Thanks to everyone who asked about our Patreon. I'll put out a full video when I get the time, but for those who want to jump the gun and get on board from the start, here's the link: www.patreon.com/rareearth It means a huge deal that so many have asked us to start an account. I never thought anyone would watch these videos, let alone support them.
To understand the realities of the US and Imperial Japan's actions WWII, consider the use of the Atomic Weapons, to prevent Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night. OSS knew an I-400 Submarine would have launched three Suicide Fighter Bombers, to drop fleas infected with Weaponized Bubonic Plague on the Naval Bases in San Deigo & San Fransisco, about a month after the bombing of Hiroshima. Many of the staff at Unit 731 knew they were making a Doomsday Weapon, and yet carried out the Weaponization of all known Human & Livestock Diseases. They were using Chinese Civilians as "disposable lab rats", killing at least two a day, in ways that even made members of the Nazi Party uncomfortable. Unit 731 could easily have killed between 25% of the population of the Western US, and 25% of the population of Developed World because modern transportation would have quickly spread the disease, before it was detected, unlike in occupied China. The US should have dropped an Atomic Weapon on Unit 731, in occupied China, after telling both the Chinese Nationalists & Communists to kill anyone with burns from the bomb, burn their bodies, and create a permanent exclusion zone out of the blast area, by surrounding it with Nasty Thorn Trees. This would likely have saved millions of Chinese from infectious diseases, over the decades after the war, and prevented China's difficult public health problems. The second atomic bomb should have been used on Tokyo Imperial Palace, to end the Imperial System, once the destruction of Unit 731 was confirmed. The US should have executed the Emperor, after convicting him of crimes against humanity which he supported, and offered assistance to all nations enslaved by Imperial Japan, including the Peoples Republic of China. And yes, Japan would have signed an unconditional surrender, to avoid the revenge by the Soviets, of the Русско-японская война [Russo-Japanese War]. While Imperial Japan feared an Invasion by the US & Britain, it also knew that an invasion by Stalin would have been even worse, much worse, as their Ally Nazi Germany had already discovered...
I want to show my opinion about this problem( not all Japanese's ) The military officers committed such a cruel and brutal operation in Asia...(also they forced so many young Japanese soldiers to do "Banzai attacks" or Japanese citizens to commit suicide for honor including women and children even the officers didn't have the courage to die in the battlefield...) But I want you to know that in Yasukuni shrine, not only such BASTARDS are enshrined but also literally EVERYONE (even Korean and Taiwanese, very young Japanese soldiers who were forced to go to war, citizen, nurse, women who worked in the military factories, priest, interpreter etc) who passed away for Japan. (including Boshin war, Satsuma rebellion, the Sino-Japanese war, the Russo-Japanese war, WWl, the second Sino-Japanese war, WWll) So please I hope you understand that going to Yasukuni is not for Militarism, just praying for literally everyone who passed away because of these wars...
@@dpii3927 Buuut .... the racists and fascists of japan do treat this shrine as extremely special to their side, the connected museum simply lies about the war crimes, anti-foreigner ralleys end or start at Yasukuni.... I´m sure when you go and pray there, its like you say. But the general public events and utterances around this shrine paint a different picture. Sad to say.
The Yasukuni museum is hardly advertised but really Tokyo's equivalent to the Imperial War Museum. It's objectively excellent - in terms of the items and machines on display. However, anything negative regarding Japan's history is either downplayed or absent entirely.
@@youtuber12148 It would be better to compare Japan with Germany. It's the complete opposite to Japan; Germany is always very honest and apologetic about its past, whether that's in schools or museums or dinner tables.
@@youtuber12148 Japan is the one who started war, killed millions of people, raping women, experiments on human body from Unit 731, endless cruel activities. Do you ever think about that? Do you ever agree that is unhuman? Do you ever think about how would you want to stop that if you were America? No, you didn`t do any of that, you hide all the terrible things you did, never apologized and even play the victim show. Pathetic and disgusting.
Are you kidding me?! Your style of walking commentary (speed and all) is becoming Rare Earth signature. It keeps me interested in the story. As you are eloquently narrating my brain has the time to absorb both your commentary and the beautiful pictures that Francesco's capturing. It's actually very zen. What progress you two have done in such a short of period of time. Very impressive. I await the next episode of Rare Earth eagerly.
Im really loving the little touches on these end cards. It feels really appropriate that you end off stories about people with a little message from yourselves.
David Rapalyea, WTF is your problem ??? I disagree with the "documentarian" on numerous issues but don't understand why you attack a Faith to attempt to prove it...
Usually the reaction I see to the nationalist vehicles is nothing, as in everyone just ignores them. But recently when I visited Tokyo, they clearly had a big thing planned because they had all these helmeted police officers reading to protect them, but instead of a riot, the opposition just threw a dance party in the park instead to draw the attention away. Pretty good idea!
@@arnowisp6244 wait....dance party? when the hell did this happen? Like I want to opposition to be strong but nothing will stop me from laughing at them.
That sounds awesome. There was a right wing neo-Nazi rally here in the US where a guy went out to protest it by playing his tuba with every comical sound he could make while following along as if he were part of the parade. It totally screwed their little hate fest because people were laughing so hard.
Hostile Doubt it, while the North Korean tourist minders are understandibly pretty nervous about filming the real problem is that few have the courage to counter the childish "evil madman" narrative and actually look at modern Korean history in it's actual context. Ravaged by Japanese Imperialism then US Imperialism which kept the hated Japanese police state largely in place which together murdered tens of thousands of Koreans between the end of WW2 and the Korean war, not to mention the millions during the war. The US industrial murder machine has no legitimacy but that conferred by stolen wealth and the proven threat of overwhelming and indiscriminate force. To their own great surprise the warmongers in DC lost the Korean and Indochinese wars to determined peasants from what they racistly denigrated as "the inferior yellow race". May the warmongers lose many more wars and be toppled from their blood-drenched "city upon a hill".
David Rapalyea I'm looking forward to you posting *your* video series here. Perhaps some of us will come and snipe at you. Or maybe you'll do a good, interesting job of it, like these guys do. We're waiting.
Wow, you captured the nationalist vehicles. Those always trigger me when they shout on their loud speakers all sorts of insults against foreigners while blasting their anthem and waving their flag. Once, I saw one go past my apartment with a police escort.
And Japan doesn't even have much foreigners, most are tourist ain't? But its a bit funny how japan has those loudy ultra nazis who even hate half of the population. In Germany we do too have those ppl but they don't speak out loud. Is heavily frowned uppon touching that true blood thinking.
Slugdog Yeah, Japan has never processed their past like we did and instead focused on a "Out of sight, out of mind" policy with Japanese students today learning next to nothing about the world wars and especially nothing about their atrocities. I know it took us Germans a long time too to start processing what happened after the war and come to terms with it. But Japan never started this process in the first place. That's why ultranationalists are generally accepted, that's why people bowing at the entrance of that Temple are not called Nazis like they would probably anywhere else in the world. I'm still hoping for the future that they will learn about their history as detailed as every German does in school.
Think about how many civilians including children and women those ppl massacred, raped, tortured. these murderers are all in this shrine, with the current Japanese dignifying and glorifying them. Conscious? Not a hope.
People say History is boring. But damn the way you inform us of past events is probably one of the best ways to do it. Every time I listen to your videos you're able to keep me interested throughout the entire video. It's perfect.
As a Chinese, I now came to realize why Japanese wants to keep this shrine. They used to be powerful and influential. Now, with foreign troops on their own land, the pride was greatly hurt (it's almost like become a colonial country with weakened sovereignty). So to protect their pride as a nation, they need someplace to memorize their national spirit (although it is linked to war criminals) and their past glory. Japanese are not only denying the past, they are also denying the present. They are living in such a self-deceiving dream. With this continues, they will never reflect on their failures and then succeed. The past glory will in the end becomes a dream that could never be realized again.
I am a Marine Veteran and as such, I am very curious about the history of wars. So, suffice it to say that I have read a lot about WWII. This history leading up to it, the war it's self and the history leading away from the War's conclusion. It is both fascinating and angering to me. I find the denial by this faction of the Japanese people to be disturbing. When you deny a thing, it makes it almost inevitable that you will repeat the thing. So history teaches us. I am of German heritage and consequently know many Germans. The majority of them are quick to admit the evils of WWII and are active in teaching the next generation to prevent our people from perpetrating them again. By contrast, most of the Japanese I know are resistant to discussing it. Even when I speak as a person of German heritage and admitting my shame for what was done, they tend to sidestep the issue, shut down, or deny it outright. The fact that there has been no official apology for the war, the atrocities, much less Pearl Harbor sets a terrible precedent. There have been those Japanese that have discussed it with me. I truly appreciate and honor the vulnerability and candor of those who did. Their humanity I found inspiring. So, thank you for this segment. It is truly important that this is unveiled. Denying your evil deeds is cowardice. It takes courage to stand and admit when you've done an evil thing. Bushido died when the Japanese dared such cowardice.
It's not in dispute that Japan has a right to venerate its war dead. There's the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery meters a few meters away from Yasukuni that exists for this purpose. Yasukuni is a harmful anachronism.
