In early April 1939, Frank was officially inducted into Icchū. The portrait of the serious, mustached, spectacled emperor consecrated the auditorium, supervising his faithful subjects. Regarded as a living god descended from the sun goddess, the ruler was never referred to by his name, Hirohito, but rather as “His Majesty the Emperor.” It didn’t matter that he was a small, homely man with a weak chin and questionable political authority; to even privately entertain such thoughts was high treason. No citizen outside the cabinet had ever heard the god called the “Sacred Crane” speak.
