Jirō Shirasu
Jirō Shirasu was a Japanese bureaucrat and businessman.Biography
He was born in Ashiya in Hyogo Prefecture and studied at Clare College, Cambridge.
During the Occupation he was a member of Shigeru Yoshida's government. He is particularly remembered in Japan for an incident in Christmas 1945 where he delivered a present from Hirohito, Emperor of Japan to General Douglas MacArthur. When MacArthur told him to place it on the floor, Shirasu demanded a table to show respect. In 2009 he was the subject of an NHK drama.
His wife Masako Shirasu was a collector and expert of fine Japanese art, on which she published a number of books. Their house Buaisō became a museum.