Yes the seemingly deliberate conflation of venerating the war dead and venerating the war criminals can’t help but feel like an intentional denialist move
Most Japanese are against “war losing”, not entirely against war. They are against nuclear bombs because 2 Japanese cities got smashed by it. But all Tokyo streets were flocked with flowers and cheering parties when Japan committed massacres in Nanking and occupied the Chinese capital.
@@yurichtube1162 taught and educated to be still today to be demon worshipers . See all the worshiping to their national shrines filled with war criminals, from civilians right to the political leaders including their PM, every year! And the US is ok with it!
Oof, that end title card is hitting me hard. My friends and I went to this museum in Japan and had no idea it was denying atrocities, we just spotted a zero and thought it was cool to see one. To be fair, we didn't go looking for the place, we just came across it while walking the loop around the imperial palace and thought the large shinto gates and park were nice to walk around, so maybe I was being an ignorant tourist, but when in Japan! Anyway, thanks for enlightening me as to what this place actually signifies, very interesting stuff.
To be fair it's not something that you'd usually hear of outside of Japan. I didn't even know the Yasukuni shrine existed until I started looking up the Tokyo Trials, so it's an understandable mistake.
I enjoy the pace of the show, both in content and presentation. The topics explored by the show have become a favorite starting point for our discussions during our evening walks together. Your perspective provides a Howard Zinn approach to history. Keep em coming.
@@사람-u9p7o No, but that's also not what Yasukuni museum does so it's certainly a weird comparison to demand. If Yasukuni was meant specifically to glorify atrocities and those who committed them rather than including all war dead among those who are prayed for, that might make sense. But as it stands there are many international examples we could point to as similar (Arlington cemetery, for example), including many dedicated to people who were part of the Nazi party (such as Ukrainian and Armenian statuary and memorials, for example). Russia has direct and praising memorials to Stalin, China to Mao. And they were most certainly monsters who oversaw the deaths of (tens of) millions of innocent people. Hell, even Seoul has a statue to Syngman Rhee. It is fine to be mad about Yasukuni, I personally find the shrine's social status in Japan to be in very poor taste, but if you have to hyperbolize and lie to do so you're not really doing your cause any justice.
@@RareEarthSeries I don't understand what you're saying. The role of shrine is to honor the souls of the dead and pray for them. Obviously, the Yasukuni Shrine is not just the people who committed many slaughter and crimes in World War II. However, Japan has yet to make a proper apology to the colonized countries.If Japan had admitted its wrongdoing and made a proper apology and compensation, Yasukuni shrine probably wouldn't have been that big of a problem.
@@RareEarthSeries If Japan wants to escape criticism that Yasukuni shrine honors the souls of the slaughtered, it can be solved simply by removing the names of Japanese people who committed crimes like Hitler from Yasukuni shrine.
You said it yourself in a previous video: "History moves forward, not backwards." The land we tread is soaked in blood spilled through unimaginable cruelty. It still happens today sometimes. There's no taking it back though. We're just going to have to live with it. We're just going to have to accept it as it is. I don't know what to do about shrines and monuments but I think that we still need ways to remember our history yet at the same time make sure that our history doesn't turn us into monsters once again.
"Remembering history" does not equal "venerating and worshipping war criminals". The names of these criminals should be printed in a record book in a museum, not engraved on stone in a religious shrine.
Western people just cant understand this because you guys only focus onthe nazzis huh? That is a nazzi shrine for Asian people. Every year Japanese politicians visit that place and East Asians get fcking mad.
@@jhameelbae7129 for all the truth of those that did commit unspeakable atrocities, it is funny how Korea and China do not do the same to each other of those within their own nations pasts who did other immoral things against those around them. Blaming Japan for everything is the same as Imperial Japan's 'Victory Disese' problem for your own nation, it ignores your peoples bad parts of their and 'your' history/histories; Yes I do know of Japan history has at many times in its last 650 years or so, done things to Korea, much of it not good at all, but it was not all the time, and mosly they was as good or bad as most other peoples/nations around the world at those times doing similar. People are not perfect, history is not perfect; pretending otherwise is treacherous, any who try to say or make it be 'perfect' are often very dangerous in the end, when they are given the power to be as they wish to be over others. And it did help make Korea stronger, unified and more united after the brief era of pain from Hideyoshi before Tokugawa's victory & isolationism. ..as it helped the Manchus conquer the Chinese Imperial Regime of the time, that was equally worse to Korea, for much longer of its histories before that. (...and still sort of is now - How many did the Korean Civil War or many Chinese Civil Wars kill of their own, and the Iron Rice-bowl famines of Mao (and the Stalinistic Kims,) his/their methods and his later student 'Red Books' and continued crimes against humanity labour camps, forced minority sterilizations, organ harvesting etc). ...Please I am not defending those who was the war criminals, as they do not ever deserve anything in my mind, but forgetting those guilty of your own is just as bad as the evil they did, it then allows future persons to do so again easily with less chance of being stopped. But the normal soldier who did not do the really bad, the evil much worse acts,.. Who died in service or from wounds from serving in action or elsewhere,.. Those who suffered the hell of war that turns man into animals the longer it lasts... They should always be remembered somehow, in a manner correct to tradition/custom/practice - just so long as they was not part making warcrimes themself/themselves. Forgive if I caused offence I do not intend to, ..even you cannot understand 'context' within English language or you do deserve my offence.
People in the comments seem to miss the point that the shrine is now owned by extremists who deny Japanese war crimes during WWII. With enough time, these extremists might be able to fully convince the whole of Japan that they did no wrong.
Insightful, balanced and incredibly though provoking. This depth of presentation will never make it to a huge audience but I certainly hope that it is worth while. This is Dan Carlin level insight!
Just had a thought... what about creating a small companion website with a world map and pins that link to each of the videos? I'd love to see the locality context of all the videos you're doing! Also, this series is great - thanks for creating it :)
Far right japanese mindset is actually much more popular in Japan than one might think. They are big corporations and mainstream media and even the govt. no wonder outright denial of past history is taking place, let alone rewriting it in their favor
Great job with a very controversial subject, and beautifully produced as always. You guys rock! And thanks for fixing that comma splice in the last sentence of the end credits. I can breathe easy now. :-)
Unintended consequences...it'd be like the US government being forced to sell off Arlington...only to have it being bought up by the KKK. I figured I'd have a look at the place myself to see what it was like, and also to acknowledge the IJN sailors that escorted my grandfathers' troop ships in WW1. The museum attached to this shrine is the most disturbing place I've been in a long time (and I was in Hiroshima last week). There's a small entry hall, which is free. In it stands a Zero fighter, and the text displayed alongside it is extremely biased. ("..best carrier-based fighter ever"). Then I noticed the locomotive...oh that should be ok I thought...turns out it's one of the locomotives from the Thai-Burma railway, proudly restored and transported from Thailand in 1977 after a successful fund-raising drive. Here's a place proudly displaying an object associated with war crimes. Only time in my life I've refused to enter a museum. Evan, thanks so much for making this video.
As always, this video is wonderful. Difficult subject handled with class. Also, a thank you for inspiring me to get off my backside and make something. The rest of the world may curse you for it - eventually, when I get around to starting the project - but I thank you.
I remember my late grandmother. She had dementia in the last years of her life. She would remember all her experiences during the war. She will wake up in the middle of the night and pack her bags. She always say that Japanese will come and they will burn our house. No matter how many times we say that the war is over and there are no Japanese she won't believe us. The horrors of world war II hunted her until the her last days. It's so heartbreaking for us to see her relive those horrible times. We don't hate the Japanese anymore but I don't blame my grandmother if she hates the Japanese until the end. Her grandmother was burned alive by the Japanese and took all her jewelry and live stocks and her uncle was also killed by the Japanese.
Japan has never fully dealt with its responsibility and criminal behavior during the Imperial expansion. The Germans have completely dealt with their culpability.
Well, that is kind of relative. While Germany puts some effort into getting things in order, there are always new problems coming up... seems like one cannot set Europe on fire and then getting things in order within less than a century. Of course there is also the different ending: in Germany the war did not end with the biggest atrocities, much more (at least West Germany) got freed. So the war seagued out and ended with a certain feeling of justice. In Japan, it ended with a strike against civilian targets, which made the victor sink as low as the defeated and offeres a narrative favourable for ultra nationalists.
Agreed. You see it squeezing out in all sorts of ways here, from the way they use taboo flags on clothing and in shopping malls, to the denialism within major levels of government, etc. It is interesting to compare their post-war experiences with 'coming to terms'.
I would say from an artistic and cultural standpoint it has, or at least is trying to. Their war crimes have appeared and criticised as themes in major and minor works of art across the mediums. From a government standpoint however theyve definitely fallen behind. It doesn't help that political relations between Japan and other pacific countries are still a nightmare. The government may be too full of pride to accept that apologies are absolutely necessary even in circumstances like these.
