It's actually very admirable for you to admit to your nations actions. I could be wrong, but from what I read it seems like many Japanese people deny their country's war crimes.
@@williamthekiller7219 but the civilians deny it as a direct result of what u described, Japan's war crimes aren't mentioned in their history books so anyone who studied under Japan's educational system almost instantly rejects the facts that Japan did in fact commit war crimes.
@@adityabora9131 and whose fault is that? The government. The same thing would happen in Germany if the government teach anyone about their war crimes.
It doesn't help that, compared to both Germany and Japan, Italy didn't have the economy in place for a war like Great War 2: Electric Boogaloo, as they were mostly rural and agricultural with little in the way of industrialization. Couple that with higherups that had no idea what they were doing (Trying to rebuild the Roman Empire with an economy based entirely on conquest sounds like a REALLY GOOD IDEA Mussolini), woeful equipment issues, and a tendency to get their asses kicked in their attempts to contribute to the war (Greece), there's a reason Churchill called them the "Soft underbelly of Europe." To the Italian's credit, their solders were extremely brave, as noted by Rommel during his generalship of the African Campaign, they just lacked in everything else.
The British empire, France and Italy had quite good navy's hell in Italy's case it was the only good thing in their military and America out build all of the above mentioned and the UK sank the best of the French fleet in fear of the Germans getting hold of the French fleet and Italy had the most subs going into the war at 116 before war with 7 considered out of date and they lost 88 by the end of the war after losing 10 in the first week of the war mostly to inexperienced sailors and flaws in quality and reckless bravado after witch they never fielded more than 30 ships at a time and they lost a lot to convoy protection while trying to copy German u boat success and while the Atlantic saw a lot of cargo ships underway for the UK the Mediterranean had a lot more warships and convoys under heavy guard - repost about me talking about Italy's only good thing in the war
Not entirely true, the Italian Special Forces and their fleet in the Mediterranean actually had their moments during the war; alebit, few and far between. Churchill did state that they were the weak underbelly to the axis forces. So no, no one forgot about Italy, that was one of their entry points into central Europe.
The Italians from the beginning were not very enthusiastic about the war. They killed their leader Mussolini, who had collapsed in popularity, and quickly joined the Allies and cursed the Germans.
After the war Germany's history education vs Japanese comparison is like a night and day. Germany: educates facts and atrocities in detail. Any Nazi propaganda is considered crime. Japan: no comment, just look at the current events.
The official document about World War II in the United States, the IWG report, and 8.5 million pages also finalized the report that there was no Nanjing Massacre. In addition, former U.S. Army Green Berets journalist Michael Yon, who investigated the truth of the report, made an independent and thorough examination and came to the exact same conclusion, why he made up such a large lie. Is it? ?? ?? Interest is shifting to. Please think about the answer too! You may be able to discover the astonishing truth. The Yamato people have that secret. Michael Yon was asked by a Chinese anti-Japanese group in California to find brutal evidence of the Japanese army. However, the result was that the Japanese army was all disciplined and had no atrocities at all, so to be honest with the group, the content was inconvenient and was hidden. The Nanjing Massacre was a lie made by Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China. The world doesn't know that fact. Anyone can download and view the IWG report now. It takes several years to read all the papers, which are quite long. Or, Mr. Yong has published two books in Japanese.
Japan is the victim of Western smear campaign. Japan was provoked by West, just as Russia was provoked by West today. History is repetition of same pattern. Crusaders will always be Crusaders.
It was indeed called "Rape of Nanking". The Japanese committed atrocities against China for centuries. They also did it to Korea. Among the Asian countries, the Chinese and Koreans hate the Japanese most for the crimes they committed. The Philippines was also a victim in WW2 but Filipinos are more forgiving.
Post war Germany: I'm... **sobs** horrible... Post war Japan: Nothing to see here, disperse Post war Italy: *In the war got rekt so hard that people don't even remember what the hell happened*
From what I hear a lot of fascists in Italy from that time are still held in relatively good regard as Italy joining the Allies lets them do the 'we joined the right side' excuse.
@John Ratican sì ma non sono attivi come politici del partito fascista. E poi perché dovrebbero cambiare cognome? Dopo tutto le colpe dei padri non devono ricadere sui figli
The part between Hitler and Stalin in this video is a cultural joke that would make more sense to native English speaker. The joke involves 'double negatives'. Which is considered highly improper grammar in the English language. So you basically say, no twice to the same subject implying that it is a yes. So if you translate what he said into proper English grammar. It is: "I won't stop myself from betraying you." The joke is that he made it confusing on purpose so that it sounded friendlier in context.
I got the joke. Thanks for explaining though. Coz even though I understand the term, I didn't know it's name. But hey, we learn something new everyday.
@@TSGPhilipp English and German are very similar languages in broad strokes. As a native English speaker (from America) German was the European language I could understand the most with what little I learned of it. Understood it more than French, that's for sure.
I'm a Chinese from Nanking. I would always show my respect for 香川照之さん due to his courage to act in the movie " ジョン・ラーベ 〜南京のシンドラー〜". I understand it is really hard to act in an anti-war movie about WW2 in Japan, especially for a royal role.
I understand that Japan doesn't want to shame and demoralize its own population by being too thorough and honest about Nanking... But at the same time, it's sad that there are people who deny it even happened.
@@mountianfolks Manzanar shouldn’t have happened. Seizure of US Citizens assets and property shouldn’t have happened. But that is a long leap from official policy to eliminate all who oppose your regime generally, or specifically targeting Jews and other groups for genocide, or advocating using conquered people as prostitutes(Korea). Nor the Rape of Nanjing. Nor using POWS and Chinese civilians in beheading competitions. We’re the Allies brutal? Yes, war is brutal. Total war more so. But the is no moral equivalence between the prosecution of the war by the Allies, and the intentional gratuitous brutality set by the Axis states. Read some original source history documentation of WWII and you won’t sound like a bumper sticker historian.
@@mountianfolks you are the one who is underknowledged here, nazis eveb disgusts the imperial japan's attoricites and here you try to shift the blame on others
@@mountianfolks Please stop referring to Europe as a whole, thanks. Don't rope us all in by what some countries did, my country (Sweden) hasn't been in a war for over 200 years (longest a country has ever gone without war).
When I was in a second year in high school, my AP World History teacher took a whole day to teach us about the Rape of Nanking. Out of all the things I learned in that class, I will never forget this day. Everyone in the class was lost for words. Even the dudes who didn't give a shit about school took it seriously. He said it was important for us to understand just how horrifying this event was and to make sure our generation never repeated the same mistakes.
if only my Canadian history teacher cared, I was in a public school and it was like all Asian countries didn't exist; we just learned about coureur des bois, lol
Kind of like the same for me, but in my case, i was that one weird dude asking about the allied forces war crimes against the axis, so i got a warning from the teacher, and later on i got a 2nd warning when Africa's colonization by european nations. God forbid we learn of the dirty justified actions the winners commited.
Japans Military in 1939 was powerful, seriously powerful. Japan being an Island Country had a Huge Navy. Japan’s ships, modern. Officer Corps, well trained and highly competent. Most Americans knew nothing of Japanese culture. Since the War, many Americans studied Japanese Culture and Traditions. Even tho Japan lost the War, you won the Peace. Japan is rebuilt, modern and with a high culture, is admired around the world. I served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War and had a chance to visit Japan. I’m sad for what happened in the past. I’m glad we’re friends and Allies today. Thanks for your input.
Abraham Lincoln , I’m from Chicago and joined the Navy at 17, 71-75. 2 tours to Vietnam with 58,000 dead and we lost. Today, Vietnam is a semi-Allie. Times change......Perhaps you lost a family member in that War?
Well they "won" the peace because the United States sponsored the complete reconstruction of the country into a western-style, democratic capitalist economy. Their success was mostly due to American sponsorship until the were able to rebuild to the point of being capable of complete autonomy from the US.
Concerning racism in Japan, my great-grandfather actually had quite a strange story. My great-grandfather was a German Jew. He traveled overseas to study in a university in Japan in 1932. Japan being unfamiliar with the Jewish stereotypes, meant that his experience of racism was lessened. There was the regular anti-European racism, but that was nothing compared to antisemitic racism in Europe at the time. He just remained in Japan during the war, and that way escaped Hitler's persecution. I know that at a certain point he traveled to the UK, and enlisted as a translator of intercepted documents, as he knew both German and Japanese. Pretty weird how things turn out...
From what I hear about Japan is they are considered xenophobic by just staring at foreigners witch to my South African mindset is cute and adorable because here my fellow countrymen sometimes burn and kill foreigners is just for being foreign
Yeah the same thing happened when the president of the Philippines took in German Jews who were escaping nazi occupation in Europe. When the Japanese arrived and took over the Philippines, the moment they came across a German Jew, they let them go because being A German citizen with papers meant you were an ally of Japan even if they were Jewish. The treatment of the Filipinos at the hands of the Japanese during the occupation?.....let’s just say my grandfather told me it still gives him nightmares to this day and that he still screams in his sleep sometimes like a nightmare that won’t end....
@Sam0193 Where did you get that twisted story and interpretation of history as your convenience ? Japan was not colonized, because of closure to outside by seeing exploitation of Asia by Europeans. In addition to that, On February 13, 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference International Federation Covenant Committee after World War I, Japan's plenipotentiary Nobuaki Makino proposed to include the elimination of racial discrimination in the League of Nations Covenant. This is "a commitment to make no legal or virtually any discrimination depending on race or nationality." Japan was the first country in the world to clearly insist on the elimination of racial discrimination at international conferences.
When I heard the discrepancy between Japan's numbers for Nanking and China's (200,000 vs 300-400,000), I couldn't help but wonder what difference it makes when the numbers are so huge either way. It reminds me of something Joseph Stalin said: 'One man's death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic'.
The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall has the names of 300,000 people during the Nanjing Massacre. The center of the two exhibition halls is separated by a row of glass jars. The soil in these jars is taken from multiple mass graves in the old Nanjing city. They are not numbers, they are lives.
Yeah exactly, I don’t see the controversy even if the numbers were exaggerated- 200,000 is insane… is 300,000 that much worse? That’s like saying I didn’t spend all your money! You had 100 dollars, I only spent 80! So that’s basically like I didn’t spend your money at all right?
I've seen in some Japanese textbooks that only a 100 or so died in Nanking (which is crazy to try and say), or that the Korean women who were used by soldiers did so voluntarily. This stuff is often only a single line on a single page in these textbooks... :/
As a side note, the Spanish Civil War is fairly interesting, if rarely talked about. In short, after a controversial election became disputed, Nationalist Spain launched a coup against the Republican government. While Republican Spain was supported by elements of the UK, France, and the USSR, Nationalist Spain had most of their contributions from the Germans. After 3 long years of fighting, the Nationalists won in 1939, just in time for the onset of WWII. With Franco at the head of Spain, setting up a fascistic rule, he then decided to play neutral on the grounds that A) he would not win a conflict between France and the UK, and B) he didn't entirely agree with Hitler's racial policies, so he ended up being the only fascist dictator to survive WWII...and also be an ardent supporter of the West against Communism in the Cold War. After his death, Spain managed to transition to a democracy, though Franco remains a controversial historical figure for obvious reasons.
From what I recall Franco told Hitler he would consider joining the war on Germany's side if they could you capitulate the UK around 1940 to 1941 witch Germany failed to do and went about kicking the bear that and Franco was still rebuilding Spain during ww2 after all a civil war will inevitable destroy the country your fighting for
It's good to see a Japanese person admitting their nation's atrocities and base it on facts and not on opinion. More power to you sir love from the Philippines!🇵🇭
12:17 Distance doesn't matter because we had radio back then. Maybe the Emperor in Japan wasn't aware of the massacre but the commanders leading the army in Nanjing and Shanghai definitely knew about it. Even if they didn't explicitly order it, they let it happen. For several days
The Nagasaki division that carried out the Nanking Massacre was later sent to New Guinea, where the Australians wiped them out with a 90% casualty rate. Justice.
You did well Yuya san. It is never easy to discuss such a controversial topic openly and honestly, as a Japanese person. Love your intellectual thoughts and open mindedness. You are a great person!
