...MacArthur understood that for the
transition to be smooth, the imperial rule must persist. Yet, he didn’t
make the customary call to the palace; instead, he waited for the
emperor to make the first contact. On 27th September (1945), Hirohito finally
crossed the palace moat to reach MacArthur’s headquarters...
Faillace was given one shot, but he spoke
up and asked for three. Faillace also adviced MacArthur against a
seated picture on a soft couch. First two photos were less than ideal —
their eyes were closed in one, and the Emperor’s mouth was gaping open
in the other. But even the perfect, final shot posed its own problems:
at this juncture, Hirohito was still akitsumikami or manifest
deity (he would not renounce his divinity before the coming New Year’s
Day), and everyone was supposed to avert eyes from the veiled imperial
portraits in government buildings.
Thus, printing the photo was
deemed sacrilegious, not least because of the general’s extremely casual
attire and his even more pointed body language. MacArthur’s office
itself had to intervene to Japanese censors to have it printed...
Outside Japan, too, the general’s informal appearance shocked many. Even Life
clutched its pearls and wrote, “MacArthur did not trouble to put on a
tie for the occasion”...
The general
never paid a return call to the palace.
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