Koba, the Germans have included their war crimes in their school textbooks, they openly discuss them. The Japanese ignore their atrocities, school children are not educated on the culpability of their country in them. No German leader pays homage to war criminals by visiting shrines they are celebrated at!! It's de rigueur for Japanese politicians to visit the Yasukuni shrine and tacitly pay homage to the war criminals entombed their. It's not about apologies, it's about accepting responsibility and ensuring your populace knows exactly what was done in their name! If the Japanese society fully acknowledged the Rape of Nanking, the use of comfort women, and the abuse of prisoners of war in textbooks and disinterred war criminals buried at Yasukuni they will have fully accepted their culpability.
Seki Mom, you denial of these well documented atrocities is exactly what I am talking about. Thanks for confirming my OP. It's not me who is brainwashed, it's you who are a right wing denier of history. Your ilk is a danger to the truth and peace. Don't think I don't fully understand your comment on the 'false crimes' of Germany, you're a Holocaust denier too, aren't you? Truly disgusting.
If you are disliking the video because you believe it is framed as good vs evil, or that it is punishing people for not erasing history, I implore you to rewatch the video. At no point do I call anyone evil, claim that people should be punished for 'keeping their history', or request that any history should be erased. I'd be interested to see why you think that's what is being said here.
If you think my comment was about good versus evil, then I suggest you re-read it. My complaint is not how you portrayed the actions of the Japanese, those actions where... for lack of a better term, despicable. I disagree with your statement that those who disliked the video are doing so because they idolise group X. I disliked the video, I do not idolise ultra nationalistic Japanese and reducing your critics opinions to something so simplistic is dishonest.
It is quite literally your opening line: "Not just people who idolise X group, those who believe there was more to it than good versus evil disagree with punishing others for keeping their history." The sentence clearly implies that the video presents it as good versus evil and suggests punishing people for keeping their history. It does not.
I love your speaking Style. I can follow it and process it. it is also soothing. When people talk really fast about a lot of facts it's hard to remember everything they said. You give people time to digest the material. Great job. I love your videos
Love your videos. The comments posted here, which were probably from educated Japanese, make it clear why China and Korea hardly willing to forget the painful history. Enemy at the gate.
3:12 Translation for the sign at the top left: Justice For Comfort Women Right Now! Gabriela is a partylist (from what I could remember) that values womens' rights
Coming as a descendent of those who were massacred in Japanese held Philippines, I wish for this shrine to not be held in the private hands, yet I do believe it is necessary to maintain. It remembers some who fought great wars for Japan, yet it is tarnished by its final coffins. I live in America and I don't believe we should be doing things like destroying confederate monuments, as I see people find it is easier to demonize your enemy than it is to learn and respect them as a fighter, to try and find the human. I think it is wrong to push political agendas with theses monuments, whether you wish to break them or maintain them. It should be public knowledge of the actions but private ideals which judge them.
A monument isn't just a pile of stones sitting around, it is communication, steadily broadcasting a message. A country which tolerates a monument, accepts the message to the degree of accepting it as a valid opinion. Which in the case of the confederate monuments means validating racism. I am pretty happy that in Germany we tore down most of those monuments quickly and avoid giving those people historic sides to gather. This is a collective statement about how we stand towards the past. Inaction would be a statement as well.
I guess your right, Maybe we should stop making them monuments, and start transforming them to full on museums. You do have a good point on the acceptance of the message, but there are many different messages to be had. For example, a statue of Robert E. Lee was taken down, but many had called up how there was no active message of slavery. It was seen by many as a remembrance of a man who was split, a man taught in the north but was forced to fight for the south. I suppose many can take that statue still as a problem, yet I really would like it to not be torn down, but renovated for a different cause (Museum possibly). I wish that we don't just burn down flags or icons just because they are on the backs of trucks (although I would still ask the owner to lower the flag) but instead teach children why they are wrong, why we shouldn't make fun of the European red swastika. Its not wrong to tear down the monuments, but it is wrong to say that that would be the best form of action. I know in Germany they have a law banning media to utilize the Swastika except for educational media. That is a law I can understand. I wish we did the same to monuments, as to take the statue down, and put them behind glass. Because at the end of the day, there actions can teach many what not to follow.
Herr Schmidt I understand what you're saying but I disagree with the first statement. A monument sends many different kinds of messages, not just one. In fact, the only absolute thing is that it shows that it happened. Now there is a danger, and that lies with the private owners using tourist money for shady purposes and outside forces twisting it to have a strictly positive message. In Canada, there are many monuments regarding our mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples. As well as statues of "good" people who weren't really all that good. Like the statue of Winston Churchill in Toronto, a colonialist who has little right to have a statue on Canadian soil. But I'm happy to say that nobody has ever stopped me from throwing snowballs at it. Short answer: Monuments aren't inherently positive or negative, but it is sometimes necessary to have a tight leash on its narrative.
True, context matters. And neither Martin Luther nor Wagner were saints, but nonetheless they are honoured at multiple locations. But then again their main merrit - and what they are honoured for - was always beyond the point of critic, which makes differentiation a lot easier than in the case of confederate monuments, which honour activists of the secession movement for being exactly that. It would be different, would some nazis decide to make one of the soldier graves over here their location for celebration, as it would create a similar situation of conflicting messages.
Rustedblade No, there are things in the US that I absolutely abhor, but still believe have a right to exist. When referring to the tarnished coffins, no I'm not saying those men were bad in anyway, or that they should be removed, I even said that this shrine should be maintained in that same paragraph, which includes those who I deem as my transgressors. I'm not ignorant of the happenings in my birth country of the US, I just feel that there is a need for the federal/state/local government to maintain them, since both confederate soldiers and union both are considered to be US veterans. For Japan, its harder since the split of state and religion, but I still think that the Japanese government should get itself involved in this matter, since some private people are standing on men who can not talk.
The comparison to the south is something I've been thinking about for a while. I think people just don't want to be ashamed of their history. But there's a way to honor war dead without honoring the war, I think.
I visited Japan, and brought my Akita dog's ashes with me, and went to Yasukuni Shrine and spread her ashes everywhere, so the Japanese people could worship her. I know she'd have liked that. I just wonder how much trouble I'd get in if they found out.
@@padtag1742 My devotion to that dog was unlimited, and she was Japanese, so I did what I did with a pure heart and good intentions. That said, every Japanese person I've told this story to thought it was hysterical.
Yasukuni Shrine: In case you did not know, there is an Amnesty clause in the International Law, and when a country sign a peace treaty, like the Treaty of San Fransisco, and that comes into effect, all the prisoners of war are freed. The officers and soldiers in Yasukuni are not even alive. If one daly, all of sudden, some African countries demanded US President not to go to Arlington because there buried many who died for the Confederate States of America, do you agree with the Africans? China started complaining about Yasukuni first in the late 1980s when they also started anti-Japan eduction to hide their contradiction in their system and to raise the nationalism, Koreans in 1990s. There are many official delegates from many Asian countries that paid respects at Yasukuni.
China started complaining about Yasukuni in the late 1980s, because the Class A criminals were secretly inducted into the shrine in 1978, which didn't garner much publicity until Yasuhiro Nakasone visited the shrine in 1985.
I agree with that commenter you mentioned at the end there: the first video of yours I watched had me just bursting inside from how slow it was, but the story was very interesting, so I stayed glued. At some point or another, I kinda adapted to your style. The slow pace is an acquired taste, but your storytelling is incredible regardless. To some people, I assume, it's even a relaxing alternative to the fast, fact-spitting top 10 lists.
Good video, I think that even though it may seem similar, I feel there's a big difference between Arlington and Yasukuni. Arlington doesn't worship the dead, it's a cemetery for high ranking veterans. The Yasukuni is a shinto shrine for worshiping the dead. Surprisingly, Arlington doesn't allow war criminals to be buried, the Yasukuni enshrines them. Arlington is owned federally I believe. Like you said in your video, Yasukuni is own by the far right of Japan. The only thing I can think of that could be classified as controversial about Arlington is that it's on Confederate general Robert E Lee's property. But that lost its meaning since Arlington is about honoring those who served the United States in the Military.
Before seeing you had a video about Yasukuni, I was going to request you do one there. So glad you did, I just found your channel and can't turn it off. Keep up the good work!
Hi Evan! Firstly, I've been following Rare Earth and I cant seem to get enough of it. All of the content here is amazing. And secondly, It would be great if you make similar videos here in Bangladesh. We have a long history of wars and were ruled by various rulers from Ancient Hindu families, Persians,the British (duh) and lastly Pakistan. We also have a huge group of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. My country has a rich history and It would be great if you can introduce your followers to this small country of mine. Cheers!
I visited the shrine on a rainy February day in 2016 and thought it was a truly fascinating place albeit for some of the wrong reasons. I think Asian relations would take a big step forward if Japan just came out and apologised but it ain't gonna happen. It is shameful even how prisoners of war were treated in WWII but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Nonetheless, I think the shrine should remain. I'm not for revising all of history by modern standards as they are constantly shifting.
In 1972, Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka went to Peking and established diplomatic relations between Japan and China. Mr. Tanaka visited Yasukuni five times while he was in office, but China didn't protest. In 1983, prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone went to Seoul, Korea, to talk with Korean president about economic aids to Korea. Mr. Nakasone visited Yasukuni three times in that year, including August 15. But Korea didn't protest. It seems Yasukumi was not a issue at all back then. China and Korea owe an explanation. To 储有奈 : Since my reply is not shown in the reply section, i answer you here. China protes Yasukuni visit for the first time in 1985. Why didn't China protest much earlier ?
