Well.....when the Japs surrendered on the deck of the USS Missouri, it was a delegation of civilians & military who carried no weapons.
The Emperor was safe in his Tokyo palace & kept his throne, guaranteed by MacArthur.
Hirohito did have to renounce his divine status, which was immediately assumed by MacArthur, according to the latter’s critics.
Anyway, where’s a battlewagon like the Mighty Mo when we really need it? Oh - I forgot...you need a commander in chief willing to use it against this nation’s enemies. My bad.
Yes, but they represented and spoke for him. It was by Hirohito’s orders that Japan surrendered. The people had never heard his voice until he went on the radio and told them to stand down.
Symbolism.
Whether they carried swords or not, in the ancient traditions, that’s what they did on her deck, even if it was only with the steel of a pen’s nib.
Yea, a complicit CiC won’t do the Job. It be nice if some of the Brass remembered their oaths, though.