When Minister of Finance Ichimada and Hoshijima had first heard of Buchman's intended visit they felt that the country should honour him, and that the appropriate decoration would be the Order of the Rising Sun, First Class, which was seldom awarded. When this decoration was given to a foreigner, three bodies were involved - the Cabinet, the Ministry of the Imperial Household, and the appropriate embassy. With the Prime and Foreign Ministers and other colleagues convinced of Buchman's importance to their nation, they encountered no difficulty with the Cabinet or the Imperial Household. To their astonishment, they met bitter and determined resistance from the American Ambassador, who, echoing the cable from Washington at the time of The Vanishing Island, stated that Moral Re-Armament followed the Communist Party line, and that Buchman was a self-seeker who was persona non grata at the Embassy. Before a delegation of Senators he maintained this attitude. In face of this opposition some of the more cautious members of the Cabinet, mindful of the need to maintain goodwill with their powerful American ally, wanted to draw back, but Ichimada let fly at such hypocrisy. 'You all know Buchman deserves this honour,' he declared, pouring scorn on their timidity. In the end Buchman was awarded the honour - Second Class, since protocol prevented bestowing the first degree without ambassadorial recommendation.

In Taiwan he received a decoration and saw many old friends of forty years before. They sped him on his way to Manila. Here he made the acquaintance of President Magsaysay. At breakfast in the Malacañang Palace Buchman said only one sentence, conveying to Magsaysay the greetings of Monsignor Paul Yu-pin, Archbishop of Nanking. For the rest he let the different personalities with him make their impact. Magsaysay remarked later to his aide, Major Palaypay, 'I have just met a unique and fascinating group of people, that has brought us answers instead of loading us down with problems.' Palaypay visited Mackinac the following summer and experienced a profound change of attitude towards the Japanese, who had condemned him to death during the war. When Prime Minister Kishi visited Manila in December 1957 Palaypay was assigned as his aide by President Garcia, who had succeeded after Magsaysay's death in March in a plane disaster.14

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