Class A war criminals weren't enshrined at Yasukuni until 1978, and the enshrinement of war criminals was not known to the Japanese public until 1979. The first Japanese prime minister to visit Yasukuni in an official capacity was in 1985.
Subjectively nice, possibly positive comment: I find your slow speaking speed to be soothing, I also assume it makes it more accessible to people who do not speak English as a first language. As for the shrine, perhaps we should try not to view it as venerating war criminals nor respecting imperial rule but rather treat it as a memory, it points to real history and real people and the stories therein entailed. These should not be forgotten. After all, they who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. Ideally I would see ownership move to a move neutral party but that is a decision the Japanese people must reach on their own.
hindos Gottenberg The problem with Yasukuni, as Evan pointed out, is that, on the grounds, thhere is a museum dedicated to spreading lies about the war and Japan's atrocity. That isn't memory: it's the corruption of memory intended to erase the past and replace it with fantasy.
It's not the Shrine that poses a problem for the rest of the world. Evan made a comparison between this shrine and American monuments to the confederacy. I personally don't think people should feel offended by a statue of Robert E. Lee standing in the middle of some southern states. He was, after all, a historical figure that represented a lot of good southern values, and was opposed to a civil war before he was forced to choose a side. The problem, as with all the history regarding Japanese involvement in the WWII, is the denial of some of the atrocities that were committed by their respective sides. Slavery was bad. Keeping comfort women was bad. Torturing and mutilating people for fun was undoubtedly bad. The Confederacy partook, and the Empire partook. It's the denial of these facts that trigger people. (although, if I remember right, Japan issued a formal apology to South Korea - it's a start).
The statements made in comparison to confederate monuments are of so pertinent now, after the weekend event in Charlotte. What is the monument recognizing? And was it something done for good?
Claiming that one country started the war is as simplistic as saying that a single match starts a fire. You need tinder and fuel and more mass of invisible oxygen than both combined, before the spark will take. All sides performed atrocities in WW2, but the "winning" side gets to pretend that they didn't, or that it was justified.
This series of rare earth is to you father, the Astronauts, list of classy stuff he had a part in. Made, influenced a solid thinking, working son. Good work both of youze
2017: "oh no, Nationalism is rising all over the world!" 2020: "hmmm, I wonder what would happen if everyone was forced to stay in their countries and not travel for half a year, or maybe even more" 2021: "yeahhhhh that wasn't good"
Incredibly good video Evan. To the victor goes the spoil! One point I'd like to make though is that the museum mentioned in the video wouldn't be allowed to exist if the USA didn't endorse freedom of speech. As rage inducing and denialist as that place is, it's a good thing they still have the right to say it. It's up to us as viewers and tourists to get the real story behind it all. Thank you again :) Another great video. PS - loved the pace of it.
I think it's also doubly hard for those nationalist Japanese to admit defeat because of the strong East Asian tradition of filial piety and ancestor worship. That's why it was relatively 'easier' for German citizens to admit their nazi ancestors were wrong; of course Western Europeans have filial piety too, but not to the degree of Asians.
Really like the way you approach with an objecrive view to the sensitive matter, a Japan's denial of the invasions as well as massacres of asian folks during WW2.
Here's a nice, positive comment, Evan. I found your series a few weeks ago - not because of your dad, btw. I enjoyed it so much that I started watching them more often, and now I'm working my way forward from the beginning. Keep talking slowly, please.
When visiting Pearl Harbor it is quite amusing to see Japanese tourists who have swallowed the koolaid. Right before you go to the USS Arizona they have a video (subtitled in Japanese) that gives a non-biased interpretation of what happened up to the bombing. They aren't all smiles and peace signs while taking pictures after the film. I find the Japanese excuse of being goaded strikingly similar to the war of Northern Oppression being about Federal overreach of states' rights.
Losing a war doesn't mean being ashamed of where you come from. Everybody's history is full of blood and hypocrisy if you go back far enough. Be proud of the mistakes you've learned from. Wear them openly.
It might be easier to understand Yasukuni if you learn about the concept of gods in Japan. They may haven been war criminals, but they are dead. Yasukuni is not denying the comfort women, Naking massacre, etc. So-called Japanese nationalists and Yasukuni are questioning the context of how they occurred.
This is sadly why folks have never really let their guard down when it comes to the Japanese as a whole. And for all the rest who are essentially innocently embroiled, through no choice of their own, I sympathise wholeheartedly. And for the others who stick to their guns regardless, we might as well make our excuses and leave as they'll die before a word is said against.... You know what? Justice will be served in the next life, whether they care to agree or not. And on that score...
comparing this with the other guilty nation over there in europe then you start thinking about some kind of double standards created out of political opportunities.
3:00 as I am human like any other, I have limited capacity for knowledge, and I dont know that the three points that gets highlighted here are true or false. All I know is that I have a tendency to speak up when I hear claims to truth wirhout the speaker making disclaimers about the relative nature of truth or atleast refer to some solid sources that make the truth into an objective one.
Interesting to see Japan using the visitation of the shrine to slap the face of the usa, humiliating the usa time and again , while the usa's predictable silence is an expression of guilt over the criminal use of 2 nuclear bombs against japanese civilians
Thanks to everyone who asked about our Patreon. I'll put out a full video when I get the time, but for those who want to jump the gun and get on board from the start, here's the link: www.patreon.com/rareearth
It means a huge deal that so many have asked us to start an account. I never thought anyone would watch these videos, let alone support them.
Look at Germany. They venerate their victims of WW2 in every way possible in stark contrast to the Japanese.
To understand the realities of the US and Imperial Japan's actions WWII, consider the use of the Atomic Weapons, to prevent Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night. OSS knew an I-400 Submarine would have launched three Suicide Fighter Bombers, to drop fleas infected with Weaponized Bubonic Plague on the Naval Bases in San Deigo & San Fransisco, about a month after the bombing of Hiroshima. Many of the staff at Unit 731 knew they were making a Doomsday Weapon, and yet carried out the Weaponization of all known Human & Livestock Diseases. They were using Chinese Civilians as "disposable lab rats", killing at least two a day, in ways that even made members of the Nazi Party uncomfortable. Unit 731 could easily have killed between 25% of the population of the Western US, and 25% of the population of Developed World because modern transportation would have quickly spread the disease, before it was detected, unlike in occupied China.
The US should have dropped an Atomic Weapon on Unit 731, in occupied China, after telling both the Chinese Nationalists & Communists to kill anyone with burns from the bomb, burn their bodies, and create a permanent exclusion zone out of the blast area, by surrounding it with Nasty Thorn Trees. This would likely have saved millions of Chinese from infectious diseases, over the decades after the war, and prevented China's difficult public health problems.
The second atomic bomb should have been used on Tokyo Imperial Palace, to end the Imperial System, once the destruction of Unit 731 was confirmed. The US should have executed the Emperor, after convicting him of crimes against humanity which he supported, and offered assistance to all nations enslaved by Imperial Japan, including the Peoples Republic of China.
And yes, Japan would have signed an unconditional surrender, to avoid the revenge by the Soviets, of the Русско-японская война [Russo-Japanese War]. While Imperial Japan feared an Invasion by the US & Britain, it also knew that an invasion by Stalin would have been even worse, much worse, as their Ally Nazi Germany had already discovered...
I want to show my opinion about this problem( not all Japanese's )
The military officers committed such a cruel and brutal operation in Asia...(also they forced so many young Japanese soldiers to do "Banzai attacks" or Japanese citizens to commit suicide for honor including women and children even the officers didn't have the courage to die in the battlefield...) But I want you to know that in Yasukuni shrine, not only such BASTARDS are enshrined but also literally EVERYONE (even Korean and Taiwanese, very young Japanese soldiers who were forced to go to war, citizen, nurse, women who worked in the military factories, priest, interpreter etc) who passed away for Japan. (including Boshin war, Satsuma rebellion, the Sino-Japanese war, the Russo-Japanese war, WWl, the second Sino-Japanese war, WWll)
So please I hope you understand that going to Yasukuni is not for Militarism, just praying for literally everyone who passed away because of these wars...
@@dpii3927
Buuut .... the racists and fascists of japan do treat this shrine as extremely special to their side, the connected museum simply lies about the war crimes, anti-foreigner ralleys end or start at Yasukuni....
I´m sure when you go and pray there, its like you say.
But the general public events and utterances around this shrine paint a different picture. Sad to say.
@Leopold Are they? You dont say!
down with the imperial system. long live metric
I do love my increments of ten, and not...12...or something
@Channel000 you believe hirohito has nothing to do with ww2? hahaha
@Channel000 yeah "long live the emperor" phrases like this everywhere. to be honest i dont know the true history and perhaps i will never know
The Yasukuni museum is hardly advertised but really Tokyo's equivalent to the Imperial War Museum. It's objectively excellent - in terms of the items and machines on display. However, anything negative regarding Japan's history is either downplayed or absent entirely.
