“Emperor” stars Tommy Lee Jones as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was charged with deciding Hirohito’s fate in the frantic weeks following Japan’s surrender in World War II. “MacArthur was very important to Japan’s recovery,” says John Mock, visiting professor of anthropology at Temple University in Tokyo. “In terms of managing day-to-day affairs, he didn’t have to do a lot. His job was to be a figurehead and he did that very, very well. He was this august, distant figure — almost imperial-like — and that is exactly what the Japanese needed.”