JAPAN: Son of Heaven, '54

Emperor Hirohito, Son of Heaven, last week took his first airplane ride. Dressed in light blue with a red polka-dot tie, he sat diffidently through the flight in a curtained-off compartment opposite his little, moonfaced Empress Nagako and pored studiously over an airline map, nodding from time to time as a stewardess announced the landmarks passing below.

He was returning from his first visit since the war to Japan's northernmost islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. Two hours and one minute after taking off, the Emperor stepped again on terra firma at Tokyo, looking...

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