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wide. Also, as in Jesus' prophecy of
Matthew 24, th e world is fast–
approaching the supreme time of
world trouble - the very CLIMAX of
civilization called "the GREAT TRIB–
ULATION" (verses 21-22).
This is a frightening and ter–
rifying hour - unless one hides his
eyes and ears from the state of the
world and its trends!
ln such a sobering time, YOU
HAVE JUST READ THE TRUTH that
ought to arouse you out of the sleep
of complacency and indifference! l t
is, l know, a shocking, staggering
FACT to realize that this work-
The
PLAIN TRUTH,
The World Tomorrow
program on radio worldwide and on
daily TV in the
U.
S. (and Canada
weekly) - tbe work going out from
Am bassador College a nd the
Worldwide Church of God, is the
ONLY WORK ON EARTH proclaiming
the very gospel of Jesus Christ to the
world in great power!
* * * * *
Tokyo,
Japan
Y
ESTERDAY THE government of
Japan conferred a very high
honor on me. In a ceremony
at tbe Foreign Office, on behalf of
Emperor Hirohito, the Chief of
Protocol, Ambassador Chikaraishi,
con ferred on me the Order of the
Sacred Treasure.
J
understand this
is the highest honor the Japanese
government can confer on a prívate
alien. And so far as I know, 1am the
only non-Japanese being awarded
the honor decorations at this annual
time for such awards.
A number of prominent Japanese
are on tbe list, announced in today's
Daily Yomiuri,
to be decorated
today. To give you a clearer under–
standing of these honors, there are
seven classes of the Order of the
Sacred Treasu re.
First Class is not awarded to non–
Japanese. It is being awarded to a
former Minister of Healtb and Wel–
fare and a former Director General
32
of the Economic Plann ing Agency
of the government.
Second Class includes former
presidents of large Japanese univer–
sities. My decoration was in this
class - the highest ever given prí–
vate aliens. A member of the Japan
Olympic Committee, an official of
the Imperial Household Agency and
a presiden! of a school received the
Third Class Order of the Sacred
Treasure. Fourth Class is being
awarded to 482 persons; Fifth Class
to 1,212; Sixth Class to 935; Seventh
Class to 445. And even these are a
very coveted honor in Japan.
1 was accompanied to the Foreign
Office by Mr. Bunsei Sato, member
of the Diet and also Vice Minister of
Transportation. Mr. Sato accom–
panied Mr. Eisaku Sato, then Prime
Minister, to the meeting with Presi–
den! Nixon at San Clemente in Jan–
uary of last year. At that time, he
visited the Ambassador College
campus in Texas. Also accom–
panying was Congressman Kazuo
Shionoya, who ranks high in the
Diet (Japanese Congress). His son is
a graduate of Ambassador College,
Pasadena campus. And also accom–
panying were Mr. Stanley R. Rader,
our chief counsel , and Mr. Osamu
Gotoh, chairman of our Asían Stud–
ies department.
Leaving the Foreign Office build–
ing, we were driven to the official
residence of the Prime Minister.
There, we paid our respects briefly
to Mr. Nikaido, secretary-general of
the Cabinet. 1 received his congratu–
lations on the decoration. He ar–
ranged for a brief meeting with
Prime Minister Tanaka, to pay our
respects. This was the tbird time 1
have seen Mr. Taoaka - once was
before he became Prime Minister
and twice since.
He remembered our first meeting
in a conference room in the Diet
building (Japan's Capital building),
when he insisted jokingly that 1 sit
in the Prime Minister's chair. We
had a good laugh over the incident.
He congratulated me warmly for the
decoration. He, along with the Em-
peror, had signed the diploma that
was presented with it.
The Prime Minister explained
that the decoration conferred on me
was very high and was granted to
Japanese only after 20 years of Diet
membership plus holding a cabinet
post - or equivalen!. He laughingly
said he had only an "eighth class"
arder - this, evidently, facetiously.
The Prime Minister appeared ex–
tremely fit , vigorous and active, and
greeted us very warmly.
Then we were driven to Mr. Bun–
sei Sato's new office in the Ministry
of Transportat ion building. He has
a large and impressive office, with
drawings and plans of the new air–
port on a wall and a sketch of a
proposed new floating landing-strip
airport at Osaka - actually floating
on the water a short distance off–
shore. It's a novel idea in landing
strips - to be three miles long. Mr.
Sato's department has charge of a ll
the government-owned railway sys–
tem, the subway (or underground)
system in Tokyo, the airports and
Japan Airlines. Tbat's a very big
business! It's a fairly recent promo–
tion for Mr. Sato and a very large
responsibility. We also met the Min–
ister ofTransportation, below whom
Mr. Sato is now second in com–
mand. Mr. Sato also joined us at
dinner the night befare, along with
our friend Mr. Okuda (who also vis–
ited the Texas campus in January
1972) and Congressman Shionoya
and Vice Minister of Foreign Af–
fairs Kiyoshi Mizuno.
Then last night , I was co-host
with Prince Mikasa, brother of the
Emperor, at a dinner attended by
sorne 40 gues ts. The Prince planned
the dinner and sent out the printed
invitations, which read:
The Prince Mikasa and Mr.
Herbert W. Armstrong, cele–
brating the resumption of the
archaeological excavation at
Te/ Zeror, request the pleasure
of the company of
...
At last night's dinner, 1 met for
the first time the senior member of
PLAIN TRUTH July-August 1973