Putting their opinions behind him, Prince Hirohito continued to announce the betrothal but unbeknownst to him, the future held a number of similar attempts to undermine his decisions. .
On Christmas day 1926, Emperor Taisho succumbed to lung cancer and Hirohito ascended to the throne to become the 124th God Emperor of Japan. His formal coronation took place nearly two years later on November 10th, 1928. It was evident immediately that Emperor Hirohito's reign would not be a smooth one as the financial crisis of 1927 showed. As banks closed on a large scale, the military was in a clash with Chiang Kai Shek's nationalist army which was on the advance north towards Shanghai and Nan king. Japan's interest in Manchuria had caused the Tanaka cabinet to take a hard stance on the growing strength of the Kuomintang Army (KMT) led by Chiang. Immediately it was apparent that Hirohito wanted to avoid military clashes and his difficulty in signing the document allowing the transfer of troops to Shantung was the first of its kind according to General Sohachi Suzuki. Emperor Hirohito was avoiding a repetition of the Nikolaevsk Incident .
Despite his clear message that "a rash military expedition would antagonize the Chinese , and might well result in a replay of the Nikolaevsk Incident,"" Prime Minister General Giichi Tanaka proceeded to send the Kumamoto Division of the army to Manchuria. Chang Tso-Lin, the northern opposition to Chiang's KMT forces, was boarding a train on the Manchurian Railway when it exploded killing all on board. Because the Japanese controlled the railway, they used the incident to fuel their need to intervene with the events unfolding in China. Despite the public announcement regarding the issues, the world soon began to get a glimpse of the truth that the Japanese military had in fact staged the assassination to create an avenue for the Japanese military to go to arms.