Word: emperor
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...first days of the U.S. occupation, Emperor Hirohito surrendered both his divinity and his isolation from the people of Japan. He visited mines and factories, would call out to fishermen, "Did you have a good catch today?" He crawled informally into ditches to examine plants that interested him-he is an expert on fungus -and would then unconcernedly wipe his muddy hands on his trousers...
Disarrayed Traffic. But all that is in the past. A shy and scholarly man, Hirohito is happier dissecting shellfish than chatting with workers. The seven top court chamberlains found it relatively easy to rebuild the Chrysanthemum Curtain that has traditionally walled off the Emperor from his subjects. When, occasionally, Hirohito grew restive at the silken bonds, the chamberlains were ready with smooth explanations. Did the Emperor wish to browse in a Tokyo bookstore? They warned that "such a visit would put the booksellers to great expense and trouble, and would also disarray traffic." Did he wish to visit a sick...
Hirohito's safety, and point to such incidents as the 1954 tragedy when 17 persons were crushed to death in the rush to see the Emperor, and the shocking incident in 1958 when teen-age girls swarmed over the Emperor's car, waving autograph books and banging on the windows to get his attention. The chamberlains ignore the argument that such public frenzy might be the result of the rarity of the Emperor's appearances...
...with his own faction-ridden party, which cannot always be depended upon for support. His longtime goal is revision of the "MacArthur" constitution ("It may take years, and I may not live to see it, but I intend to push forward until I die"). He proposes to make the Emperor again "head of state" instead of merely a symbol, to have provincial governors appointed by Tokyo instead of elected, and to alter the House of Councilors-Japan's Senate-by substituting a number of appointed "distinguished citizens" for some of the elected members. He also aims at erasing Article...
...Japan was jumping. Another year had rolled around, and the annual New Year poetry contest results were proclaimed. This year the subject of the 31-syllable waka competition was "Light,'' a topic chosen by Emperor Hirohito himself. There were more than 23,000 entrants, the most ever, and the 15 winners (Japan's royalty is excluded) included a blind lady who submitted her poem in Braille, and a humble lady day laborer (of a class known to Japanese as anko, which is, in turn, a fish that is mostly mouth and stomach). The Emperor's waka...