Debatable though the poor guy wasn’t any way capable in becoming a general in the first place. The guy was an alcoholic after his wife die in a car accident and during the war with China was having a serious case of depression
@@djkaibaxter419 It is true that the Japanese army (Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese) is merciless and cruel to Chinese soldiers and white national soldiers who ruled Asia. It was educated that fighting and dying was an honorary death, and it was disgraceful to surrender immediately and become a prisoner of war, so the Japanese could not understand the actions of the US and British troops. The reason for invading Asia was to break the white supremacist and create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Area, and because the United States sanctioned materials such as crude oil, we advanced to Asia to secure fuel. On December 23, 1941 (Showa 16), the 14th Army, led by Vice Admiral Masaharu Homma, the main force for the Philippine campaign dispatched from Taiwan, landed in the Lingayen Gulf on Luzon Island. It was the United States Army Forces in the Far East (US Army Forces) led by Douglas MacArthur who was in charge of defending the Philippines. MacArthur withdrew from Manila on December 24 after declaring an open city in Manila and stayed in the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Fortress. The following day, January 2, 1942, the Japanese army succeeded in the bloodless occupation of Manila. Japanese troops then attacked Corregidor Fortress, and on March 12, MacArthur escaped Corregidor Island. On April 9, 1942, the Japanese occupied the Bataan Peninsula with 130 dead and 6808 injured. The U.S. Army Forces on the Bataan Peninsula, led by Maj. Gen. Edward P. King, who surrendered, captured as many as 76,000 prisoners. This far exceeded the expected number of POWs of 25,000 on the Japanese side. Masanobu Tsuji said that the war was an interracial war, saying, "Because the Filipinos betrayed their fellow Asians and sided with the Americans who were white colonialists, execute them." It is said that he issued a fake POW execution order, which was supposed to be "from the Imperial Headquarters." According to the story of Umeichi Matsunaga, who told Takeo Imai about the execution order of prisoners of war, Masanobu Tsuji verbally communicated the execution order and walked. The staff of the 65th Brigade, who received a false order from Tsuji, spread the order to the regimental commanders by direct telephone, and it is said that some prisoners of war were actually executed. Colonel Takeo Imai called from Lieutenant Colonel Umeichi Matsunaga, a senior staff member of the 65th Brigade Command, at around 11:00 am on April 10, saying, "The Japanese Army has not fully consented to the surrender of the US Army. The U.S. Army surrenders have not yet been officially accepted as prisoners, so each unit should shoot and kill the U.S. Army surrenders at hand. " Imai decided to refuse this and immediately released all more than a thousand prisoners, demanding a written order. In addition, Maj. Gen. Torao Ikuta, the commander of the 10th Independent Garrison, was informed of a similar order, but canceled the execution because his subordinates confirmed that the order was fake during discussions with his subordinates. Vice Admiral Homma did not know about these orders until his death, and his Chief of Staff only learned of them after the war. On the other hand, the 122nd Infantry Regiment, led by Colonel Yunosuke Watanabe, was able to confirm by telephone with the 65th Brigade Commander, General Akira Nara, and ordered about 500 prisoners of war to be stabbed and shot. Some of them commanded the Taiwanese Takasago tribe in service and killed many officers of both the US and Philippine forces. Some, like Imai and Ikuta, refused the order, but others did it completely or partially. Nozomi Watanabe, the author of the above-mentioned book, said that if Tsuji's scheme was completely successful, it could be one of the largest genocide cases in the Greater East Asia War. However, Masanobu Tsuji, who planned the massacre of such false orders, was not arrested or prosecuted as a war criminal, as described in the #War Crimes Trial. The Japanese POW deportation plan was submitted 10 days before the total attack, and the condition and number of POWs were significantly different from what was expected. The prisoners carried a day's worth of food and would not have needed food for the day's journey to the stopover, Baranga. It actually takes up to three days. Only 200 trucks could be used on the section from Baranga to the San Fernando railway station (San Fernando station), but all prisoners of war were supposed to be transported by truck. However, most of the trucks were under repair, and the trucks captured from the US military had to be used to transport supplies to capture the Corregidor Fortress during the war. In the end, more than half of the POWs, including the general, marched on foot for three days on the 83km section from Mariveles to San Fernando. The march in this section was called the "death march." The US soldiers were already severely exhausted by the time they surrendered. When surrendered to the Japanese, fifty percent of American soldiers on the Bataan Peninsula were in a condition requiring medical attention due to war wounds and malaria. Therefore, it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to walk a short distance, but refugees who were chased by the war and fled and were extremely debilitated were also added to the march. Malaria and other dengue fever and dysentery are widespread in both Japan and the United States, and Maj. Gen. Yoshiken Kawane of the Japanese Army built a camp at O'Donnell base in Capas, Tarlac due to food procurement circumstances. The food of the Bataan Peninsula garrison of the US Philippine Army was exhausted at the time of surrender, and it has been pointed out that there are differences in eating habits between Americans such as miso soup and gobo, Filipinos and Japanese. In addition, as the march took place under the scorching sun, heavily armed Japanese soldiers weighing 30 kg also marched together for surveillance, but many prisoners of war fell down about 42 km. Many of the fatalities at this time are also said to be malaria-infected. In addition to the above-mentioned massacre of false orders by Masanobu Tsuji, inhumane acts (but not all) against prisoners of war before and during the march, including murder, were carried out on the Japanese and American sides as follows. It remains in the record of. During the march, it is said that there was abuse against anyone other than those carried by truck or at the beginning of the march. As a background to this, there was an idea that the Japanese side would be ashamed to be taken prisoner, and there was an idea to despise the surrendered US soldiers. It is said that Japanese soldiers used to violently sanction their subordinates in the military, so they also used violence and killed prisoners of war, who were the target of disdain. It is mentioned in several testimonies of surviving POWs and is recorded in the testimony of Japanese military personnel. In addition, the cause of the violence against POWs was when he did not hear the orders of Japanese soldiers such as walking fast during the march, and there was no reason to say in the POW testimony. Although the treatment of prisoners of war during the march may vary from unit to unit, the prisoners were "walked with very little food and drinking water and little rest in the scorching heat," and "double the number of people that can be accommodated at night." "I was pushed into the warehouse," and "I had to do it in a place where the stools were standing." Of the approximately 76,000 prisoners of war, approximately 54,000 arrived at the camp, with approximately 7,000 to 10,000 believed to have died from malaria, hunger, and fatigue. Has been done. The death toll of the US military is recorded at 2,300. It is said that there were few Japanese soldiers on surveillance and it was easy to escape. In the case of Filipinos, they were mostly escapees because they couldn't tell if they were mixed in with the local people, and it is said that the report reported death.
@@djkaibaxter419 Of course, there are no 300,000 corpses because they are not dead. 1000 to 2000 people were shot dead in the Yangtze River as they captured remnants of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and guerrilla soldiers in civilian clothing in Nanjing and tried to ignite and escape. This is a fact. However, it is a lie to have killed 300,000 civilians. When the Japanese troops were occupying Nanjing, some citizens who were evacuated to Chongqing and were late to escape were hiding in a safe zone. Chiang Kai-shek had fled from Nanjing when it was alleged that there was a Nanjing massacre in the first place. He has not witnessed. At that time, British, French, American and Japanese newspaper reporters did not witness it either. There is a video taken by a reporter of a Japanese newspaper when the Japanese army was invading Nanjing. Please take a look. th-cam.com/video/YGnWhmmiN9U/w-d-xo.html
I never seen a Japanese person living in Japan even daring to tackle this topic so publicly. You got some balls to be the first. I will have to respect that. For who was right, well that remains to be seen. There are a lot of things that were both good as bad about all parties involved. For example, if Hitler didn't grab power we wouldn't have hardened roads for example (or highways) as he was the person that invented those. Would it be a good or bad thing to come up with this invention? What about context regarding this? I think we can all agree that on it's own has both good and bad sides. However it might be, it can't justify the horrible actions done by him. If we look at Japanese inventions, we can also find there some very lasting things that are even used today or still being researched how to use that the best. Same with the Allies and Russia. But also there it doesn't validate the horrible actions done. Yes, even the Allies participated in war crimes such as murder, theft and rape. You just won't really see it as the victor writes the history books. And let's be fair, the atomic bombs can't be justified as well (and should be seen as war crimes as well in my opinion). For the question who was right is there for not so easily determined. There is no single simple answer that would really do justice to the entire thing. For that matter, Japan and Russia are still at war, they never signed a peace treaty. Russia doesn't want to do that because of wanting Hokkaido island, Japan doesn't want to give up Hokkaido for obvious reasons so no peace treaty (very simple worded)
My life has been quite an experience thus far. I’ve been born in the US, but went to China at 5 and lived there for 12 years because of my parents’ work. Then we immigrated in Canada back in 2015. So, as someone whose been in touch with Chinese culture and history, I could say they have a very heavy take on this part of their history. Which is also the main reason why they wouldn’t forgive the Japanese government for yet admitting about every last one of their devil deeds back in ww2. Rape of Nanking was merely the tip of the iceberg for what they’ve suffered. While knowing this is the “simplified” version of the story, I appreciate how historically correct you were trying to be throughout the whole video.
This is a good reaction video, most people who react to these do not take the time to pause and share what they know. They will just sit there and say “yeah, war: bad” at the end. Glad to see one who talks about what he was taught at school, or what is common knowledge in his country.
War is war, a lot of horrible things happen in war. Every side commits war crimes, but I think you can tell who was “right” by what they do to people once they win.
Not really, if there is a War that was worth fighting that was World War 2 the actions of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan can not be describe in any other way than pure EVIL
@@joeyartk so you're saying that the US turned japan into a puppet state? was the philippines turned into a puppet state? IIRC most US pupet states (the states in south america), the US didn't even go to war with. the US doesn't go to war with a nation, achieve victory, and then turn them into a puppet state. no. they influence economies, rig revolutions, and THEN turn them into puppet states. they use spycraft instead of raw military might.
I feel like it's sad that WW1 is overlooked as it is the reason WW2 started in the first place. The treaty of Versailles was so unfair and ruthless that it would have been a miracle if WW2 didn't happen.
WW I happened because of the first Treaty of Versailles in 1871 which was grossly unfair to the French. Since 1871, the French had been determined to fight a war of revenge against Germany in order to get back the Alsace Lorraine. As a consequence, WW I was unavoidable because the French army and the French people were 100% sure that they had to fight Germany in order to recover the Alsace Lorraine. The French spent hundreds of billions of Francs in order to persuade other countries such as Russia, Romania, Montenegro and Serbia to help the French army fight the German army. Even Gavril Princip, the man who killed archduke Ferdinand was given his gun by Serbian military intelligence working in collaboration with French military intelligence.
@@matcha1693 Sir I think you are grossly confused. The French wished the German language to become extinct after WW1... You're forgetting that Germany back then was also not united as it is now. Imma guess you're french 🤔
@@jce1392 I am Japanese but I have been a student in Paris and in Aachen. So, I can understand both countries point of view. I tend to prefer Germany to France. I was just trying to explain that the French professors told me that after the grossly unfair first Treaty of Versailles in 1871, the French nation was determined to fight a war of revenge against Germany in order to get back the Alsace Lorraine. WW I was unavoidable because the French would never forget about the Alsace Lorraine.
Interesting take at the end. As I understand it, one of the questions that the allies struggled with at the end of the war was how can you hold the aggressors accountable for their atrocities if the allies had also had attacked civilian centers. The allies pushed through the Nuremburg trials, but the Tokyo Trials led to the concept of "Victors Justice" where the victors could impose punishment without consequence. Apparently this is the reason that indiscriminate attacks against Chinese cities by Japan were left out of the Tokyo Trials since the allies could also be held accountable for the very same actions against Japanese cities.
Interesting... Most Americans will not accept that, They will tell you it's only right because Japanese government did not accept surrender even after given many warnings And to save Americans soldiers,
@@williamthekiller7219 As an American, that's unfortunately true. Few would accept it. And since it happened so long ago and most of those that were alive during the era have passed away, chances of it becoming accepted are very slim. Or the most "well, it was just product of the time." It's a case of history being written by victors and whatnot, combined with years of carefully structuring how WWII is taught to children growing up to the point that by the time they'd reach an age which such information would be available, they stop caring or won't believe it because "it's not what my 6th grade History teacher told me!" or whatever. As an American, it's unfortunate. As a student of history, it's fascinating.
@@CasualVideoGamer funny you would say that cause most of them would never care if Trump made or said a mistake.. Whether it is a joke or intentional, they are still saying, "Trump 2020" or "I would still vote for him." Good to know that Sometimes there are smart people like you which is probably not cool with Trump..
