Evening star., 1951-04-24
By John 6unther

By John Gunther
Gen. MacArthur's attitude to.
ward determination is quite sim.
ple-that soldiers will be soldier.
no matter what, and that people
Iof different nationalities ought tt
get to know one another. Hence
differentiation was never forbid
den in Japan.
Free social contact between
American and Japanese was, how
ever, comparatively rare. If Q
ISCAP official conSpicuously enter
stained Japanese oyer a long period
he was likely to be rebuked. Odd
and striking as the point may
seem. most Americans in Japan
appear to have forgotten COM
Ipletely that the Japanese were
ever our implacable, mortal enc
mics: there is practically no evil
Idence Of hostility. resentment, OF
even suspicion. This is not to say
that Americans by and large ac-
tually like the Japanese. nor dc
they understand them well. In
deed the Japanese are a pro-
foundly impenetrable people and
If they were surprise to us, SO
were we to them. They expected
GI'S to rape their women and
slaughter their infants, but in
stead. after one of the most saw
age wars in history. We arrived
with chocolate bars.
Japan was reopened to foreign
trade in August. 1947. and bust
neSsmen from the United States
and elsewhere began to filter in
Every entrant had to have soap
permission. All-whether bankers
merchants, advertising men, OF
even profesSors-were designated
by the blanket word trader"
Traders Resented Label.
This term ranked with most OF
them; I never met a trader who
did not resent being called a trad
er. Traders were segregated in
their own hotels. which were con-
verted Office buildings in some
cases and pretty miserable: they
paid an average of $40 per day fol
hotel space. where as Army Of
ficers and v. I. P.'s paid 40 or Sc
cents; until recently, when they
were allowed to operate in yer
for the first time, they were re-
stricted to the use of special
type of Army currency; they
paid-to cite just one instance
so cents for a gallon of gas, as
against 10 cents paid by Army
personnel. Other irritantS existed
too. Traders were not allowed in
Army hotels, could not buy in the
PIX, and could not use the Army
mail or other facilities which make
life in Japan so comfortable fol
nontraders. They were not al
lowed to make use of the magnifi-
cent resort hotels except by Spe-
cial invitation and on paying
through the nose.
On the other hand traders had
"a field day in one highly import
ant respect until July, 1950-they
paid no local taxes, nor any jap
anese tax on their American in
come; moreover if they were nom
residents of the United States
they paid no American taxes on
whatever income they made in
Japan. Recently. however, the
tax law was drastically changed
largely on the recommendations
of a tax expert soap brought in
Prof. Carl Shoup. Of Columbia
University. This caused black
fury in trader circles.
Traders were obliged not only
to pay Japanese taxes on then
earnings in Japan land the basic
rate is around 55 per cent? but
also Japanese taxes on their
dollar income in the United
States. I heard one indignant
banker snort, Il. an American,
who helped beat this nation in
warfare, am now obliged to pay
taxes on my American income to
the Japanese government which,
since there is no peace treaty, is
still technically my enemy"
Wanted Immaculate Occupation
If you ask why Gen. Mac
Arthur permitted this the answer
is simple; it is a tribute to his
craftsmanship. He wanted an alb
solutely immaculate occupation
His policy was to lean as far back
ward as possible, III order to avoid
any possible charge or shadow OF
a charge that soap permitted ex-
Iploitation of the Japanese by for
eigners. Communist propaganda
in the East rested largely on the
case that the capitalist West had
always exploited the Orient. Gen
MacArthur's strict controls were
his most effective answer to this
type Of Communist propaganda
because nobody in his right minc
could accuse soap of economic
exploitation.
Another forlorn community wa:
that of the foreign diplomats
These were accredited, as have
already mentioned. not to tht
Emperor or the Japanese gov.
eminent, but to Gen. Macarthur
himself. They could make no con-
tact with the government except
thu ough soap and, unless they
happened to have had special per.
mission. they were not permitted
direct access to any Japanese
officially.
The State Department was rep.
resented in Tokyo by an able
young official, William Sebald. HI
was well liked, and his influence
was considerable but some SCAF
officials thought that the State
Departm n t. was a nuisance
around headquarters and wantec
his power cut down. But Gen. Mac.
Arthur, himself. was punctiliou.
in the extreme-he always be.
haved with impeccable off1cia
L.