Evening star., 1951-04-09

fixed routine. Twice a day he
drives the short distance from
the American Embassy, where he
lives, to the Dai-Ichi Building
where he works. and back. Oc-
|casionally of course there are
visiting dignitaries to meet or see
off at Haneda Airport, military
functions to attend, and the like
But by and large the mile and a
quarter between the Embassy and
the Dai-Ichi constitutes the en-
tire physical experience of his life
in Tokyo. This-and only this
is the sum total of his arc.
Something even more extra
ordinary is that he meets very
few japanese. He never, under
any circumstances, sees any jap
Ianese socially, and his profes.
lsional acquaintance is limited tt
a handful. He will receive tht
Emperor, the prime minister, thf
foreign minister, the heads o1
both houses of parliament, ant
the chief justice of the supreme
court on official business. Nobody
|else. Thus. astonishing as the
fact may seem, Gen. Macarthur
in his five years in Tokyo he,
never talked at length to more
than. let us say, a dozen or Sc
japanese officials. He carries this
policy of exclusion to the mos
IeXtreme lengths. For instance
Mrs. Macarthur has never me-
either Emperor or Empress, anl
he himself has never met thu
Empress.
Sees Very Few Americans.
For that matter he sees com.
iparatively few Americans. In the
early days of the Korean fightins
his trips to the front did a grea'
deal to lift up morale, if only
because so few GIs had ever seer
him before. He seldom review.
troops in Tokyo: he almost neve,
pays visits of inspection to mill.
tary posts. One of the chief show.
places of contemporary Japan i.
the naval base at Yokosuka
where Admiral Benton w. Deckel
did magnificent work for severa
years; it is only 80 miles from
Tokyo, but never once has Ger
Macarthur visited it.
Why does the Supreme Com.
mander keep himself SO rigidl,
aloof? One reason is that, owe
20, he wants to conserve hi.
energy; he hopes to live long
long time, and sets his pace &C,
Icordingly. Another. more impor.
tant, is that he feels he under.
Stands Oriental psychology" ant
that the japanese will respect hin
more if he is seldom seen. Gen
Macarthur has almost become {
japanese himself, particularly ir
the matter of self discipline. By
being unapproachable, almost in
visible. he elevates his own pres.
tige. And. of course. his ego play.
role. God does not choose Otter
to expose himself.
The Generals habits of seclu.
sion put, it goes without saying
an onerous burden on his sub
ordinates. since he is dependent or
them for the quality of the in
formation he receives. Seeing little
himself, he has to rely on the
eyes land ears) of others. Are they
good enough? This is a hotly dis.
Iputed topic in Tokyo.
Has Paid for Austerity.
If only in the realms of pleas.
Iure and the delights of the pic.
turesque the General pays a con.
siderable price for his austerity
He has not had much fun il
Japan. a country in which a grea1
deal of fun is available. Gen. Mac.
Arthur has never tduring thi!
tour of duty at least) squatted or
a tatami mat to have a ceremonial
Japanese dinner. He has never
bought a ten-cent fountain per
on the Gina, or listened to &
geisha play the samisen, or eater
raw fish with chopsticks.
But do not think that he doe!
not know a great deal about tn,
Japanese. He does. There is little
lacking in the Supreme Com.
mander's own basic grasp and in.
tuition.
The fact that Gen. Macarthur
keeps himself so CLASSIFY isolated
gives rise to one of the more
elementary paradoxes of contem,
Iporary Japan. 1t is that he imposes
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