@@williamthekiller7219 I had a lengthy response posted, then my system acted up so I lost everything, lmao. I'll just say that Trump is a perfect example of people failing to learn not only what happens after you put a guy like him in charge (never giving up power, thus becoming dictators like Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, Hitler, Caesar, etc) but what happens in order FOR a guy like him to get power in the first place. Using xenophobia or any other means of catering to the *outspoken* majority of the people. History is such a domino affect and it's always so interesting to learn how one thing causes the other. Like it's really amazing how you can literally connect something like the dropping of the atomic bombs trough series of "why, because this, why, because this" all the way to Christianity becoming the dominant religion in the days of Roman Empire.
The Nanking killing wasn´t only awful because the Japanese soldiers did it, it was awful because it was allowed to happen. Most militaries make sure their soldiers don´t step out of line. The Japanese military didn´t stop it from happening. That is what makes it doubly bad.
I genuinely enjoy Yuya's videos and am happily surprised that we can all act like adults in his comment threads. Learning is always positive, and hearing other people's perspectives helps us grow as human beings. So kudos to Yuya, but also kudos to all of you watching
The part at around 4:40 with the “Englishman coming to Germany and spanking any German they wanted to”, the guy who made the video said he made that part up to illustrate how the Germans felt towards the winners of WW1 after the war.
I think it's great that you talk about the Japanese perspective on this, even if it is difficult or sensitive. I think it's interesting to hear a lot of details that some people leave out of history books. Even here in America some civilians are completely unaware of some of the sketchy things America has done in the world, I think it's important for people to know and stay educated.
I think most US citizens focused more in their government.. Almost like a paranoia But US outside of the world, "we are the fucking best.. The fucking heroes."
5:50 "Kishi's racist and sexist views of Chinese and Korean women as simply "disposable bodies" to be used by Japanese men meant he had no qualms about rounding up women and girls to serve in the "comfort women corps"." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi "A believer in the Yamato race theory, Kishi had nothing but contempt for the Chinese as a people, whom he disparagingly referred to as "lawless bandits" who were "incapable of governing themselves". Precisely for these racist reasons, Kishi believed there was no point to establishing the rule of law in Manchukuo, as the Chinese were not capable of following laws, and instead brute force was what was needed to maintain social stability. In Kishi's analogy, just as dogs were not capable of understanding abstract concepts such as the law, but could be trained to be utterly obedient to their masters, the same went with the Chinese, whom Kishi claimed were mentally closer to dogs than humans. In this way, Kishi maintained that once the Japanese proved that they were the ones with the power, the dog-like Chinese would come to be naturally obedient to their Japanese masters, and as such the Japanese had to behave with a great deal of sternness to prove that they were the masters." (Driscoll, Mark Absolute Erotic, Absolute Grotesque: The Living, Dead, and Undead in Japan's Imperialism, 1895-1945 Durham: Duke University Press, 2010 page 266-308)
Fun fact: Nobusuke Kishi was the most famous Primer Minister of Japan’s grandfather in the modern era: Shinzo Abe. And the real fun fact is that Abe wanted to setup the history of Japanese participation in the WWII, because he thought that his country wasn’t the monster that westerners had told about the war in history books. Even tho, he denied several times the crimes committed by Japanese military in Korea, China, Russia and all over Pacific Ocean. Due to this, he was a controversial politician in Japanese society and finally he was murdered by a 41-years-old-man whose his mother belonged to the unification church , and because of this he became in bankruptcy. Tetsuya Yamagami (the murderer) in his declaration said that Abe was part of the church and because of this, he made the decision to kill him for revenge.
I think America and Japan are similar in so many ways, and it was interesting to see a japanese person's retrospective on the events of WW2. Japan and the US are both highly militarized, capitalist-labor centered societies (not to mention our especially strong cultural exchange) and are heavily focused on 'progress'. It makes people nervous to discuss our war crimes, whether it be in Nanking or Vietnam; though this sort of education is essential to humanity moving forward. Painful things are painful, but powerful, and we need to learn from them. Excellent video! I look forward to watching more of your stuff.
As an American, I really liked hearing about pearl harbor and everything from a japanese point of view. Especially from such an open minded, free thinking and smart guy. Thanks for making this video.
I find it amazing that so many historical figures popped into the world at that point in time. It's surreal, most wars in history had one or two historic figures worthy of having thousands of books written about them. In world war 2 it was dozens.
Fun fact: During World War 2 the Polish Government in exile sent a declaration of war to Japan. Japan politely rejected the declaration of war. The official reply by the Japanese was "We don't accept the Polish declaration of war. The Poles, fighting for their freedom, declared war under the British pressure."
It was really interesting to hear your perspective on this. It also amazing that you seem to understand most of what the narrator is saying! I am American, but he talks so fast that I can barely understand him half the time, lol.
I just discovered your channel and I found really interesting videos, although I knew the facts about the war and the previous years, your explanation it's really helpful to understand the differences and similarities between Japan and the rest of players on WW2. Greetings from Spain!!
This is legitimately the best reaction I've seen on the oversimplified ww2 video. You seem very knowledgeable and it's interesting to hear another perspective.
I know that in Nanking there were contests between Japanese commanders to see who could lob off the most heads in the shortest time. Edit: I can also name the two port that the Swedish iron ore was coming out of and they were Lulu, Sweden and Narvik, Norway (all of people don’t know the Swedish port)
considering that Japan never apologized or confirmed that the Rape of Nanking happened (as to my Knowledge) i have huge Respect for you acknowledging and also talking about it. you are in fact the first japanese that i see/hear who openly talks about it. Thank you for covering this very difficult part of your Countries History, as a German i can somewhat relate that it is really hard talking about very difficult parts of History that includes my/your Country (at least it is for me ^^).
While I do appreciate that he admitted The Rape of Nanking happened, (while still defending that the Japanese government didnt order the killings), the fact everyone in the comments were so happy that (gasp) a Japanese person admitted a historical fact is telling. Imagine everyone applauding a German person who does NOT deny the Holocaust happened. Is that worthy of so much accolade?! To me, this is sad and speaks volumes.
I am particularly disturbed that Yuya deflected the responsibility of the massacre because this is exactly how Japan tries to escape the accountability in the tribunal. Another common apologist excuse is that "only the imperial armies were brutal and uneducated, that's why they committed this "incident"; the imperial navy were well-educated and would never committed such war crimes". There is a collective responsibility to the top commander when a crime is so grave and being intentionally downplayed be the leaders of the country.
to be fair i dont think u should say "we" you didnt do it neither did the modern generation it was the goverment then bill wartz:a very western goverment western countries:wait
more like the army then, the fanatical fervor of the japanese military at the time was so high that the cabinet is pretty much threaten with death if they ever make decisions that stop the army. I think the Cabinet even got shot by the army majors, and the Prime Minister killed moments after the surrender broadcast, they storm the Palance and the broadcast station trying to stop the broadcast but failed, so they commit suicide as they pretty much disrespect the emperor in the worst way possible- mutiny. Of course, this is not an excuse that to this day, the Japanese government didnt apologize seriously and instead just send a simple apology and try to pay Korea, China,etc off to silence them and remove the comfort women statues. There are government officials that still pay respects to the war crime generals as a hero. That's probably the part that irked China and Korea the most, the fact that the government are too prideful to apologize and try to hide it as though nothing have happen, and even pay respects to war criminals that somewhat connected to these atrocities. If Japan admits it, apologize and treat history like how Germany did, they would probably enjoy far better relations by now. You cant shake hands with a nation that you just massacre, rape, pillage with 15- 35 million lives lost (depending on the sources) and act as nothing has happen
If you have the chance to watch it, i strongly recomend the british documentary "The World at War" from 1973. Its very detailed and has testimonies of war veterans and some key figures of the war. It's really interesting.
Right and wrong is a tricky thing. Everyone is the hero of their own story. Nobody wakes up thinking, "I'm going to be the worst person I can be today." We do for ourselves and our groups. And, sometimes, that leads down dark paths. Someone's hero will always be another's villain.
Yuya, if you're into podcasts at all, please check out "Dan Carlin's Hardcore History" series, particularly his "Supernova in the East" series (Carlin himself posts the series on his youtube page as well), which entails the entire rise and fall of Japan in the asiatic-pacific theatre during WWII. part II particularly speaks on the Rape of Nanking/Nanjing Incident. really good series.
In school, I was never taught about any of the pacific theatre, or Pacific war. We were only taught the basic of basic of the European front and certain battles that our country, Canada, was a big part of. I actually think we went more in depth to 4 specific battles in WW1 then we ever did about WW2. We weren't even taught much about the role that America played in the war. We knew about Pearl Harbor and we were taught about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Canada had a role in the Manhatten project so thats why we learned a little more about it then other things. It's quite interesting to see how different countries are taught different things about the war and history and what they deem should be taught and shouldn't. I personally feel very uneducated and finding out I have been very sheltered in my world view and I have to seek out what I wasn't taught (which is a lot)
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective as we go through history that a lot of us only know on a surface level from one perspective. This is going to be a fun channel. Liked and subbed.
The Greater East Asia Prosperity sphere was a plan that was very controversial among the Government,it was almost split 50/50 on wether it should be to liberate Asia or annexing all of asia (Japan is Asia basically)to unite Asia under one command
@@gidi3250 Yeah pretty much so imagine if the UK somehow managed to annex continental Europe. It wouldn't last very long before everyone revolted, same thing would've happened to Japan
@@ProjectEkerTest33 yea like when England tried to conqueror France and in Japan's case everyone around them has a pretty high population and they tried to conqueror Asia in the age of mass-produced guns that is quite easy to use and operate like children to the elderly can use it
I enjoy your thoughts and point of view. History can always be a difficult and sensitive subject. Every country has episodes that they would like to sweep away with the winds of history. But it is wiser not to as forgotten history will be repeated. Our duty to the past is to remember these terrible events so we may prevent them from happening in the future. If we do not come away wiser then are we not surely more terrible ourselves. Always love your country as I love my country, warts and all. How we came to be will guide us on who we will continue to be and evolve into.
informative reaction, however I'll have to disagree on the point of the segment of Nanking. I belive that the incident was spured on by Prince Asaka, commander of the imperial expeditionary force of Shanghai. His decree was to "kill all"
It was really very interesting to hear your views I learned a lot from this video and your others too. The more I learn about Japan the more I hope to one day visit your country
My history teachers told me that the main reasons Japan isolated itself was due to its sense of superiority of the people and its view of Westerners as foreign devils. I'm glad I got your interpretation
As pointed out in this video but still something that many people dont know is that while japan was imperialist by taking korea and manchuria, the Japanese cabinet and emperor himself did not want to invade all of china or other parts of asia. It was the Japanese military and its leadership itself that wanted to extend Japan's reach. So they would stage these events and cause an international incident which would basically force the government to have to send some sort of response. But by around the early 40s the military under Tojo finally got more involved in the government by first becoming the minister of war and then the prime minister and at that point he and his allies could finally launch a large scale attack on the American and European territories. Hirohito by this point just went along with it
I feel a big reason Japan doesn't educate well about this topic is because this may make the younger generation question authority as to why they should be in charge or set policy when so many Japanese people and their neighbors died for an event that would be retroactively seen as unnecessary.
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was pretty much Japan's attempt to justify their invasions of several SEA countries as "liberation" from the western colonial powers like the French, British, and Americans, and the association's main image was that of solidarity between Japan and the new governments they set up. Naturally, this also held the underlying condition that these countries would also need to give tribute and allegiance to Japan. Japan itself lacked a lot of the natural resources (like oil) needed to pay for its heavy industrialization costs dating back to the Meiji Restoration, and the American embargo to the Japanese thanks to the Second Sino-Japanese War only further fueled how risky they were willing to play to get said resources. I'd say Japanese racism from WW2 was born from their successful campaigns and pride. By the time WW2 started, Japan had already occupied both Korea and Manchuria and their successes in the Sino and Russo wars only bloated their idea of being invincible. At this point in time, the League of Nations was also shown to be ineffective being given that they refused to intervene on China's behalf when they were invaded by Japan or when Abyssinia was invaded by Italy, so one can also guess that the Japanese government saw the western powers as ineffective and weak. They also objected to the very thought of capture or surrender and were never a part of the Geneva Convention, which only led to further horrible treatment of POWs, who were mostly the former case, and the civilian populations, who were deemed as spoils of war. They held on to this idea that they were invincible until the end of the war, some even after the nuking of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. A common case that Japanese officers and commanders made in the trials after WW2 was that they failed to control their soldiers from committing the massacres. Some major examples were Hisao Tani (Rape of Nanjing), Masaharu Homma (Philippines, particularly the Bataan Death March) and, Takashi Sakai (Hong Kong). A lot of these excuses were cast to the side due to what the court considered as command responsibility (a higher officer being responsible for the actions of their subordinate/s) and many were executed as a result.
