HONG KONG — The emperor of Japan will step down on April 30, 2019, the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in two centuries, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday.

Emperor Akihito, 83, said last year that he planned to step down before his death, and Friday’s announcement set the date.

Emperors were godlike figures in Japan before the end of World War II. When Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender over the radio on August 15, 1945, it was the first time average citizens had heard his voice.

The American victors stripped the Chrysanthemum Throne of all political power. Emperor Akihito, Hirohito’s eldest son, has a strictly ceremonial role but is a respected and popular figure in Japan.