BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: First, as our special observation of CNN's 20th anniversary continues, a look back at Japan's final farewell to the emperor Hirohito.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The news was not unexpected, but when it came, it still shocked the nation. Japan's imperial household agency made it official: the country's 87-year-old emperor, Hirohito, had died.</s>MARY ALICE WILLIAMS, CNN ANCHOR: Funeral ceremonies for Emperor Hirohito, who is now called Showa, the name given his 62-year-long reign, have been underway for about two-and-a-half hours.</s>BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, a 32-vehicle motorcade is transporting the emperor's coffin on a roughly-four-mile journey through the streets of this great city. This motorcade started out from the imperial palace, following a private religious rite for the family. It should arrive at...</s>STEVEN SPRINGER, MANAGING EDITOR, CNN SPECIAL EVENTS: I think in Japan the fact that Emperor Hirohito had been their ruler since the war and was supposed to be next to a deity, the fact that he had finally passed away, I think, was a huge stock to them. I remember the streets being completely empty except for the occasional cab or something. But for those of us who were there from the states, we were probably the only ones who were on the street getting from one place to another. We didn't see many outward signs of, say, a black banner or something like that, there may have been things that have been boasted, but obviously we couldn't read the Japanese characters, but I do remember quite vividly the fact that virtually nobody was out and about during that.
CNN 20: Emperor Hirohito Dies, January 7, 1989