My late father was Captain in the Chinese Military during WW2. At least you were honest about the killing of Chinese people and that was a start but Japan tried to adjust its history in the past and that is according to a Japanese professor teaching at the University of Chicago. It’s never too late to fully embrace the war crimes in Asia. Also, I will never forget my father’s lessons. He said to me that it is hard to forget WW2 and what the Japanese military did but he forgives them. Being my father’s son, I forgive the Japanese also. I also have several friends that had parents and grandparents that served in the US Army 442nd. Even they agree with me on theses views.
Who was right is a good question at the end. I think, that initially Germany (because of the humiliating treaty of Versailles) and Japan (because of the treatment of the western powers which besically robbed them) had the moral highground. But with the start of the holocaust (and other atrocities against non-jewish civilians) done by Germany and the treatment of chinese civilians (especially in Nanking) done by Japan all of that was going down the toilet. Beside of the great suffering to the victims atrocities are also bad because they are damaging your cause.
Fun fact about Abyssinia, now Ethiopia: it sits pretty much where the ancient Egyption nation of Kush was, one of the few peoples to succesfully resist Roman invasion.
I think wars are horrible. Every country should learn from its past mistakes and never repeat them again. We must stop all the wars so WWII never repeats again.
@@kennandunn7533 There's a bit of a double edged sword with the nuclear armament of the world's top nations and the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction. In that it does stop the threat of any sort of world war happening again, but now nations can get away with instead working behind the scenes and taking an inch at a time, i.e Russia basically trying to annex Ukraine. No one can declare war on anyone for it, which means that they can get away with doing it.
@@queuedjar4578 I mean they could slap on some economic sanctions for it and I'm pretty sure a lot of countries did for Crimea. We've largely replaced trading lives with trading dollars.
I am german-italian and I feel very ashamed of what my ancestors did. My family was fortunaly not on the Nazi/Fashistic side, neither on my german or italian bloodline. My italian family for example suffered a lot because of Mussolini and my german grandmother had to take refuge for her live, hiding from the Nazis. We still have a responsibility that something like that shall never happen again. I am glad there are japanese who admit their ancestors crimes. Many greetings from Germany 🇮🇹🇩🇪❤️🤝🏻❤️🇯🇵
I believe Back before everyone was so connected and so many types of government were tryed people typically blamed a nations success on race rather than realizing it was a direct result of the nation's government I believe that's how race ism started
Racism has and always will be a thing. Usually used to give people of an area a scapegoat to release the frustrations out on others. This is also used (all throughout history) by world leaders to redirect anger from the government and towards others. Though the belief of racism itself (no matter which race is against which) has always been a thing. In Japan's case during the Nanking stuff, I don't believe racism was a leading factor, but moreso nationalism. The belief of Japan's superiority over other Asian countries. The leading factor was the desire to gain more natural resources since the islands of Japan didn't have much for them to catch up to countries like US, Russia, etc.. It's all very fascinating in a "learning the WHY of history" sense!
You’re absolutely correct when you said that the army command in the Invasion of China was out of hand. The Japanese government didn’t even want to invade Manchuria at first.
The army/common soldier was NOT out of control in Nanking, that was their "standard" behavior every where they went, not only when they where winning, also, maybe got worse, when they where losing. The civilian deaths during the last year of the war was staggering in all fronts, south asia was not and exception, and the japonese took measures to kill the most they could during their retreat. Take Manila for example, more than 100 thousand civilians where meticulously killed in less than one month! People make excuses, but this behavior was a great contributor to the justification for the A bombs. The murricans that had to pursue the japanese armies travelling through these roads of corpses really didn't wanted to have to fight in the japanese mainland where the civilian population was being forced to, not fight to the death, but to die fighting. The high command had no concern for anyone, they only cared about the institution of the emperor. And I remind again, many had a lot of fun literally killing babies, and much of this was published in newspapers in japan, a great deal of the common people followed these news. And let's not even enter into the topic of the human experiments...
I really appreciate the way you can speak objectively about Japan's role in WW2, while still presenting your point of view as a Japanese citizen. In particular, I agree with you that whether it was 200k or 400k people killed is largely academic. It was a huge number of dead civilians. I'm from Singapore, and we were taught about the Japanese occupation of China and Southeast Asia. There were even a couple of drama serials in the 1990s about the occupation of Singapore, depicting the Japanese army mostly villainously. Despite all that however, I think it does no one any favors to hold grudges, as nothing can be done about it now. We have loads of other problems that we can use our time and attention on. Looking forward to the next video.
Do you not think people could move on faster if Japan acknowledged it's war crimes? And even it's own citizens who tried to sue the Japanese government for the atomic bomb attacks which were completely avoidable, the Japanese showed an incredible disregard for it's own citizens.
@@audibleadventures9004 I think although it would be nice, I doubt you're going to get an acknowledgement anytime soon. Looking at Japan's history, with the Emperor being seen as having the divine right to rule, with the sakoku policy, their government seems to tend to close ranks and toe the line when discussing negative aspects of current events or history. I'm only speculating here but maybe they feel that if they acknowledge war crimes, then it means the empire was wrong, and if the empire is wrong, them the Emperor is wrong, and he can't possibly be wrong because he's of divine origin. Just a guess. I think moving on becomes more difficult when both parties are not prepared to move from their position; every time the non-acknowledgement is brought up, it opens up fresh wounds. I personally feel that it's easier to let it go, but that's just me.
I am new to your channel. You popped up on my TH-cam notifications. I really enjoyed your reaction of this video, you explained more about the Japanese involvement of WW II. I have learned more from this video than I did in Secondary School.
good react from a japanese dude. The funny thing is that germany kinda started militirizing not even 15 years before WW2 starte and was able to outmilitary kinda most of all countrys that were involved. The treaty of versailles was one big reason why this war was going to happen. Even a french general said after the treaty was done, that this treaty isnt peace, but it is an armistice for around 20 years and he was right. Atleast the allies diddnt handle us so badly after ww2 with such threaty again. To japan, well, its very disputed what happened in "your" sector of the world. There is a great documentry on youtube called "japans war in color" where is also stated the fear of western domination. With the military of japan, youre right, as far as i know, "rightwing" military dudes did nearl everything on their own. We must also accept the fact that history is written by the winners and those were the allies. Even tho what america did on a large scale was war crimes at a big scale, like dropping nukes against civillians, just to give the USSR "a shock". Anyway. I hope tis pandemic shit is soon over, it scrapped my plans to visit japan again this year, i love japan and its people and culture. At some points you look and speak like a teacher, which is funny. Greetings from Germany.
I hate it when people say history is "written by winners" when everybody seems confuse write as rewrite. The losers are still alive, you can talk to them right now, what the fuck. We're not trying to find an eastern european during the mongol conquests, you can find documented sources written by people on all sides of the war. The only thing the victors get to do, is determine the course of the world for the next however many years. History is history, many people write it in truth, and many historians do their own research, each one having their own biases and standards. Also, the bomb was not delivered to "shock" purely on the basis of showing the Soviets, it was delivered to end the war. Getting to use it as leverage is a bonus yes, but the Soviets planning to advance on Japan had no bearing on the final decision.
@@kidn00b1 this is why US cannot publicly persecute the War Criminals of Japan who killed thousands of civilians Because USA fucking bomb fucking tons of civilians too,
@@williamthekiller7219 They can, and they did. What are you talking about? Bombing raids over the opponent's land, civilian or military were both considered strategic bombing. The Nazi's did it, Italians, Brits, USSR, and obviously the US. Japan didn't have the capability to actually conduct large bombing raids but it would be no different for them. Japanese Officers who had oversight in the Philippines and China were tried harshly. The ones who avoided persecution were generally those who would turn over information such as Unit 731's human experimentation information, German Rocket Scientists and intelligence officers. Even then they were not guaranteed salvation. This idea that the Allies did not, and could not enforce double standards against the Axis is silly. It also fails to address the intent and escalation of said egregious acts, felt on a more personal level by people who were under Japanese and German occupation.
“...for the exact number of civilian victims [of the Nanjing Massacre], debates existed among historians. But generally, it is not in dispute that the majority of residents were embroiled and killed in the war.” "But what is the difference? It was still a killing spree.” --Murakami Haruki
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
It's actually very admirable for you to admit to your nations actions. I could be wrong, but from what I read it seems like many Japanese people deny their country's war crimes.
It's the government who denied it
Civilians don't get a vote in that
The deniers are literally here in the comments section, so you're definitely right about that.
@@williamthekiller7219 but the civilians deny it as a direct result of what u described, Japan's war crimes aren't mentioned in their history books so anyone who studied under Japan's educational system almost instantly rejects the facts that Japan did in fact commit war crimes.
@@justinadams8250 lmao trust me, most of the deniers in the comment sections are extremist weebs XD
@@adityabora9131 and whose fault is that? The government. The same thing would happen in Germany if the government teach anyone about their war crimes.
To be fair, I think most people forget Italy was in the war.
It doesn't help that, compared to both Germany and Japan, Italy didn't have the economy in place for a war like Great War 2: Electric Boogaloo, as they were mostly rural and agricultural with little in the way of industrialization. Couple that with higherups that had no idea what they were doing (Trying to rebuild the Roman Empire with an economy based entirely on conquest sounds like a REALLY GOOD IDEA Mussolini), woeful equipment issues, and a tendency to get their asses kicked in their attempts to contribute to the war (Greece), there's a reason Churchill called them the "Soft underbelly of Europe."
To the Italian's credit, their solders were extremely brave, as noted by Rommel during his generalship of the African Campaign, they just lacked in everything else.
The British empire, France and Italy had quite good navy's hell in Italy's case it was the only good thing in their military and America out build all of the above mentioned and the UK sank the best of the French fleet in fear of the Germans getting hold of the French fleet and Italy had the most subs going into the war at 116 before war with 7 considered out of date and they lost 88 by the end of the war after losing 10 in the first week of the war mostly to inexperienced sailors and flaws in quality and reckless bravado after witch they never fielded more than 30 ships at a time and they lost a lot to convoy protection while trying to copy German u boat success and while the Atlantic saw a lot of cargo ships underway for the UK the Mediterranean had a lot more warships and convoys under heavy guard - repost about me talking about Italy's only good thing in the war
Not entirely true, the Italian Special Forces and their fleet in the Mediterranean actually had their moments during the war; alebit, few and far between. Churchill did state that they were the weak underbelly to the axis forces. So no, no one forgot about Italy, that was one of their entry points into central Europe.
The Italians from the beginning were not very enthusiastic about the war. They killed their leader Mussolini, who had collapsed in popularity, and quickly joined the Allies and cursed the Germans.
The Italians undear Rommel now that's some good Italians
After the war Germany's history education vs Japanese comparison is like a night and day.
Germany: educates facts and atrocities in detail. Any Nazi propaganda is considered crime.
Japan: no comment, just look at the current events.
True! It’s depressing.
The official document about World War II in the United States, the IWG report, and 8.5 million pages also finalized the report that there was no Nanjing Massacre.
In addition, former U.S. Army Green Berets journalist Michael Yon, who investigated the truth of the report, made an independent and thorough examination and came to the exact same conclusion, why he made up such a large lie. Is it? ?? ?? Interest is shifting to.
Please think about the answer too!
You may be able to discover the astonishing truth.
The Yamato people have that secret.
Michael Yon was asked by a Chinese anti-Japanese group in California to find brutal evidence of the Japanese army.
However, the result was that the Japanese army was all disciplined and had no atrocities at all, so to be honest with the group, the content was inconvenient and was hidden.
The Nanjing Massacre was a lie made by Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China.
The world doesn't know that fact.
Anyone can download and view the IWG report now. It takes several years to read all the papers, which are quite long.
Or, Mr. Yong has published two books in Japanese.
@@JIRO-FX3150 Righhtttt
@@JIRO-FX3150 wow, such ignorance
@@JIRO-FX3150 yeah... no
He was genuinely very serious about watching the video. I'm impressed. I know it's not an easy period for Japanese to look into in detail.
Japan is the victim of Western smear campaign.
