Evening star., 1951-04-24
General Refused to Permit
Traders Exploitation of Jops
Commander Adopted Fotherly Attitude
Toward Emperor, Never Treated Him as Equo

own decisions, and are not COM
pletely subservient to their pa
rents; second, that they hold
hands on the streets and embrace
on park benches, which would
have been all but unthinkable be-
fore the war. Another point is
that, now, husband and wife walk
together in the street. and, mira
Eculous to state. the husband
sometimes even carries bundles; in
the old days the wife and children
always walked behind. Still another
is that the practice of ceremonial
suicide. hari-kiri. has virtually
disappeared.
Parents still count for great
deal in Japan. if only because al
most all Japanese are ancestor
worsnipers. One American, who
was high on Gen. MacArthur'S
staff, told me, I'VE will have to
stay here twenty years to do a
real job, because when it comes to
a showdown the parents still have
final authority in the majority of
Japanese families. the kids don't
dare say No, and we will simply
have to wait for the oldsters to die
off"
Democracy is a puzzling con-
cept for the Japanese to absorb.
I went to a party at Gen. Strate-
meyers. villa. just before the
Korean war. at which the Prime
Minister was present. One Of the
servants conspicuously did not bow
when he entered. and later Mrs.
Stratemeyer asked her why. "Uh-
der democracy we do not bow"
was the reply. Then there is a
baseball anecdote doubtless apoc-
ryphal. A player was ordered to
ount, but smashed the ball instead.
The manager of the team rebuked
him, whereupon the player replied,
You do not realize that Japan is
now democracy, and We swing at
Tile pdll Wnen we ike.
asked many japanese, from
men on the highest level to young
officials who at that time were in
their teens. what ended the war
One and all they replied, without
the slightest dubiety or hesitation,
THE atom bomb on Hiroshima. ~
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki
bombs smashed utterly the whole
structure of japanese effort, mo-
rale and viii to win. Einstein won
the war.
Macarthur and the Emperor.
In September, 1945, Immediately
after the surrender, people thought
that Gen. Macarthur would sum-
mon the Emperor to him. lay down
the law to Hirohito. and put him
in his place. Gen. Macarthur did
nothing OF the kind. He was much
more subtle, He knew that, soon
er or later, the Emperor was bound
Ito come to him of his own volition.
because as he himself told us,
H1rohito would be too curious
about this new power to stay away.
Also, a gentleman with high re-
gard for good blood and breed=
ing, Gen. Macarthur did not want
to humiliate Hirohito wantonly
in the hour of his defeat. Finally
he thought that if he took too
severe a line against him or be-
haved rudely. this might serve to
martyrize him in the eyes of his
PROSTATE people. 49,
IN any case the general took no
initiative whatever. Presently an
Iemissary came to him, asking If
the Emperor might call. Gen,
Macarthur was delighted. No one
else was present at the interview,
except an interpreter. and there
was no excessive fanfare or pub
licity. The Supreme Commander
did not, OF course. return the call,
nor did he ever do so, because to
have made a return call would
have led the Japanese to think
that the Emperor had equal au-
thority with his own.
Hirohito himself, to save face,
gives it as his opinion now that
Gen. Macarthur met him half
way at their first meeting. This
is considerable exaggeration, un-
less he means merely to imply
that the general was equally cour-
teous, and equally eager to make
the interview a success.
At their first talk the Emperor
said he deplored the war and had
sought to stop it. Gen. Macarthur
then turned on him with a fixed
eye and then asked him, if that
were true, why he had not been
able to make his desire effective
Hirohito responded. in effect, MY
people like me very much. Since
they do like me very much, they
would simply have locked me up
in a lunatic asylum until the war
was over, if I had made any pro-
test about the war or worked fol-
peace. If I had done so and they
had liked me very much. they
would have cut my throat"
Copyright 195o-195l by John Gunther