The Shōwa era (昭和, Shōwa) was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (commonly known in English as Emperor Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the Taishō era. The pre-1945 and post-war Shōwa periods are almost completely different states: the pre-1945 Shōwa era (1926–1945) concerns the Empire of Japan, and post-1945 Shōwa era (1945–1989) concerns the State of Japan.

Before 1945, Japan moved into political totalitarianism, ultranationalism and statism culminating in Japan's invasion of China in 1937, part of a global period of social upheavals and conflicts such as the Great Depression and World War II.

Defeat in the Second World War brought about radical change in Japan. For the first and only time in its history, Japan was occupied by foreign powers, an American-led occupation which lasted for seven years. Allied occupation brought forth sweeping democratic reforms. It led to the formal end of the emperor's status as a demigod and the transformation of Japan from a form of mixed constitutional and absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy with a liberal democracy. In 1951, with the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan became a sovereign state again. The postwar Shōwa period was characterized by the Japanese economic miracle.

The Shōwa era was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor. Emperor Shōwa was both the longest-lived and longest-reigning historical Japanese emperor as well as the longest-reigning monarch in the world at the time. On 7 January 1989, Crown Prince Akihito succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne upon the death of his father Emperor Shōwa, which marked the start of the Heisei period. Emperor Hirohito was served by total of 33 prime ministers, beginning with Wakatsuki Reijiro and ending with Noboru Takeshita.