Japan was provoked by West, just as Russia was provoked by West today.
History is repetition of same pattern.
Crusaders will always be Crusaders.
It was indeed called "Rape of Nanking". The Japanese committed atrocities against China for centuries. They also did it to Korea. Among the Asian countries, the Chinese and Koreans hate the Japanese most for the crimes they committed. The Philippines was also a victim in WW2 but Filipinos are more forgiving.
Post war Germany: I'm... **sobs** horrible...
Post war Japan: Nothing to see here, disperse
Post war Italy: *In the war got rekt so hard that people don't even remember what the hell happened*
Italian History Teacher: We took part in WW2
Students: Huh? Oh yeah... uh... I forgot
From what I hear a lot of fascists in Italy from that time are still held in relatively good regard as Italy joining the Allies lets them do the 'we joined the right side' excuse.
Ggg
In reality in history we Italian study pretty well WW2
@John Ratican sì ma non sono attivi come politici del partito fascista. E poi perché dovrebbero cambiare cognome? Dopo tutto le colpe dei padri non devono ricadere sui figli
The part between Hitler and Stalin in this video is a cultural joke that would make more sense to native English speaker. The joke involves 'double negatives'. Which is considered highly improper grammar in the English language. So you basically say, no twice to the same subject implying that it is a yes. So if you translate what he said into proper English grammar. It is: "I won't stop myself from betraying you."
The joke is that he made it confusing on purpose so that it sounded friendlier in context.
Thank you from a confused European who was trying to figure it out for 4 months now!
I got the joke. Thanks for explaining though. Coz even though I understand the term, I didn't know it's name. But hey, we learn something new everyday.
I got the joke. But Probably because we got the same thing in german
@@TSGPhilipp English and German are very similar languages in broad strokes. As a native English speaker (from America) German was the European language I could understand the most with what little I learned of it. Understood it more than French, that's for sure.
I'm a Chinese from Nanking. I would always show my respect for 香川照之さん due to his courage to act in the movie " ジョン・ラーベ 〜南京のシンドラー〜". I understand it is really hard to act in an anti-war movie about WW2 in Japan, especially for a royal role.
brave comment
That prince who was there was such a clown.
I understand that Japan doesn't want to shame and demoralize its own population by being too thorough and honest about Nanking... But at the same time, it's sad that there are people who deny it even happened.
There are Europeans and Americans who deny the Holocaust. That’s why Eisenhower had the camps filmed before most of them were destroyed.
@@mountianfolks you are dangerously naive.
@@mountianfolks Manzanar shouldn’t have happened. Seizure of US Citizens assets and property shouldn’t have happened. But that is a long leap from official policy to eliminate all who oppose your regime generally, or specifically targeting Jews and other groups for genocide, or advocating using conquered people as prostitutes(Korea). Nor the Rape of Nanjing. Nor using POWS and Chinese civilians in beheading competitions.
We’re the Allies brutal? Yes, war is brutal. Total war more so.
But the is no moral equivalence between the prosecution of the war by the Allies, and the intentional gratuitous brutality set by the Axis states.
Read some original source history documentation of WWII and you won’t sound like a bumper sticker historian.
@@mountianfolks you are the one who is underknowledged here, nazis eveb disgusts the imperial japan's attoricites and here you try to shift the blame on others
@@mountianfolks Please stop referring to Europe as a whole, thanks. Don't rope us all in by what some countries did, my country (Sweden) hasn't been in a war for over 200 years (longest a country has ever gone without war).
When I was in a second year in high school, my AP World History teacher took a whole day to teach us about the Rape of Nanking. Out of all the things I learned in that class, I will never forget this day. Everyone in the class was lost for words. Even the dudes who didn't give a shit about school took it seriously. He said it was important for us to understand just how horrifying this event was and to make sure our generation never repeated the same mistakes.
Crap, I’m honored!
My class was the same when talking about the rape of Nanking
if only my Canadian history teacher cared, I was in a public school and it was like all Asian countries didn't exist; we just learned about coureur des bois, lol
Kind of like the same for me, but in my case, i was that one weird dude asking about the allied forces war crimes against the axis, so i got a warning from the teacher, and later on i got a 2nd warning when Africa's colonization by european nations. God forbid we learn of the dirty justified actions the winners commited.
You are lucky to have a history teacher like that. Wow.
Japans Military in 1939 was powerful, seriously powerful. Japan being an Island Country had a Huge Navy. Japan’s ships, modern. Officer Corps, well trained and highly competent. Most Americans knew nothing of Japanese culture. Since the War, many Americans studied Japanese Culture and Traditions. Even tho Japan lost the War, you won the Peace. Japan is rebuilt, modern and with a high culture, is admired around the world. I served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War and had a chance to visit Japan. I’m sad for what happened in the past. I’m glad we’re friends and Allies today. Thanks for your input.
And there emerged the Japanophile or "Weeb"
Thanks Banzai!!!!
@@AbrahamLincoln4 Ha Ha Ha funny
Abraham Lincoln , I’m from Chicago and joined the Navy at 17, 71-75. 2 tours to Vietnam with 58,000 dead and we lost. Today, Vietnam is a semi-Allie. Times change......Perhaps you lost a family member in that War?
Well they "won" the peace because the United States sponsored the complete reconstruction of the country into a western-style, democratic capitalist economy. Their success was mostly due to American sponsorship until the were able to rebuild to the point of being capable of complete autonomy from the US.
Concerning racism in Japan, my great-grandfather actually had quite a strange story. My great-grandfather was a German Jew. He traveled overseas to study in a university in Japan in 1932. Japan being unfamiliar with the Jewish stereotypes, meant that his experience of racism was lessened. There was the regular anti-European racism, but that was nothing compared to antisemitic racism in Europe at the time. He just remained in Japan during the war, and that way escaped Hitler's persecution. I know that at a certain point he traveled to the UK, and enlisted as a translator of intercepted documents, as he knew both German and Japanese.
Pretty weird how things turn out...
From what I hear about Japan is they are considered xenophobic by just staring at foreigners witch to my South African mindset is cute and adorable because here my fellow countrymen sometimes burn and kill foreigners is just for being foreign
@Persnikitty
I didn't ignore anyone. I simply shared my own anacdotal experience.
Yeah the same thing happened when the president of the Philippines took in German Jews who were escaping nazi occupation in Europe. When the Japanese arrived and took over the Philippines, the moment they came across a German Jew, they let them go because being A German citizen with papers meant you were an ally of Japan even if they were Jewish. The treatment of the Filipinos at the hands of the Japanese during the occupation?.....let’s just say my grandfather told me it still gives him nightmares to this day and that he still screams in his sleep sometimes like a nightmare that won’t end....
Nothing strange. There was no concept of racism Japan.
@Sam0193 Where did you get that twisted story and interpretation of history as your convenience ? Japan was not colonized, because of closure to outside by seeing exploitation of Asia by Europeans. In addition to that, On February 13, 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference International Federation Covenant Committee after World War I, Japan's plenipotentiary Nobuaki Makino proposed to include the elimination of racial discrimination in the League of Nations Covenant. This is "a commitment to make no legal or virtually any discrimination depending on race or nationality." Japan was the first country in the world to clearly insist on the elimination of racial discrimination at international conferences.
When I heard the discrepancy between Japan's numbers for Nanking and China's (200,000 vs 300-400,000), I couldn't help but wonder what difference it makes when the numbers are so huge either way. It reminds me of something Joseph Stalin said: 'One man's death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic'.
The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall has the names of 300,000 people during the Nanjing Massacre. The center of the two exhibition halls is separated by a row of glass jars. The soil in these jars is taken from multiple mass graves in the old Nanjing city.
They are not numbers, they are lives.
Yeah exactly, I don’t see the controversy even if the numbers were exaggerated- 200,000 is insane… is 300,000 that much worse? That’s like saying I didn’t spend all your money! You had 100 dollars, I only spent 80! So that’s basically like I didn’t spend your money at all right?
Because lying about numbers is not good
@yuanli7197 They are numbers. You can't count a massacre without numbers, no matter how high and mighty you think you are.
I've seen in some Japanese textbooks that only a 100 or so died in Nanking (which is crazy to try and say), or that the Korean women who were used by soldiers did so voluntarily. This stuff is often only a single line on a single page in these textbooks... :/
As a side note, the Spanish Civil War is fairly interesting, if rarely talked about.
In short, after a controversial election became disputed, Nationalist Spain launched a coup against the Republican government. While Republican Spain was supported by elements of the UK, France, and the USSR, Nationalist Spain had most of their contributions from the Germans. After 3 long years of fighting, the Nationalists won in 1939, just in time for the onset of WWII.
With Franco at the head of Spain, setting up a fascistic rule, he then decided to play neutral on the grounds that A) he would not win a conflict between France and the UK, and B) he didn't entirely agree with Hitler's racial policies, so he ended up being the only fascist dictator to survive WWII...and also be an ardent supporter of the West against Communism in the Cold War.
After his death, Spain managed to transition to a democracy, though Franco remains a controversial historical figure for obvious reasons.
From what I recall Franco told Hitler he would consider joining the war on Germany's side if they could you capitulate the UK around 1940 to 1941 witch Germany failed to do and went about kicking the bear that and Franco was still rebuilding Spain during ww2 after all a civil war will inevitable destroy the country your fighting for
The only fascist leader to survived after WW2? Correction, Salazar from Portugal also survived
@Half life 3 "Fascist" and "Catholic Dictator" are basically synonyms my dude. Theocracy and Fascism go hand in hand.
@@RAMENn00dleb0y true, plus they are in same political spectrum, although fascism is often more extreme than theocracy
Spain wasn't the only fascist dictatorship to survive WW2. Portugals Estado Novo kept on going strong for another few years.
It's good to see a Japanese person admitting their nation's atrocities and base it on facts and not on opinion. More power to you sir love from the Philippines!🇵🇭
海外の人は日本の教科書が戦争犯罪について嘘をついていると、堂々と誤情報を言えるなんてとても凄いです。本当の事を知りもしないで勝手に叩くのは誹謗中傷です。ネットの人は本当に怖いです。
12:17 Distance doesn't matter because we had radio back then. Maybe the Emperor in Japan wasn't aware of the massacre but the commanders leading the army in Nanjing and Shanghai definitely knew about it. Even if they didn't explicitly order it, they let it happen. For several days
It wasn't several days. The massacre lasted for over six weeks.
the emperor hirohito was literally the emperor god which the japanese army commited all their atrocities in his name
@@efs9055 it started in december
The Nagasaki division that carried out the Nanking Massacre was later sent to New Guinea, where the Australians wiped them out with a 90% casualty rate. Justice.
What I admire most about this video is your willingness to look at it on a humanistic level and your ability to empathise.
You did well Yuya san. It is never easy to discuss such a controversial topic openly and honestly, as a Japanese person. Love your intellectual thoughts and open mindedness. You are a great person!
The man who ordered the mass killing in nanking was the Emperor's uncle.
Debatable though the poor guy wasn’t any way capable in becoming a general in the first place. The guy was an alcoholic after his wife die in a car accident and during the war with China was having a serious case of depression
@@JIRO-FX3150 so what happened to the 100,000s of dead people?
@@JIRO-FX3150 what about the other evil atrocities commited against other nations like the death march?
@@djkaibaxter419 It is true that the Japanese army (Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese) is merciless and cruel to Chinese soldiers and white national soldiers who ruled Asia. It was educated that fighting and dying was an honorary death, and it was disgraceful to surrender immediately and become a prisoner of war, so the Japanese could not understand the actions of the US and British troops. The reason for invading Asia was to break the white supremacist and create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Area, and because the United States sanctioned materials such as crude oil, we advanced to Asia to secure fuel.
On December 23, 1941 (Showa 16), the 14th Army, led by Vice Admiral Masaharu Homma, the main force for the Philippine campaign dispatched from Taiwan, landed in the Lingayen Gulf on Luzon Island. It was the United States Army Forces in the Far East (US Army Forces) led by Douglas MacArthur who was in charge of defending the Philippines. MacArthur withdrew from Manila on December 24 after declaring an open city in Manila and stayed in the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Fortress. The following day, January 2, 1942, the Japanese army succeeded in the bloodless occupation of Manila. Japanese troops then attacked Corregidor Fortress, and on March 12, MacArthur escaped Corregidor Island.
