MacArthur's legacy weighs heavily on Japan -- 80 years on

Postwar constitution still shapes Tokyo's junior role in US-led security alliance

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U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs Japanese surrender documents on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. © AP

ANDREW SHARP

TOKYO -- Time has stood still on the sixth floor of the Dai-Ichi Life building across the moat from Tokyo's Imperial Palace. Behind heavy wooden doors lies an office, preserved since 1945, that houses the desk of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the supreme commander of the allied powers that occupied Japan for seven years after its surrender in World War II.

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