Correspondence from Owen Hamilton to his sister June Meyer (June E. Hooe Hamilton Meyer, 1919-2010 (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/81471045/june-e_hooe-meyer). He's moved again since his last letter, and is one of the very few soldiers who will leave Japan having seen the emperor. Not only saw him, but guarded him, and saw him so much he could have shot him himself! Three months ago he would have done anything to kill him, and now he's guarding him. The emperor had to report to the gods that Japan had lost its way and came to the most ancient shrines at Uji Yamada (believed to be the shrine at Ise City, Japan). The emperor must have had a lot to tell the gods as he was there for a day and a half, and it was Owen's job to make sure no GIs broke up his parades. He didn't see any GIs other than his driver and himself, but it made for a nice 2 day vacation with a jeep thrown in. These people are so devoted to the emperor it cannot be believed. They're silent when he passes and they bow nearly to the ground. The only way he could think to insult him was to just stand and do nothing, not saluting. He just stood and stared at him, at one time directly in the face, and the emperor looked back at him. ""What a dumb looking banana he is."" He looks like his pictures, although dumber if that's possible. You cannot imagine how he himself was treated during those 2 days....you would have thought he was an ambassador. News reporters interviewed him, and the police couldn't do enough. He stayed in the best hotel in town and the police gave him a dinner. This occupation life is something you just cannot realize until you're in it. He came back to his base camp (the one with the apartment with a sun room) and will be going to Nara tomorrow for a few days as there is to be a ceremony and he will carry the colors.