On April 9, 1942, the Japanese occupied the Bataan Peninsula with 130 dead and 6808 injured. The U.S. Army Forces on the Bataan Peninsula, led by Maj. Gen. Edward P. King, who surrendered, captured as many as 76,000 prisoners. This far exceeded the expected number of POWs of 25,000 on the Japanese side.
Masanobu Tsuji said that the war was an interracial war, saying, "Because the Filipinos betrayed their fellow Asians and sided with the Americans who were white colonialists, execute them." It is said that he issued a fake POW execution order, which was supposed to be "from the Imperial Headquarters." According to the story of Umeichi Matsunaga, who told Takeo Imai about the execution order of prisoners of war, Masanobu Tsuji verbally communicated the execution order and walked. The staff of the 65th Brigade, who received a false order from Tsuji, spread the order to the regimental commanders by direct telephone, and it is said that some prisoners of war were actually executed.
Colonel Takeo Imai called from Lieutenant Colonel Umeichi Matsunaga, a senior staff member of the 65th Brigade Command, at around 11:00 am on April 10, saying, "The Japanese Army has not fully consented to the surrender of the US Army. The U.S. Army surrenders have not yet been officially accepted as prisoners, so each unit should shoot and kill the U.S. Army surrenders at hand. " Imai decided to refuse this and immediately released all more than a thousand prisoners, demanding a written order. In addition, Maj. Gen. Torao Ikuta, the commander of the 10th Independent Garrison, was informed of a similar order, but canceled the execution because his subordinates confirmed that the order was fake during discussions with his subordinates. Vice Admiral Homma did not know about these orders until his death, and his Chief of Staff only learned of them after the war.
On the other hand, the 122nd Infantry Regiment, led by Colonel Yunosuke Watanabe, was able to confirm by telephone with the 65th Brigade Commander, General Akira Nara, and ordered about 500 prisoners of war to be stabbed and shot. Some of them commanded the Taiwanese Takasago tribe in service and killed many officers of both the US and Philippine forces. Some, like Imai and Ikuta, refused the order, but others did it completely or partially. Nozomi Watanabe, the author of the above-mentioned book, said that if Tsuji's scheme was completely successful, it could be one of the largest genocide cases in the Greater East Asia War.
However, Masanobu Tsuji, who planned the massacre of such false orders, was not arrested or prosecuted as a war criminal, as described in the #War Crimes Trial.
The Japanese POW deportation plan was submitted 10 days before the total attack, and the condition and number of POWs were significantly different from what was expected. The prisoners carried a day's worth of food and would not have needed food for the day's journey to the stopover, Baranga. It actually takes up to three days. Only 200 trucks could be used on the section from Baranga to the San Fernando railway station (San Fernando station), but all prisoners of war were supposed to be transported by truck. However, most of the trucks were under repair, and the trucks captured from the US military had to be used to transport supplies to capture the Corregidor Fortress during the war. In the end, more than half of the POWs, including the general, marched on foot for three days on the 83km section from Mariveles to San Fernando. The march in this section was called the "death march."
The US soldiers were already severely exhausted by the time they surrendered. When surrendered to the Japanese, fifty percent of American soldiers on the Bataan Peninsula were in a condition requiring medical attention due to war wounds and malaria. Therefore, it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to walk a short distance, but refugees who were chased by the war and fled and were extremely debilitated were also added to the march. Malaria and other dengue fever and dysentery are widespread in both Japan and the United States, and Maj. Gen. Yoshiken Kawane of the Japanese Army built a camp at O'Donnell base in Capas, Tarlac due to food procurement circumstances. The food of the Bataan Peninsula garrison of the US Philippine Army was exhausted at the time of surrender, and it has been pointed out that there are differences in eating habits between Americans such as miso soup and gobo, Filipinos and Japanese. In addition, as the march took place under the scorching sun, heavily armed Japanese soldiers weighing 30 kg also marched together for surveillance, but many prisoners of war fell down about 42 km. Many of the fatalities at this time are also said to be malaria-infected.
In addition to the above-mentioned massacre of false orders by Masanobu Tsuji, inhumane acts (but not all) against prisoners of war before and during the march, including murder, were carried out on the Japanese and American sides as follows. It remains in the record of. During the march, it is said that there was abuse against anyone other than those carried by truck or at the beginning of the march.
As a background to this, there was an idea that the Japanese side would be ashamed to be taken prisoner, and there was an idea to despise the surrendered US soldiers. It is said that Japanese soldiers used to violently sanction their subordinates in the military, so they also used violence and killed prisoners of war, who were the target of disdain. It is mentioned in several testimonies of surviving POWs and is recorded in the testimony of Japanese military personnel. In addition, the cause of the violence against POWs was when he did not hear the orders of Japanese soldiers such as walking fast during the march, and there was no reason to say in the POW testimony.
Although the treatment of prisoners of war during the march may vary from unit to unit, the prisoners were "walked with very little food and drinking water and little rest in the scorching heat," and "double the number of people that can be accommodated at night." "I was pushed into the warehouse," and "I had to do it in a place where the stools were standing."
Of the approximately 76,000 prisoners of war, approximately 54,000 arrived at the camp, with approximately 7,000 to 10,000 believed to have died from malaria, hunger, and fatigue. Has been done. The death toll of the US military is recorded at 2,300. It is said that there were few Japanese soldiers on surveillance and it was easy to escape. In the case of Filipinos, they were mostly escapees because they couldn't tell if they were mixed in with the local people, and it is said that the report reported death.
@@djkaibaxter419 Of course, there are no 300,000 corpses because they are not dead. 1000 to 2000 people were shot dead in the Yangtze River as they captured remnants of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and guerrilla soldiers in civilian clothing in Nanjing and tried to ignite and escape. This is a fact.
However, it is a lie to have killed 300,000 civilians.
When the Japanese troops were occupying Nanjing, some citizens who were evacuated to Chongqing and were late to escape were hiding in a safe zone.
Chiang Kai-shek had fled from Nanjing when it was alleged that there was a Nanjing massacre in the first place. He has not witnessed. At that time, British, French, American and Japanese newspaper reporters did not witness it either.
There is a video taken by a reporter of a Japanese newspaper when the Japanese army was invading Nanjing. Please take a look. th-cam.com/video/YGnWhmmiN9U/w-d-xo.html
I never seen a Japanese person living in Japan even daring to tackle this topic so publicly. You got some balls to be the first. I will have to respect that.
For who was right, well that remains to be seen. There are a lot of things that were both good as bad about all parties involved. For example, if Hitler didn't grab power we wouldn't have hardened roads for example (or highways) as he was the person that invented those. Would it be a good or bad thing to come up with this invention? What about context regarding this? I think we can all agree that on it's own has both good and bad sides. However it might be, it can't justify the horrible actions done by him.
If we look at Japanese inventions, we can also find there some very lasting things that are even used today or still being researched how to use that the best. Same with the Allies and Russia. But also there it doesn't validate the horrible actions done. Yes, even the Allies participated in war crimes such as murder, theft and rape. You just won't really see it as the victor writes the history books. And let's be fair, the atomic bombs can't be justified as well (and should be seen as war crimes as well in my opinion).
For the question who was right is there for not so easily determined. There is no single simple answer that would really do justice to the entire thing. For that matter, Japan and Russia are still at war, they never signed a peace treaty. Russia doesn't want to do that because of wanting Hokkaido island, Japan doesn't want to give up Hokkaido for obvious reasons so no peace treaty (very simple worded)
My life has been quite an experience thus far. I’ve been born in the US, but went to China at 5 and lived there for 12 years because of my parents’ work. Then we immigrated in Canada back in 2015.
So, as someone whose been in touch with Chinese culture and history, I could say they have a very heavy take on this part of their history. Which is also the main reason why they wouldn’t forgive the Japanese government for yet admitting about every last one of their devil deeds back in ww2. Rape of Nanking was merely the tip of the iceberg for what they’ve suffered. While knowing this is the “simplified” version of the story, I appreciate how historically correct you were trying to be throughout the whole video.
This is a good reaction video, most people who react to these do not take the time to pause and share what they know. They will just sit there and say “yeah, war: bad” at the end.
Glad to see one who talks about what he was taught at school, or what is common knowledge in his country.
War is war, a lot of horrible things happen in war. Every side commits war crimes, but I think you can tell who was “right” by what they do to people once they win.
or what they do to get in position of power
You mean force them to become a puppet state like the US does? Lol
Not really, if there is a War that was worth fighting that was World War 2 the actions of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan can not be describe in any other way than pure EVIL
@@aaronperezmilicua4212 So you think Imperial Japan was a bigger threat to the US than Communist China? Lol
@@joeyartk so you're saying that the US turned japan into a puppet state? was the philippines turned into a puppet state? IIRC most US pupet states (the states in south america), the US didn't even go to war with. the US doesn't go to war with a nation, achieve victory, and then turn them into a puppet state. no. they influence economies, rig revolutions, and THEN turn them into puppet states. they use spycraft instead of raw military might.
I’m curious, how popular is the film Schindler’s List in Japan?
I think it is considered as one of the masterpiece. But only among who love western movies...lol
I see lol thanks for the insight!!
Yuya Wanobee it was called the rape of Nanking if u were still wondering
@@YuyaNipponess I would appreciate it if you watched Schindler's List and then posted your opinions on it. I'd love to hear what you have to say.
They should watch John Rabe movie
I feel like it's sad that WW1 is overlooked as it is the reason WW2 started in the first place. The treaty of Versailles was so unfair and ruthless that it would have been a miracle if WW2 didn't happen.
austria-hungary empire/Ottoman empire:Are we a joke to you?
@@hmonglord accurate 😂😂
WW I happened because of the first Treaty of Versailles in 1871 which was grossly unfair to the French.
Since 1871, the French had been determined to fight a war of revenge against Germany in order to get back the Alsace Lorraine.
As a consequence, WW I was unavoidable because the French army and the French people were 100% sure that they had to fight Germany in order to recover the Alsace Lorraine.
The French spent hundreds of billions of Francs in order to persuade other countries such as Russia, Romania, Montenegro and Serbia to help the French army fight the German army.
Even Gavril Princip, the man who killed archduke Ferdinand was given his gun by Serbian military intelligence working in collaboration with French military intelligence.
@@matcha1693 Sir I think you are grossly confused. The French wished the German language to become extinct after WW1... You're forgetting that Germany back then was also not united as it is now. Imma guess you're french 🤔
@@jce1392 I am Japanese but I have been a student in Paris and in Aachen.
So, I can understand both countries point of view.
I tend to prefer Germany to France.
I was just trying to explain that the French professors told me that after the grossly unfair first Treaty of Versailles in 1871, the French nation was determined to fight a war of revenge against Germany in order to get back the Alsace Lorraine.
WW I was unavoidable because the French would never forget about the Alsace Lorraine.
Interesting take at the end. As I understand it, one of the questions that the allies struggled with at the end of the war was how can you hold the aggressors accountable for their atrocities if the allies had also had attacked civilian centers. The allies pushed through the Nuremburg trials, but the Tokyo Trials led to the concept of "Victors Justice" where the victors could impose punishment without consequence. Apparently this is the reason that indiscriminate attacks against Chinese cities by Japan were left out of the Tokyo Trials since the allies could also be held accountable for the very same actions against Japanese cities.
yes, didnt one captured nazi naval general say that the US also committed the same crime and got let off?
Interesting...
Most Americans will not accept that,
They will tell you it's only right because Japanese government did not accept surrender even after given many warnings
And to save Americans soldiers,
@@williamthekiller7219 As an American, that's unfortunately true. Few would accept it. And since it happened so long ago and most of those that were alive during the era have passed away, chances of it becoming accepted are very slim. Or the most "well, it was just product of the time."
It's a case of history being written by victors and whatnot, combined with years of carefully structuring how WWII is taught to children growing up to the point that by the time they'd reach an age which such information would be available, they stop caring or won't believe it because "it's not what my 6th grade History teacher told me!" or whatever.
As an American, it's unfortunate. As a student of history, it's fascinating.
@@CasualVideoGamer funny you would say that cause most of them would never care if Trump made or said a mistake.. Whether it is a joke or intentional, they are still saying, "Trump 2020" or "I would still vote for him."
Good to know that Sometimes there are smart people like you which is probably not cool with Trump..
@@williamthekiller7219 I had a lengthy response posted, then my system acted up so I lost everything, lmao. I'll just say that Trump is a perfect example of people failing to learn not only what happens after you put a guy like him in charge (never giving up power, thus becoming dictators like Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, Hitler, Caesar, etc) but what happens in order FOR a guy like him to get power in the first place. Using xenophobia or any other means of catering to the *outspoken* majority of the people.
