achievements have been made possible by the presence of His Late Majesty as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people.''Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, dressed in a black suit with black armbands, said: ''The sad news of the passing of His late Majesty the Emperor has left me grief-stricken. He took on what can only be described as a uniquely complex role. But, he said, the doctors lied about that fact to prevent the Emperor from learning that he had cancer. On 15 August 1945, he made a radio broadcast announcing the end of the war - this was the first time the people of Japan had heard the voice of their emperor.The emperor was regarded as divine by many Japanese. Following the imperial custom, he was separated from his parents at an early age. Hirohito died on January 7, 1989, at the age of eighty-seven. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito (裕仁), in Japan, he is now referred to primarily by his posthumous name Emperor Shōwa. Some Allied leaders wanted to try Hirohito as a war criminal. As Hirohito lingered, receiving blood transfusions almost daily, his erratic blood pressure and other vital signs dutifully reported several times a day, the public's initial wave of emotion subsided somewhat.But in September 1987 he underwent surgery on his pancreas, the first operation ever performed on a Japanese emperor. In the following years, Hirohito's commitment to Japan led to restructuring and the entering of an era called the Japanese Economic Miracle. At 2 a.m. on Friday, August 10, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki did something that no prime minister had ever done: He asked Hirohito for an imperial … He was succeeded by his fifth child and eldest son, Akihito. Symbolic of his interest in science and in modernizing his country, Hirohito reportedly was buried with his microscope and a Mickey Mouse watch. Some thought that Emperor Hirohito should have been in the dock, but MacArthur considered it essential to protect him so that the changes the Americans were introducing in Japan would enjoy the imperial blessing.