Its fool's game and clearly they wouldn't recognize this shrine is a totem of shame
同様に戦争犯罪を犯してきたアメリカに言われたくは無いわな
@@youtuber12148 It would be better to compare Japan with Germany. It's the complete opposite to Japan; Germany is always very honest and apologetic about its past, whether that's in schools or museums or dinner tables.
@@thomHD ドイツほどエゴイズムの国も存在しませんからね
ナチス、フェミニズム、死の商人ヘッケラー&コッホ、中国と蜜月なドイツ自動車会社…
@@youtuber12148 Japan is the one who started war, killed millions of people, raping women, experiments on human body from Unit 731, endless cruel activities. Do you ever think about that? Do you ever agree that is unhuman? Do you ever think about how would you want to stop that if you were America? No, you didn`t do any of that, you hide all the terrible things you did, never apologized and even play the victim show. Pathetic and disgusting.
I enjoy your speaking speed, it's comforting.
Me too
Are you kidding me?! Your style of walking commentary (speed and all) is becoming Rare Earth signature. It keeps me interested in the story. As you are eloquently narrating my brain has the time to absorb both your commentary and the beautiful pictures that Francesco's capturing. It's actually very zen. What progress you two have done in such a short of period of time. Very impressive. I await the next episode of Rare Earth eagerly.
Im really loving the little touches on these end cards. It feels really appropriate that you end off stories about people with a little message from yourselves.
This is my undoubtedly positive and entirely nice comment.
This was informative and pleasant to watch. Thank you for making it.
David Rapalyea, WTF is your problem ???
I disagree with the "documentarian" on numerous issues but don't understand why you attack a Faith to attempt to prove it...
David Hollenshead, this is getting heated
Usually the reaction I see to the nationalist vehicles is nothing, as in everyone just ignores them. But recently when I visited Tokyo, they clearly had a big thing planned because they had all these helmeted police officers reading to protect them, but instead of a riot, the opposition just threw a dance party in the park instead to draw the attention away. Pretty good idea!
yep the best way to stop extremist preachers is to either make them seem lame by comparison or humiliate them and make them seem like idiots.
@@Necrodermis Except here the opposition made themselves look like clowns with that dance party.
@@arnowisp6244 wait....dance party? when the hell did this happen? Like I want to opposition to be strong but nothing will stop me from laughing at them.
That sounds awesome. There was a right wing neo-Nazi rally here in the US where a guy went out to protest it by playing his tuba with every comical sound he could make while following along as if he were part of the parade. It totally screwed their little hate fest because people were laughing so hard.
@@Hollylivengood Excellent idea!!! [read in a Mr. Burns voice in your own head, ..while air guitaring like Wyld Stallyns]
I guess there won't be any Rare Earth's in North Korea.
That would truly be a rare earth video
That would be an automatic R.N.I.P. (rest *not* in peace) for Evan.
Hostile
Doubt it, while the North Korean tourist minders are understandibly pretty nervous about filming the real problem is that few have the courage to counter the childish "evil madman" narrative and actually look at modern Korean history in it's actual context. Ravaged by Japanese Imperialism then US Imperialism which kept the hated Japanese police state largely in place which together murdered tens of thousands of Koreans between the end of WW2 and the Korean war, not to mention the millions during the war. The US industrial murder machine has no legitimacy but that conferred by stolen wealth and the proven threat of overwhelming and indiscriminate force.
To their own great surprise the warmongers in DC lost the Korean and Indochinese wars to determined peasants from what they racistly denigrated as "the inferior yellow race". May the warmongers lose many more wars and be toppled from their blood-drenched "city upon a hill".
looks like it may happen
David Rapalyea I'm looking forward to you posting *your* video series here. Perhaps some of us will come and snipe at you. Or maybe you'll do a good, interesting job of it, like these guys do. We're waiting.
Wow, you captured the nationalist vehicles. Those always trigger me when they shout on their loud speakers all sorts of insults against foreigners while blasting their anthem and waving their flag. Once, I saw one go past my apartment with a police escort.
What they yell at foreigners is mild by comparison to what they think of half Japanese people.
1973Washu Could you elaborate that? I'm genuinely curious.
mugutu chimputu it’s that kind of “pure blood” thinking
And Japan doesn't even have much foreigners, most are tourist ain't? But its a bit funny how japan has those loudy ultra nazis who even hate half of the population. In Germany we do too have those ppl but they don't speak out loud. Is heavily frowned uppon touching that true blood thinking.
Slugdog Yeah, Japan has never processed their past like we did and instead focused on a "Out of sight, out of mind" policy with Japanese students today learning next to nothing about the world wars and especially nothing about their atrocities. I know it took us Germans a long time too to start processing what happened after the war and come to terms with it. But Japan never started this process in the first place. That's why ultranationalists are generally accepted, that's why people bowing at the entrance of that Temple are not called Nazis like they would probably anywhere else in the world. I'm still hoping for the future that they will learn about their history as detailed as every German does in school.
Who was come here because PLATINUM VA has removed from Arknight
Lol
Ai Kayano?
Think about how many civilians including children and women those ppl massacred, raped, tortured. these murderers are all in this shrine, with the current Japanese dignifying and glorifying them. Conscious? Not a hope.
People say History is boring. But damn the way you inform us of past events is probably one of the best ways to do it. Every time I listen to your videos you're able to keep me interested throughout the entire video.
It's perfect.
Who says that?
@@DakotaofRaptors Been to any Highschool? Tons of people say that.
@@Scoin0 Yes, but seeing as we're in a pandemic, virtual learning is the way to go.
@@DakotaofRaptors mainly women, don't ask me why
As a Chinese, I now came to realize why Japanese wants to keep this shrine. They used to be powerful and influential. Now, with foreign troops on their own land, the pride was greatly hurt (it's almost like become a colonial country with weakened sovereignty). So to protect their pride as a nation, they need someplace to memorize their national spirit (although it is linked to war criminals) and their past glory. Japanese are not only denying the past, they are also denying the present. They are living in such a self-deceiving dream. With this continues, they will never reflect on their failures and then succeed. The past glory will in the end becomes a dream that could never be realized again.
天安門
I am a Marine Veteran and as such, I am very curious about the history of wars. So, suffice it to say that I have read a lot about WWII. This history leading up to it, the war it's self and the history leading away from the War's conclusion. It is both fascinating and angering to me.
I find the denial by this faction of the Japanese people to be disturbing. When you deny a thing, it makes it almost inevitable that you will repeat the thing. So history teaches us.
I am of German heritage and consequently know many Germans. The majority of them are quick to admit the evils of WWII and are active in teaching the next generation to prevent our people from perpetrating them again.
By contrast, most of the Japanese I know are resistant to discussing it. Even when I speak as a person of German heritage and admitting my shame for what was done, they tend to sidestep the issue, shut down, or deny it outright. The fact that there has been no official apology for the war, the atrocities, much less Pearl Harbor sets a terrible precedent.
There have been those Japanese that have discussed it with me. I truly appreciate and honor the vulnerability and candor of those who did. Their humanity I found inspiring.
So, thank you for this segment. It is truly important that this is unveiled.
Denying your evil deeds is cowardice. It takes courage to stand and admit when you've done an evil thing. Bushido died when the Japanese dared such cowardice.
真珠湾は明らかに軍事施設を狙った攻撃だ。国民を狙っていない。謝罪するなら日本に原爆を二発も落とし、国中を焼き払ったお前らがまずやるべきだ。、他にもアメリカはベトナムなどで残虐行為を数々行った。自分の過ちを認めないと誰も貴方を相手にしない
Nanking didn't happen lol, All the war crimes Japan did the U.S actually done its just that the victors one
It's not in dispute that Japan has a right to venerate its war dead. There's the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery meters a few meters away from Yasukuni that exists for this purpose. Yasukuni is a harmful anachronism.
A cemetery isn't a shrine, and Yasukuni venerates war dead going back to the 1860s.
Most of those ppl are probably just there honoring their ancestors
@@Wlerin7 Then, shouldn't they seperating people who dead before the war?
Yes the seemingly deliberate conflation of venerating the war dead and venerating the war criminals can’t help but feel like an intentional denialist move
This is my favorite content on TH-cam at the moment. Can't wait for the next one!
Most Japanese are against “war losing”, not entirely against war. They are against nuclear bombs because 2 Japanese cities got smashed by it. But all Tokyo streets were flocked with flowers and cheering parties when Japan committed massacres in Nanking and occupied the Chinese capital.
It seems like Japan is a country of demons
@@yurichtube1162 taught and educated to be still today to be demon worshipers . See all the worshiping to their national shrines filled with war criminals, from civilians right to the political leaders including their PM, every year! And the US is ok with it!
What the people hear, and what their government does are two different things.
Oof, that end title card is hitting me hard. My friends and I went to this museum in Japan and had no idea it was denying atrocities, we just spotted a zero and thought it was cool to see one. To be fair, we didn't go looking for the place, we just came across it while walking the loop around the imperial palace and thought the large shinto gates and park were nice to walk around, so maybe I was being an ignorant tourist, but when in Japan! Anyway, thanks for enlightening me as to what this place actually signifies, very interesting stuff.
Is same as building a church that also commemorate Nazi Hitler. Disgusting.
@@d.x.1152 In Japan? Where's that at?