History is such a domino affect and it's always so interesting to learn how one thing causes the other. Like it's really amazing how you can literally connect something like the dropping of the atomic bombs trough series of "why, because this, why, because this" all the way to Christianity becoming the dominant religion in the days of Roman Empire.
The Nanking killing wasn´t only awful because the Japanese soldiers did it, it was awful because it was allowed to happen. Most militaries make sure their soldiers don´t step out of line. The Japanese military didn´t stop it from happening. That is what makes it doubly bad.
I genuinely enjoy Yuya's videos and am happily surprised that we can all act like adults in his comment threads. Learning is always positive, and hearing other people's perspectives helps us grow as human beings. So kudos to Yuya, but also kudos to all of you watching
The part at around 4:40 with the “Englishman coming to Germany and spanking any German they wanted to”, the guy who made the video said he made that part up to illustrate how the Germans felt towards the winners of WW1 after the war.
I think it's great that you talk about the Japanese perspective on this, even if it is difficult or sensitive. I think it's interesting to hear a lot of details that some people leave out of history books. Even here in America some civilians are completely unaware of some of the sketchy things America has done in the world, I think it's important for people to know and stay educated.
I think most US citizens focused more in their government.. Almost like a paranoia
But US outside of the world, "we are the fucking best.. The fucking heroes."
Your point of view was strong and relevant. Thank you. I have seen this video many times and with you was the best. Thank you again.
I appreciate how brave you are in addressing these subject matters.
5:50 "Kishi's racist and sexist views of Chinese and Korean women as simply "disposable bodies" to be used by Japanese men meant he had no qualms about rounding up women and girls to serve in the "comfort women corps"."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi
"A believer in the Yamato race theory, Kishi had nothing but contempt for the Chinese as a people, whom he disparagingly referred to as "lawless bandits" who were "incapable of governing themselves". Precisely for these racist reasons, Kishi believed there was no point to establishing the rule of law in Manchukuo, as the Chinese were not capable of following laws, and instead brute force was what was needed to maintain social stability. In Kishi's analogy, just as dogs were not capable of understanding abstract concepts such as the law, but could be trained to be utterly obedient to their masters, the same went with the Chinese, whom Kishi claimed were mentally closer to dogs than humans. In this way, Kishi maintained that once the Japanese proved that they were the ones with the power, the dog-like Chinese would come to be naturally obedient to their Japanese masters, and as such the Japanese had to behave with a great deal of sternness to prove that they were the masters." (Driscoll, Mark Absolute Erotic, Absolute Grotesque: The Living, Dead, and Undead in Japan's Imperialism, 1895-1945 Durham: Duke University Press, 2010 page 266-308)
Fun fact: Nobusuke Kishi was the most famous Primer Minister of Japan’s grandfather in the modern era: Shinzo Abe. And the real fun fact is that Abe wanted to setup the history of Japanese participation in the WWII, because he thought that his country wasn’t the monster that westerners had told about the war in history books. Even tho, he denied several times the crimes committed by Japanese military in Korea, China, Russia and all over Pacific Ocean.
Due to this, he was a controversial politician in Japanese society and finally he was murdered by a 41-years-old-man whose his mother belonged to the unification church , and because of this he became in bankruptcy. Tetsuya Yamagami (the murderer) in his declaration said that Abe was part of the church and because of this, he made the decision to kill him for revenge.
I like how he structures these reactions like lectures with themes.
It's really cool to see a different perspective of what I'm used to hear about WW2. Greeting from Portugal :)
Please react to "Is It Possible to Build a Tunnel from Japan to Korea?
" from Kento Bento. I would LOVE to hear your opinion.
I think America and Japan are similar in so many ways, and it was interesting to see a japanese person's retrospective on the events of WW2.
Japan and the US are both highly militarized, capitalist-labor centered societies (not to mention our especially strong cultural exchange) and are heavily focused on 'progress'. It makes people nervous to discuss our war crimes, whether it be in Nanking or Vietnam; though this sort of education is essential to humanity moving forward. Painful things are painful, but powerful, and we need to learn from them.
Excellent video! I look forward to watching more of your stuff.
My great grand father fought in the defence of Hong Kong as a part of the Winnipeg Grenadiers Regiment against the Japanese
Concerning Nanking. I'm a Professor of Military History. A lot of us believe it was done in an attempt to intimidate the Chinese into a surrender.
"Those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
As an American, I really liked hearing about pearl harbor and everything from a japanese point of view. Especially from such an open minded, free thinking and smart guy. Thanks for making this video.
I find it amazing that so many historical figures popped into the world at that point in time. It's surreal, most wars in history had one or two historic figures worthy of having thousands of books written about them. In world war 2 it was dozens.
It's called World War
Not World Domination by one conqueror,
19:13 Quoting part of Doflamingo's speech from One Piece: "Whoever wins the war becomes justice" XD
Fun fact: During World War 2 the Polish Government in exile sent a declaration of war to Japan. Japan politely rejected the declaration of war. The official reply by the Japanese was "We don't accept the Polish declaration of war. The Poles, fighting for their freedom, declared war under the British pressure."
It was really interesting to hear your perspective on this. It also amazing that you seem to understand most of what the narrator is saying! I am American, but he talks so fast that I can barely understand him half the time, lol.
I like your take on reaction video's I find you very informative. Respect from UK 🇬🇧
I Love That He Give’s a Sense of Learning and Passing on Lessons from His Reactions
Really good reaction. I like that you researched before uploading this so you can get a good understanding of the war.
I just discovered your channel and I found really interesting videos, although I knew the facts about the war and the previous years, your explanation it's really helpful to understand the differences and similarities between Japan and the rest of players on WW2.
Greetings from Spain!!
I recommend watching more of his videos on other wars if you want to learn more. Really entertaining.
Don’t worry Lincoln, i will
@@At0m1c_At0m thanks bro
@@AbrahamLincoln4 How are you Lincoln?
This is legitimately the best reaction I've seen on the oversimplified ww2 video. You seem very knowledgeable and it's interesting to hear another perspective.
I know that in Nanking there were contests between Japanese commanders to see who could lob off the most heads in the shortest time.
Edit: I can also name the two port that the Swedish iron ore was coming out of and they were Lulu, Sweden and Narvik, Norway (all of people don’t know the Swedish port)
considering that Japan never apologized or confirmed that the Rape of Nanking happened (as to my Knowledge) i have huge Respect for you acknowledging and also talking about it. you are in fact the first japanese that i see/hear who openly talks about it.
Thank you for covering this very difficult part of your Countries History, as a German i can somewhat relate that it is really hard talking about very difficult parts of History that includes my/your Country (at least it is for me ^^).
While I do appreciate that he admitted The Rape of Nanking happened, (while still defending that the Japanese government didnt order the killings), the fact everyone in the comments were so happy that (gasp) a Japanese person admitted a historical fact is telling.
Imagine everyone applauding a German person who does NOT deny the Holocaust happened. Is that worthy of so much accolade?!
To me, this is sad and speaks volumes.
Same, his country didn’t admit what they did 😢
As a country that had been colonised by Japan, their torture method is horrible so horrible
I am particularly disturbed that Yuya deflected the responsibility of the massacre because this is exactly how Japan tries to escape the accountability in the tribunal.
Another common apologist excuse is that "only the imperial armies were brutal and uneducated, that's why they committed this "incident"; the imperial navy were well-educated and would never committed such war crimes". There is a collective responsibility to the top commander when a crime is so grave and being intentionally downplayed be the leaders of the country.
i respect your unbiased opinion in this video, looking forward to the next part where japan actually took the spotlight in the war.
to be fair i dont think u should say "we"
you didnt do it neither did the modern generation
it was the goverment then
bill wartz:a very western goverment
western countries:wait
more like the army then, the fanatical fervor of the japanese military at the time was so high that the cabinet is pretty much threaten with death if they ever make decisions that stop the army. I think the Cabinet even got shot by the army majors, and the Prime Minister killed moments after the surrender broadcast, they storm the Palance and the broadcast station trying to stop the broadcast but failed, so they commit suicide as they pretty much disrespect the emperor in the worst way possible- mutiny.
Of course, this is not an excuse that to this day, the Japanese government didnt apologize seriously and instead just send a simple apology and try to pay Korea, China,etc off to silence them and remove the comfort women statues. There are government officials that still pay respects to the war crime generals as a hero. That's probably the part that irked China and Korea the most, the fact that the government are too prideful to apologize and try to hide it as though nothing have happen, and even pay respects to war criminals that somewhat connected to these atrocities. If Japan admits it, apologize and treat history like how Germany did, they would probably enjoy far better relations by now. You cant shake hands with a nation that you just massacre, rape, pillage with 15- 35 million lives lost (depending on the sources) and act as nothing has happen
@@3mKay boomer i am to lazy to red that so i am just gonna say ok
@@bluenoob5945 i am not even a boomer, lol, i am born in the 90s, I live in South East Asia, so of course i know more about these news
@@3mKay ok lol
My family at the time where farmers, they didn't even know wtf was going on.
This was probably the most informative and interesting reaction I’ve seen on an oversimplified video. Bravo! My thanks 🙏
Hello 👋 greetings from Germany 🇩🇪
This is by far the best reaction channel I have ever seen! Keep up the great work mate
When i saw Japanese talking about ww2 and Nanking, like 1st before i watch the video, not for the content 1st but the attitude
You explained this well and had very good commentary keep up the good work!
If you have the chance to watch it, i strongly recomend the british documentary "The World at War" from 1973. Its very detailed and has testimonies of war veterans and some key figures of the war. It's really interesting.
This video is so much better with the additional japanese history. Pretty neat
Right and wrong is a tricky thing. Everyone is the hero of their own story. Nobody wakes up thinking, "I'm going to be the worst person I can be today." We do for ourselves and our groups. And, sometimes, that leads down dark paths. Someone's hero will always be another's villain.
Feels nice when someone admits their country's atrocities
Yuya, if you're into podcasts at all, please check out "Dan Carlin's Hardcore History" series, particularly his "Supernova in the East" series (Carlin himself posts the series on his youtube page as well), which entails the entire rise and fall of Japan in the asiatic-pacific theatre during WWII. part II particularly speaks on the Rape of Nanking/Nanjing Incident. really good series.
In school, I was never taught about any of the pacific theatre, or Pacific war. We were only taught the basic of basic of the European front and certain battles that our country, Canada, was a big part of. I actually think we went more in depth to 4 specific battles in WW1 then we ever did about WW2. We weren't even taught much about the role that America played in the war. We knew about Pearl Harbor and we were taught about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Canada had a role in the Manhatten project so thats why we learned a little more about it then other things. It's quite interesting to see how different countries are taught different things about the war and history and what they deem should be taught and shouldn't. I personally feel very uneducated and finding out I have been very sheltered in my world view and I have to seek out what I wasn't taught (which is a lot)
I still love japan
@Fsih Noguld disgusting how many deny it and go off shaming Germany for their crimes.
This Reaction was really good. As a European we learn next to Nothing about the Pacific Theatre of the war
6:17 I paused the video because I thought someone was racing down my street lol
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective as we go through history that a lot of us only know on a surface level from one perspective.
This is going to be a fun channel.
Liked and subbed.
The Greater East Asia Prosperity sphere was a plan that was very controversial among the Government,it was almost split 50/50 on wether it should be to liberate Asia or annexing all of asia (Japan is Asia basically)to unite Asia under one command
Japan is to Asia what the British isles are to Europe some islands just of the mainland
@@gidi3250 Yeah pretty much so imagine if the UK somehow managed to annex continental Europe. It wouldn't last very long before everyone revolted, same thing would've happened to Japan
@@ProjectEkerTest33 yea like when England tried to conqueror France and in Japan's case everyone around them has a pretty high population and they tried to conqueror Asia in the age of mass-produced guns that is quite easy to use and operate like children to the elderly can use it
@@gidi3250 Yeah basically Japan would suffer the same thing US did in Vietnam but like a hundred times over
@@ProjectEkerTest33 yea since they wanted to invade all of Asia not just Vietnam
I enjoy your thoughts and point of view. History can always be a difficult and sensitive subject.
Every country has episodes that they would like to sweep away with the winds of history. But it is wiser not to as forgotten history will be repeated. Our duty to the past is to remember these terrible events so we may prevent them from happening in the future. If we do not come away wiser then are we not surely more terrible ourselves.
