Japanese Maple (Shania)

I just bought my first Japanese maple. I live in zone 8 in San Antonio, Texas. Can I leave it in full sun until about 2 pm?  I do not have the luxury of shade until after 2 pm.

If you can't build some shade, you will get leaf scorch in that much San Antonio sun.

Full afternoon sun - absolutely not. You can shade with a piece of white cotton sheet or similar or window screen (which you can buy by the roll at WalMart for a couple of bucks) I've done this and it works well. Use black screen.