To be fair it's not something that you'd usually hear of outside of Japan. I didn't even know the Yasukuni shrine existed until I started looking up the Tokyo Trials, so it's an understandable mistake.
I enjoy the pace of the show, both in content and presentation. The topics explored by the show have become a favorite starting point for our discussions during our evening walks together. Your perspective provides a Howard Zinn approach to history. Keep em coming.
TerryDebbie Smith Really happy to get the feedback. Thanks for taking me on the walks!
Imagine that the Germans created a museum dedicated to the Nazis
That would be a terrible analogy for this shrine, and they do have many museums dedicated to the Nazis.
@@RareEarthSeries Does that mean there's a museum grieving Hitler's death and praying for his repose? What is the name of the museum?
@@사람-u9p7o No, but that's also not what Yasukuni museum does so it's certainly a weird comparison to demand. If Yasukuni was meant specifically to glorify atrocities and those who committed them rather than including all war dead among those who are prayed for, that might make sense. But as it stands there are many international examples we could point to as similar (Arlington cemetery, for example), including many dedicated to people who were part of the Nazi party (such as Ukrainian and Armenian statuary and memorials, for example). Russia has direct and praising memorials to Stalin, China to Mao. And they were most certainly monsters who oversaw the deaths of (tens of) millions of innocent people. Hell, even Seoul has a statue to Syngman Rhee.
It is fine to be mad about Yasukuni, I personally find the shrine's social status in Japan to be in very poor taste, but if you have to hyperbolize and lie to do so you're not really doing your cause any justice.
@@RareEarthSeries I don't understand what you're saying. The role of shrine is to honor the souls of the dead and pray for them. Obviously, the Yasukuni Shrine is not just the people who committed many slaughter and crimes in World War II. However, Japan has yet to make a proper apology to the colonized countries.If Japan had admitted its wrongdoing and made a proper apology and compensation, Yasukuni shrine probably wouldn't have been that big of a problem.
@@RareEarthSeries If Japan wants to escape criticism that Yasukuni shrine honors the souls of the slaughtered, it can be solved simply by removing the names of Japanese people who committed crimes like Hitler from Yasukuni shrine.
You said it yourself in a previous video: "History moves forward, not backwards."
The land we tread is soaked in blood spilled through unimaginable cruelty. It still happens today sometimes. There's no taking it back though. We're just going to have to live with it. We're just going to have to accept it as it is.
I don't know what to do about shrines and monuments but I think that we still need ways to remember our history yet at the same time make sure that our history doesn't turn us into monsters once again.
"Remembering history" does not equal "venerating and worshipping war criminals". The names of these criminals should be printed in a record book in a museum, not engraved on stone in a religious shrine.
Western people just cant understand this because you guys only focus onthe nazzis huh? That is a nazzi shrine for Asian people. Every year Japanese politicians visit that place and East Asians get fcking mad.
@@jhameelbae7129 Yeah I'm sure your governments love it when you direct your anger at Japanese politicians instead of at them.
One thing you learn about history, is that people *never* learn........
@@jhameelbae7129 for all the truth of those that did commit unspeakable atrocities, it is funny how Korea and China do not do the same to each other of those within their own nations pasts who did other immoral things against those around them.
Blaming Japan for everything is the same as Imperial Japan's 'Victory Disese' problem for your own nation, it ignores your peoples bad parts of their and 'your' history/histories;
Yes I do know of Japan history has at many times in its last 650 years or so, done things to Korea, much of it not good at all, but it was not all the time, and mosly they was as good or bad as most other peoples/nations around the world at those times doing similar.
People are not perfect, history is not perfect; pretending otherwise is treacherous, any who try to say or make it be 'perfect' are often very dangerous in the end, when they are given the power to be as they wish to be over others.
And it did help make Korea stronger, unified and more united after the brief era of pain from Hideyoshi before Tokugawa's victory & isolationism. ..as it helped the Manchus conquer the Chinese Imperial Regime of the time, that was equally worse to Korea, for much longer of its histories before that.
(...and still sort of is now - How many did the Korean Civil War or many Chinese Civil Wars kill of their own, and the Iron Rice-bowl famines of Mao (and the Stalinistic Kims,) his/their methods and his later student 'Red Books' and continued crimes against humanity labour camps, forced minority sterilizations, organ harvesting etc).
...Please I am not defending those who was the war criminals, as they do not ever deserve anything in my mind, but forgetting those guilty of your own is just as bad as the evil they did, it then allows future persons to do so again easily with less chance of being stopped.
But the normal soldier who did not do the really bad, the evil much worse acts,..
Who died in service or from wounds from serving in action or elsewhere,..
Those who suffered the hell of war that turns man into animals the longer it lasts...
They should always be remembered somehow, in a manner correct to tradition/custom/practice - just so long as they was not part making warcrimes themself/themselves.
Forgive if I caused offence I do not intend to, ..even you cannot understand 'context' within English language or you do deserve my offence.
Here is an entirely nice and positive comment: You guys rock, always gets excited when i see a new upload!
Hooray!
People in the comments seem to miss the point that the shrine is now owned by extremists who deny Japanese war crimes during WWII. With enough time, these extremists might be able to fully convince the whole of Japan that they did no wrong.
Their business is to rise a mood of disputes. Japanese government invest to them. But Japanese government is just a puppet.
Insightful, balanced and incredibly though provoking. This depth of presentation will never make it to a huge audience but I certainly hope that it is worth while. This is Dan Carlin level insight!
after watching 3 videos..
yep, i'm subscribing.
Very much my favourite video series on TH-cam at the moment. Short, informative and awesome. Keep up the good work guys!
4:13 I agree that "not all" Japanese agree with war criminals being here, but I don't think it's "most".
These videos are incredibly well made and interesting. Certainly deserving of more views. Keep it up, and this channel will certainly grow.
I'm coming to accept that nobody really watches these. But I'm still gonna make 'em, because they're cathartic for me.
I have read that MacArthur wanted to make Yasukuni into the Japanese version of the Tomb of the unknown, but failed.
Just had a thought... what about creating a small companion website with a world map and pins that link to each of the videos? I'd love to see the locality context of all the videos you're doing! Also, this series is great - thanks for creating it :)
Far right japanese mindset is actually much more popular in Japan than one might think. They are big corporations and mainstream media and even the govt. no wonder outright denial of past history is taking place, let alone rewriting it in their favor
Great job with a very controversial subject, and beautifully produced as always. You guys rock!
And thanks for fixing that comma splice in the last sentence of the end credits. I can breathe easy now. :-)
Unintended consequences...it'd be like the US government being forced to sell off Arlington...only to have it being bought up by the KKK. I figured I'd have a look at the place myself to see what it was like, and also to acknowledge the IJN sailors that escorted my grandfathers' troop ships in WW1. The museum attached to this shrine is the most disturbing place I've been in a long time (and I was in Hiroshima last week). There's a small entry hall, which is free. In it stands a Zero fighter, and the text displayed alongside it is extremely biased. ("..best carrier-based fighter ever"). Then I noticed the locomotive...oh that should be ok I thought...turns out it's one of the locomotives from the Thai-Burma railway, proudly restored and transported from Thailand in 1977 after a successful fund-raising drive. Here's a place proudly displaying an object associated with war crimes. Only time in my life I've refused to enter a museum. Evan, thanks so much for making this video.
As always, this video is wonderful. Difficult subject handled with class.
Also, a thank you for inspiring me to get off my backside and make something. The rest of the world may curse you for it - eventually, when I get around to starting the project - but I thank you.
I remember my late grandmother. She had dementia in the last years of her life. She would remember all her experiences during the war. She will wake up in the middle of the night and pack her bags. She always say that Japanese will come and they will burn our house. No matter how many times we say that the war is over and there are no Japanese she won't believe us. The horrors of world war II hunted her until the her last days. It's so heartbreaking for us to see her relive those horrible times. We don't hate the Japanese anymore but I don't blame my grandmother if she hates the Japanese until the end. Her grandmother was burned alive by the Japanese and took all her jewelry and live stocks and her uncle was also killed by the Japanese.
They never thought about their crimes, never confessed to them, and they would do it again if they have a chance
国際法より聖書を遵守し、数々の戦争犯罪を犯したアメリカも同様ですな
Japan has never fully dealt with its responsibility and criminal behavior during the Imperial expansion. The Germans have completely dealt with their culpability.
Well, that is kind of relative. While Germany puts some effort into getting things in order, there are always new problems coming up... seems like one cannot set Europe on fire and then getting things in order within less than a century.
Of course there is also the different ending: in Germany the war did not end with the biggest atrocities, much more (at least West Germany) got freed. So the war seagued out and ended with a certain feeling of justice. In Japan, it ended with a strike against civilian targets, which made the victor sink as low as the defeated and offeres a narrative favourable for ultra nationalists.
Agreed. You see it squeezing out in all sorts of ways here, from the way they use taboo flags on clothing and in shopping malls, to the denialism within major levels of government, etc. It is interesting to compare their post-war experiences with 'coming to terms'.
I would say from an artistic and cultural standpoint it has, or at least is trying to. Their war crimes have appeared and criticised as themes in major and minor works of art across the mediums.