Always love your country as I love my country, warts and all. How we came to be will guide us on who we will continue to be and evolve into.
informative reaction, however I'll have to disagree on the point of the segment of Nanking. I belive that the incident was spured on by Prince Asaka, commander of the imperial expeditionary force of Shanghai. His decree was to "kill all"
The 3 all's: Kill All Loot All and Burn All. Terrible atrocity that needs to be taught in Japan. Not to shame anyone but to learn from them.
I like reactions that include their own thing, you do that good
Once you start colonizing its really hard to stop especially for countries with few natural resources
It was really very interesting to hear your views I learned a lot from this video and your others too. The more I learn about Japan the more I hope to one day visit your country
My history teachers told me that the main reasons Japan isolated itself was due to its sense of superiority of the people and its view of Westerners as foreign devils. I'm glad I got your interpretation
what interpretation
As pointed out in this video but still something that many people dont know is that while japan was imperialist by taking korea and manchuria, the Japanese cabinet and emperor himself did not want to invade all of china or other parts of asia. It was the Japanese military and its leadership itself that wanted to extend Japan's reach. So they would stage these events and cause an international incident which would basically force the government to have to send some sort of response. But by around the early 40s the military under Tojo finally got more involved in the government by first becoming the minister of war and then the prime minister and at that point he and his allies could finally launch a large scale attack on the American and European territories. Hirohito by this point just went along with it
I feel a big reason Japan doesn't educate well about this topic is because this may make the younger generation question authority as to why they should be in charge or set policy when so many Japanese people and their neighbors died for an event that would be retroactively seen as unnecessary.
I really appreciate you input from the Japanese side.
When you accepted the fact that massacres on the Chinese population happened you got my like
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was pretty much Japan's attempt to justify their invasions of several SEA countries as "liberation" from the western colonial powers like the French, British, and Americans, and the association's main image was that of solidarity between Japan and the new governments they set up. Naturally, this also held the underlying condition that these countries would also need to give tribute and allegiance to Japan.
Japan itself lacked a lot of the natural resources (like oil) needed to pay for its heavy industrialization costs dating back to the Meiji Restoration, and the American embargo to the Japanese thanks to the Second Sino-Japanese War only further fueled how risky they were willing to play to get said resources.
I'd say Japanese racism from WW2 was born from their successful campaigns and pride. By the time WW2 started, Japan had already occupied both Korea and Manchuria and their successes in the Sino and Russo wars only bloated their idea of being invincible. At this point in time, the League of Nations was also shown to be ineffective being given that they refused to intervene on China's behalf when they were invaded by Japan or when Abyssinia was invaded by Italy, so one can also guess that the Japanese government saw the western powers as ineffective and weak. They also objected to the very thought of capture or surrender and were never a part of the Geneva Convention, which only led to further horrible treatment of POWs, who were mostly the former case, and the civilian populations, who were deemed as spoils of war. They held on to this idea that they were invincible until the end of the war, some even after the nuking of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
A common case that Japanese officers and commanders made in the trials after WW2 was that they failed to control their soldiers from committing the massacres. Some major examples were Hisao Tani (Rape of Nanjing), Masaharu Homma (Philippines, particularly the Bataan Death March) and, Takashi Sakai (Hong Kong). A lot of these excuses were cast to the side due to what the court considered as command responsibility (a higher officer being responsible for the actions of their subordinate/s) and many were executed as a result.
My late father was Captain in the Chinese Military during WW2. At least you were honest about the killing of Chinese people and that was a start but Japan tried to adjust its history in the past and that is according to a Japanese professor teaching at the University of Chicago. It’s never too late to fully embrace the war crimes in Asia. Also, I will never forget my father’s lessons. He said to me that it is hard to forget WW2 and what the Japanese military did but he forgives them. Being my father’s son, I forgive the Japanese also. I also have several friends that had parents and grandparents that served in the US Army 442nd. Even they agree with me on theses views.
Who was right is a good question at the end. I think, that initially Germany (because of the humiliating treaty of Versailles) and Japan (because of the treatment of the western powers which besically robbed them) had the moral highground. But with the start of the holocaust (and other atrocities against non-jewish civilians) done by Germany and the treatment of chinese civilians (especially in Nanking) done by Japan all of that was going down the toilet. Beside of the great suffering to the victims atrocities are also bad because they are damaging your cause.
Victims are damagin their Cause?
@@legateotteriusozer8477 No. The people committing crimes and atrocities are damaging their own cause by doing this.
There is no morality in war, only victory and defeat.
Fun fact about Abyssinia, now Ethiopia: it sits pretty much where the ancient Egyption nation of Kush was, one of the few peoples to succesfully resist Roman invasion.
Kush is modern day sudan not ethiopia
I think wars are horrible. Every country should learn from its past mistakes and never repeat them again. We must stop all the wars so WWII never repeats again.
Careful there, If a nation is unwilling to declare war, it will be absorbed by one who is willing. There is such thing as a just cause for war.
@@kennandunn7533 There's a bit of a double edged sword with the nuclear armament of the world's top nations and the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction. In that it does stop the threat of any sort of world war happening again, but now nations can get away with instead working behind the scenes and taking an inch at a time, i.e Russia basically trying to annex Ukraine. No one can declare war on anyone for it, which means that they can get away with doing it.
@@queuedjar4578 I mean they could slap on some economic sanctions for it and I'm pretty sure a lot of countries did for Crimea. We've largely replaced trading lives with trading dollars.
I am german-italian and I feel very ashamed of what my ancestors did. My family was fortunaly not on the Nazi/Fashistic side, neither on my german or italian bloodline. My italian family for example suffered a lot because of Mussolini and my german grandmother had to take refuge for her live, hiding from the Nazis.
We still have a responsibility that something like that shall never happen again.
I am glad there are japanese who admit their ancestors crimes.
Many greetings from Germany 🇮🇹🇩🇪❤️🤝🏻❤️🇯🇵
I believe Back before everyone was so connected and so many types of government were tryed people typically blamed a nations success on race rather than realizing it was a direct result of the nation's government I believe that's how race ism started
Racism has and always will be a thing. Usually used to give people of an area a scapegoat to release the frustrations out on others. This is also used (all throughout history) by world leaders to redirect anger from the government and towards others. Though the belief of racism itself (no matter which race is against which) has always been a thing.
In Japan's case during the Nanking stuff, I don't believe racism was a leading factor, but moreso nationalism. The belief of Japan's superiority over other Asian countries. The leading factor was the desire to gain more natural resources since the islands of Japan didn't have much for them to catch up to countries like US, Russia, etc..
It's all very fascinating in a "learning the WHY of history" sense!
Plus those dolls are creepy. Yet kinda cute like...made by hand, or machine? I'll have to look up the history of them
i saw your video on the fallen of ww2....
you seem honest and reasonable...
so you Wanobee a youtuber?
subscribed
Im glad to see you here, My load! Let me call myself as an owner of a kokeshi shop/ youtuber.
You’re absolutely correct when you said that the army command in the Invasion of China was out of hand. The Japanese government didn’t even want to invade Manchuria at first.
A reaction to eastern front animated: 1941 from Eastory would be awesome. It is the best video out there.
The army/common soldier was NOT out of control in Nanking, that was their "standard" behavior every where they went, not only when they where winning, also, maybe got worse, when they where losing. The civilian deaths during the last year of the war was staggering in all fronts, south asia was not and exception, and the japonese took measures to kill the most they could during their retreat.
Take Manila for example, more than 100 thousand civilians where meticulously killed in less than one month!
People make excuses, but this behavior was a great contributor to the justification for the A bombs. The murricans that had to pursue the japanese armies travelling through these roads of corpses really didn't wanted to have to fight in the japanese mainland where the civilian population was being forced to, not fight to the death, but to die fighting. The high command had no concern for anyone, they only cared about the institution of the emperor.
And I remind again, many had a lot of fun literally killing babies, and much of this was published in newspapers in japan, a great deal of the common people followed these news.
And let's not even enter into the topic of the human experiments...
Is it me or is he so polite? :>
Atleast Japan acknowledges what happened In Nanking
Turkey doesn’t even say they genocided Armenia
I really appreciate the way you can speak objectively about Japan's role in WW2, while still presenting your point of view as a Japanese citizen. In particular, I agree with you that whether it was 200k or 400k people killed is largely academic. It was a huge number of dead civilians.
I'm from Singapore, and we were taught about the Japanese occupation of China and Southeast Asia. There were even a couple of drama serials in the 1990s about the occupation of Singapore, depicting the Japanese army mostly villainously.
Despite all that however, I think it does no one any favors to hold grudges, as nothing can be done about it now. We have loads of other problems that we can use our time and attention on. Looking forward to the next video.
Do you not think people could move on faster if Japan acknowledged it's war crimes? And even it's own citizens who tried to sue the Japanese government for the atomic bomb attacks which were completely avoidable, the Japanese showed an incredible disregard for it's own citizens.
@@audibleadventures9004 I think although it would be nice, I doubt you're going to get an acknowledgement anytime soon. Looking at Japan's history, with the Emperor being seen as having the divine right to rule, with the sakoku policy, their government seems to tend to close ranks and toe the line when discussing negative aspects of current events or history.
I'm only speculating here but maybe they feel that if they acknowledge war crimes, then it means the empire was wrong, and if the empire is wrong, them the Emperor is wrong, and he can't possibly be wrong because he's of divine origin. Just a guess.
I think moving on becomes more difficult when both parties are not prepared to move from their position; every time the non-acknowledgement is brought up, it opens up fresh wounds. I personally feel that it's easier to let it go, but that's just me.
I am new to your channel. You popped up on my TH-cam notifications.
I really enjoyed your reaction of this video, you explained more about the Japanese involvement of WW II.
I have learned more from this video than I did in Secondary School.
good react from a japanese dude. The funny thing is that germany kinda started militirizing not even 15 years before WW2 starte and was able to outmilitary kinda most of all countrys that were involved. The treaty of versailles was one big reason why this war was going to happen. Even a french general said after the treaty was done, that this treaty isnt peace, but it is an armistice for around 20 years and he was right. Atleast the allies diddnt handle us so badly after ww2 with such threaty again. To japan, well, its very disputed what happened in "your" sector of the world. There is a great documentry on youtube called "japans war in color" where is also stated the fear of western domination. With the military of japan, youre right, as far as i know, "rightwing" military dudes did nearl everything on their own. We must also accept the fact that history is written by the winners and those were the allies. Even tho what america did on a large scale was war crimes at a big scale, like dropping nukes against civillians, just to give the USSR "a shock". Anyway. I hope tis pandemic shit is soon over, it scrapped my plans to visit japan again this year, i love japan and its people and culture. At some points you look and speak like a teacher, which is funny. Greetings from Germany.
I hate it when people say history is "written by winners" when everybody seems confuse write as rewrite. The losers are still alive, you can talk to them right now, what the fuck. We're not trying to find an eastern european during the mongol conquests, you can find documented sources written by people on all sides of the war. The only thing the victors get to do, is determine the course of the world for the next however many years. History is history, many people write it in truth, and many historians do their own research, each one having their own biases and standards.
Also, the bomb was not delivered to "shock" purely on the basis of showing the Soviets, it was delivered to end the war. Getting to use it as leverage is a bonus yes, but the Soviets planning to advance on Japan had no bearing on the final decision.
@@kidn00b1 this is why US cannot publicly persecute the War Criminals of Japan who killed thousands of civilians
Because USA fucking bomb fucking tons of civilians too,
@@williamthekiller7219 They can, and they did. What are you talking about? Bombing raids over the opponent's land, civilian or military were both considered strategic bombing. The Nazi's did it, Italians, Brits, USSR, and obviously the US. Japan didn't have the capability to actually conduct large bombing raids but it would be no different for them.
Japanese Officers who had oversight in the Philippines and China were tried harshly. The ones who avoided persecution were generally those who would turn over information such as Unit 731's human experimentation information, German Rocket Scientists and intelligence officers. Even then they were not guaranteed salvation.
This idea that the Allies did not, and could not enforce double standards against the Axis is silly. It also fails to address the intent and escalation of said egregious acts, felt on a more personal level by people who were under Japanese and German occupation.
“...for the exact number of civilian victims [of the Nanjing Massacre], debates existed among historians. But generally, it is not in dispute that the majority of residents were embroiled and killed in the war.”
"But what is the difference? It was still a killing spree.”
--Murakami Haruki