Japan's Showa era began in 1926 when Emperor Hirohito took the throne and ending on his death in 1989 was the formative age of modern Japan. No doubt the most momentous, calamitous, successful and glamorous period in Japan's recent history, today, Showa is a beacon for nostalgia that is memorialised yearly in a national holiday. From the highs of Showa extravagance to the lows of the lean years that followed, Showa Japan examines the impact of this era and its aftermath on every aspect of Japanese society.