From a government standpoint however theyve definitely fallen behind. It doesn't help that political relations between Japan and other pacific countries are still a nightmare. The government may be too full of pride to accept that apologies are absolutely necessary even in circumstances like these.
Koba, the Germans have included their war crimes in their school textbooks, they openly discuss them. The Japanese ignore their atrocities, school children are not educated on the culpability of their country in them. No German leader pays homage to war criminals by visiting shrines they are celebrated at!! It's de rigueur for Japanese politicians to visit the Yasukuni shrine and tacitly pay homage to the war criminals entombed their. It's not about apologies, it's about accepting responsibility and ensuring your populace knows exactly what was done in their name!
If the Japanese society fully acknowledged the Rape of Nanking, the use of comfort women, and the abuse of prisoners of war in textbooks and disinterred war criminals buried at Yasukuni they will have fully accepted their culpability.
Seki Mom, you denial of these well documented atrocities is exactly what I am talking about. Thanks for confirming my OP. It's not me who is brainwashed, it's you who are a right wing denier of history. Your ilk is a danger to the truth and peace. Don't think I don't fully understand your comment on the 'false crimes' of Germany, you're a Holocaust denier too, aren't you? Truly disgusting.
Why the dislikes? This series is so good
Any time you say "X group did something wrong" people who idolize X group get upset. I expected worse, truthfully.
Chris Hadfield's Rare Earth makes sense but seriously, you deserve more views
If you are disliking the video because you believe it is framed as good vs evil, or that it is punishing people for not erasing history, I implore you to rewatch the video.
At no point do I call anyone evil, claim that people should be punished for 'keeping their history', or request that any history should be erased. I'd be interested to see why you think that's what is being said here.
If you think my comment was about good versus evil, then I suggest you re-read it.
My complaint is not how you portrayed the actions of the Japanese, those actions where... for lack of a better term, despicable.
I disagree with your statement that those who disliked the video are doing so because they idolise group X.
I disliked the video, I do not idolise ultra nationalistic Japanese and reducing your critics opinions to something so simplistic is dishonest.
It is quite literally your opening line: "Not just people who idolise X group, those who believe there was more to it than good versus evil disagree with punishing others for keeping their history."
The sentence clearly implies that the video presents it as good versus evil and suggests punishing people for keeping their history. It does not.
brilliant Evan. i happen to enjoy your narrative pace.
I love your speaking Style. I can follow it and process it. it is also soothing. When people talk really fast about a lot of facts it's hard to remember everything they said. You give people time to digest the material. Great job. I love your videos
Love your videos. The comments posted here, which were probably from educated Japanese, make it clear why China and Korea hardly willing to forget the painful history. Enemy at the gate.
those freaks got nuked twice for a reason lol. WWII biggest loser after Germany
It's very interesting how different the comment section of the Japanese videos and the English videos about this shrine is.
It's a ghost town of War Criminals.
黙れクズ。何も知らないくせに。
3:12 Translation for the sign at the top left: Justice For Comfort Women Right Now!
Gabriela is a partylist (from what I could remember) that values womens' rights
The question is that do you ignore the 2.5 million that are there because of the 1000 war criminals?
Coming as a descendent of those who were massacred in Japanese held Philippines, I wish for this shrine to not be held in the private hands, yet I do believe it is necessary to maintain. It remembers some who fought great wars for Japan, yet it is tarnished by its final coffins. I live in America and I don't believe we should be doing things like destroying confederate monuments, as I see people find it is easier to demonize your enemy than it is to learn and respect them as a fighter, to try and find the human.
I think it is wrong to push political agendas with theses monuments, whether you wish to break them or maintain them. It should be public knowledge of the actions but private ideals which judge them.
A monument isn't just a pile of stones sitting around, it is communication, steadily broadcasting a message. A country which tolerates a monument, accepts the message to the degree of accepting it as a valid opinion. Which in the case of the confederate monuments means validating racism.
I am pretty happy that in Germany we tore down most of those monuments quickly and avoid giving those people historic sides to gather. This is a collective statement about how we stand towards the past. Inaction would be a statement as well.
I guess your right, Maybe we should stop making them monuments, and start transforming them to full on museums.
You do have a good point on the acceptance of the message, but there are many different messages to be had. For example, a statue of Robert E. Lee was taken down, but many had called up how there was no active message of slavery. It was seen by many as a remembrance of a man who was split, a man taught in the north but was forced to fight for the south. I suppose many can take that statue still as a problem, yet I really would like it to not be torn down, but renovated for a different cause (Museum possibly). I wish that we don't just burn down flags or icons just because they are on the backs of trucks (although I would still ask the owner to lower the flag) but instead teach children why they are wrong, why we shouldn't make fun of the European red swastika. Its not wrong to tear down the monuments, but it is wrong to say that that would be the best form of action.
I know in Germany they have a law banning media to utilize the Swastika except for educational media. That is a law I can understand. I wish we did the same to monuments, as to take the statue down, and put them behind glass. Because at the end of the day, there actions can teach many what not to follow.
Herr Schmidt I understand what you're saying but I disagree with the first statement.
A monument sends many different kinds of messages, not just one. In fact, the only absolute thing is that it shows that it happened.
Now there is a danger, and that lies with the private owners using tourist money for shady purposes and outside forces twisting it to have a strictly positive message.
In Canada, there are many monuments regarding our mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples. As well as statues of "good" people who weren't really all that good. Like the statue of Winston Churchill in Toronto, a colonialist who has little right to have a statue on Canadian soil. But I'm happy to say that nobody has ever stopped me from throwing snowballs at it.
Short answer: Monuments aren't inherently positive or negative, but it is sometimes necessary to have a tight leash on its narrative.
True, context matters. And neither Martin Luther nor Wagner were saints, but nonetheless they are honoured at multiple locations. But then again their main merrit - and what they are honoured for - was always beyond the point of critic, which makes differentiation a lot easier than in the case of confederate monuments, which honour activists of the secession movement for being exactly that.
It would be different, would some nazis decide to make one of the soldier graves over here their location for celebration, as it would create a similar situation of conflicting messages.
Rustedblade No, there are things in the US that I absolutely abhor, but still believe have a right to exist.
When referring to the tarnished coffins, no I'm not saying those men were bad in anyway, or that they should be removed, I even said that this shrine should be maintained in that same paragraph, which includes those who I deem as my transgressors. I'm not ignorant of the happenings in my birth country of the US, I just feel that there is a need for the federal/state/local government to maintain them, since both confederate soldiers and union both are considered to be US veterans.
For Japan, its harder since the split of state and religion, but I still think that the Japanese government should get itself involved in this matter, since some private people are standing on men who can not talk.
The comparison to the south is something I've been thinking about for a while. I think people just don't want to be ashamed of their history. But there's a way to honor war dead without honoring the war, I think.
I visited Japan, and brought my Akita dog's ashes with me, and went to Yasukuni Shrine and spread her ashes everywhere, so the Japanese people could worship her. I know she'd have liked that. I just wonder how much trouble I'd get in if they found out.
Man you really did That! 👉
@@padtag1742 My devotion to that dog was unlimited, and she was Japanese, so I did what I did with a pure heart and good intentions. That said, every Japanese person I've told this story to thought it was hysterical.
@@mwbright 👏
This is the same level of evilness like putting Hitler and other Nazi war criminals into Cologne Cathedral as Saints next to Saint Peter...
Yasukuni Shrine:
In case you did not know, there is an Amnesty clause in the International Law, and when a country sign a peace treaty, like the Treaty of San Fransisco, and that comes into effect, all the prisoners of war are freed.
The officers and soldiers in Yasukuni are not even alive.
If one daly, all of sudden, some African countries demanded US President not to go to Arlington because there buried many who died for the Confederate States of America, do you agree with the Africans?
China started complaining about Yasukuni first in the late 1980s when they also started anti-Japan eduction to hide their contradiction in their system and to raise the nationalism, Koreans in 1990s. There are many official delegates from many Asian countries that paid respects at Yasukuni.
China started complaining about Yasukuni in the late 1980s, because the Class A criminals were secretly inducted into the shrine in 1978, which didn't garner much publicity until Yasuhiro Nakasone visited the shrine in 1985.
I agree with that commenter you mentioned at the end there: the first video of yours I watched had me just bursting inside from how slow it was, but the story was very interesting, so I stayed glued. At some point or another, I kinda adapted to your style. The slow pace is an acquired taste, but your storytelling is incredible regardless. To some people, I assume, it's even a relaxing alternative to the fast, fact-spitting top 10 lists.
Please keep making these videos. They're very interesting and very well done.
Good video, I think that even though it may seem similar, I feel there's a big difference between Arlington and Yasukuni.
Arlington doesn't worship the dead, it's a cemetery for high ranking veterans. The Yasukuni is a shinto shrine for worshiping the dead.
Surprisingly, Arlington doesn't allow war criminals to be buried, the Yasukuni enshrines them.
Arlington is owned federally I believe. Like you said in your video, Yasukuni is own by the far right of Japan.
The only thing I can think of that could be classified as controversial about Arlington is that it's on Confederate general Robert E Lee's property. But that lost its meaning since Arlington is about honoring those who served the United States in the Military.
Tyler Cuddletail Arlington has many soldiers buried there, spanning all ranks. Not just 'high ranking' ones.
Thank you of surfacing history and facts. People needs to know the truth
Just here after ZZH scandal to understand what is all the fuss about..... Thanks for this great vidéo 💕
They have special seat I. hell
Ur channel is good and informational. Good job
I enjoy the way that you speak and tell the stories. Thanks and good job!
Makes me want to visit here someday for a walk
I'm tired of liking every rare Earth video. I wish there was a way to like all videos at once.
Before seeing you had a video about Yasukuni, I was going to request you do one there. So glad you did, I just found your channel and can't turn it off. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for this! Absolutely loving this series, can't wait for the next video! :)
Hi Evan! Firstly, I've been following Rare Earth and I cant seem to get enough of it. All of the content here is amazing. And secondly, It would be great if you make similar videos here in Bangladesh. We have a long history of wars and were ruled by various rulers from Ancient Hindu families, Persians,the British (duh) and lastly Pakistan. We also have a huge group of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. My country has a rich history and It would be great if you can introduce your followers to this small country of mine.
Cheers!
love these videos, always an interesting topic. the narration style is great too, don't listen to anyone who says otherwise
That was amazing... I really feel what you're trying to get across, and I love this series to bits. Thank you for this.
That why koreans can't let go of this history. What's the point of apologizing if this is what you do?
I visited the shrine on a rainy February day in 2016 and thought it was a truly fascinating place albeit for some of the wrong reasons. I think Asian relations would take a big step forward if Japan just came out and apologised but it ain't gonna happen. It is shameful even how prisoners of war were treated in WWII but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Nonetheless, I think the shrine should remain. I'm not for revising all of history by modern standards as they are constantly shifting.
i enjoyed this very much and i like your speaking pace
In 1972, Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka went to Peking and established diplomatic relations between Japan and China. Mr. Tanaka visited Yasukuni five times while he was in office, but China didn't protest. In 1983, prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone went to Seoul, Korea, to talk with Korean president about economic aids to Korea. Mr. Nakasone visited Yasukuni three times in that year, including August 15. But Korea didn't protest. It seems Yasukumi was not a issue at all back then. China and Korea owe an explanation.
To
储有奈 : Since my reply is not shown in the reply section, i answer you here.
China protes Yasukuni visit for the first time in 1985. Why didn't China protest much earlier ?
Class A war criminals weren't enshrined at Yasukuni until 1978, and the enshrinement of war criminals was not known to the Japanese public until 1979. The first Japanese prime minister to visit Yasukuni in an official capacity was in 1985.
I can't stop watching.
Help.
I'm supposed to be working...
Subjectively nice, possibly positive comment: I find your slow speaking speed to be soothing, I also assume it makes it more accessible to people who do not speak English as a first language.
As for the shrine, perhaps we should try not to view it as venerating war criminals nor respecting imperial rule but rather treat it as a memory, it points to real history and real people and the stories therein entailed. These should not be forgotten. After all, they who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.
Ideally I would see ownership move to a move neutral party but that is a decision the Japanese people must reach on their own.
hindos Gottenberg The problem with Yasukuni, as Evan pointed out, is that, on the grounds, thhere is a museum dedicated to spreading lies about the war and Japan's atrocity.
That isn't memory: it's the corruption of memory intended to erase the past and replace it with fantasy.
It's not the Shrine that poses a problem for the rest of the world.
Evan made a comparison between this shrine and American monuments to the confederacy. I personally don't think people should feel offended by a statue of Robert E. Lee standing in the middle of some southern states. He was, after all, a historical figure that represented a lot of good southern values, and was opposed to a civil war before he was forced to choose a side.
The problem, as with all the history regarding Japanese involvement in the WWII, is the denial of some of the atrocities that were committed by their respective sides.
Slavery was bad. Keeping comfort women was bad. Torturing and mutilating people for fun was undoubtedly bad. The Confederacy partook, and the Empire partook. It's the denial of these facts that trigger people.
(although, if I remember right, Japan issued a formal apology to South Korea - it's a start).
You remember wrongly. There was no apology.
You make your own decisions when you don't involve other people, or millions of victims.
well done and informative video. thank you.
Well done. Really well presented, engaging narrative.
The statements made in comparison to confederate monuments are of so pertinent now, after the weekend event in Charlotte.
What is the monument recognizing? And was it something done for good?
Claiming that one country started the war is as simplistic as saying that a single match starts a fire. You need tinder and fuel and more mass of invisible oxygen than both combined, before the spark will take. All sides performed atrocities in WW2, but the "winning" side gets to pretend that they didn't, or that it was justified.
Reckless Roges study world war two history in the asian version and you’ll see what starting a war is like
This series of rare earth is to you father, the Astronauts, list of classy stuff he had a part in. Made, influenced a solid thinking, working son. Good work both of youze
You’re videos are always really interesting and relaxing 😌
is the guy following you guys the guy from the intro? sucks that this one was shorter than the others but still enjoyed it.
2017: "oh no, Nationalism is rising all over the world!"
2020: "hmmm, I wonder what would happen if everyone was forced to stay in their countries and not travel for half a year, or maybe even more"
2021: "yeahhhhh that wasn't good"
Dude I love your content. Keep it up!!
It's unbeliavable that this channel has only 600k subs.
As much as I enjoyed the video, I think I liked the last frame the most!
どうせ理解してくれないんだろうな、とは思っていた。
もう、「理解してくれ」なんて思わないし。何言われても気にしないわ。
でも、これだけは言わせてほしい「我々、日本人は平和を願っている」と
動画の内容に間違いがあったら指摘すれば良い。こんな卑怯なコメントは見苦しい。わざわざ日本語にしたのは反論が怖いからだろう。
コメント読んだｗ？
情けないｗ
しっかり読んでたら、「動画の内容に間違いがあったら指摘すれば良い」なんて発言が出るはずないんだがな
自分が何書いたかも知らないのか。こんな恥ずかしいコメントやめてください。本当に。
Incredibly good video Evan. To the victor goes the spoil! One point I'd like to make though is that the museum mentioned in the video wouldn't be allowed to exist if the USA didn't endorse freedom of speech. As rage inducing and denialist as that place is, it's a good thing they still have the right to say it. It's up to us as viewers and tourists to get the real story behind it all. Thank you again :) Another great video. PS - loved the pace of it.
The calm comment is really refreshing and fits the topic.
I think it's also doubly hard for those nationalist Japanese to admit defeat because of the strong East Asian tradition of filial piety and ancestor worship. That's why it was relatively 'easier' for German citizens to admit their nazi ancestors were wrong; of course Western Europeans have filial piety too, but not to the degree of Asians.
So, how many languages does Evan speak?
Really like the way you approach with an objecrive view to the sensitive matter, a Japan's denial of the invasions as well as massacres of asian folks during WW2.
Here's a nice, positive comment, Evan. I found your series a few weeks ago - not because of your dad, btw. I enjoyed it so much that I started watching them more often, and now I'm working my way forward from the beginning. Keep talking slowly, please.
When visiting Pearl Harbor it is quite amusing to see Japanese tourists who have swallowed the koolaid. Right before you go to the USS Arizona they have a video (subtitled in Japanese) that gives a non-biased interpretation of what happened up to the bombing. They aren't all smiles and peace signs while taking pictures after the film.
I find the Japanese excuse of being goaded strikingly similar to the war of Northern Oppression being about Federal overreach of states' rights.
Losing a war doesn't mean being ashamed of where you come from. Everybody's history is full of blood and hypocrisy if you go back far enough. Be proud of the mistakes you've learned from. Wear them openly.
It might be easier to understand Yasukuni if you learn about the concept of gods in Japan. They may haven been war criminals, but they are dead. Yasukuni is not denying the comfort women, Naking massacre, etc. So-called Japanese nationalists and Yasukuni are questioning the context of how they occurred.
Oh Evan.... Got me totally got me hooked!!................line and sinker lol.
Thanks, Thanks.
This is sadly why folks have never really let their guard down when it comes to the Japanese as a whole. And for all the rest who are essentially innocently embroiled, through no choice of their own, I sympathise wholeheartedly. And for the others who stick to their guns regardless, we might as well make our excuses and leave as they'll die before a word is said against.... You know what? Justice will be served in the next life, whether they care to agree or not. And on that score...
comparing this with the other guilty nation over there in europe then you start thinking about some kind of double standards created out of political opportunities.
3:00 as I am human like any other, I have limited capacity for knowledge, and I dont know that the three points that gets highlighted here are true or false. All I know is that I have a tendency to speak up when I hear claims to truth wirhout the speaker making disclaimers about the relative nature of truth or atleast refer to some solid sources that make the truth into an objective one.
Your slow speech is relaxing and clear. Phillip de Franco's speech is rage inducing. GL HF with these comments Evan.
Interesting to see Japan using the visitation of the shrine to slap the face of the usa, humiliating the usa time and again , while the usa's predictable silence is an expression of guilt over the criminal use of 2 nuclear bombs against japanese civilians
0:50 - that cloud kinda looks like the map of Japan.
New Zealand.