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The US Covered Up Japan's Worst Warcrime. Here's How.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ส.ค. 2024
- Thank you patrons - without you, I wouldn't be able to do the work I do. / hellofutureme (come join the Discord/writing workshops!)
SOURCES
Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz by Alistair Rogers, Danielle Dybbro, and Derek Pua
Factories of Death by Dr. Sheldon Harris
Marutas of Unit 731 by Jenny Chan
Japanese Biomedical Experimentation During the World War II Era, Military Medical Ethics, Vol II, Sheldon Harris PhD
The Rape of Nanjing: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang
Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East by Beckham, Haddie; Pyykkonen, Merja
Hidden Atrocities: Japanese Germ Warfare and American Obstruction of Justice at the Tokyo Trial by Jeanne Guillemin
Japanese War Crimes Introductory Essays by Edward Drea et al, NWCJIGRIWG
Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution
Brief Summary of New Information About Japanese BW Activities, SCAP, Legal Section, 1947
Dr. Thompson’s 1945 report on Japanese biowarfare technologies
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0:00 They covered it up.
0:43 Empires Rising
10:57 Do No Harm
19:24 Inside the Walls of Death
43:00 Empires Falling
46:10 Dealing with War Criminals
51:15 The Coverup Begins
1:03:30 Fraudulent Trials
1:19:20 Why did this happen?
1:31:20 The Stories We Don't Tell
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Tim Hickson
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"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.
If you felt this work was valuable, support is appreciated - be it sharing/commenting or elsewise.
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Ok 👌
Brilliant story telling Tim. Keep it up.
@@geographicallymapping3948 It’s good so far, but don’t tell me you’ve watched the whole thing by now. (Unless there’s the Patreon which posts early videos, not sure)
@@corrinflakes9659
There's people who saw it on Nebula 6 days ago. Im not one of those, Im watching it right now as writting this comment
I like how even in a video about war crimes you reference ATLA within 2 minutes, but yeah this stuff is really important and doesn't get talked about enough,
tim when u told me u needed these voicelines i didn't realize u were having me say some of the most horrible things imaginable
Holy shit, it was THE Tier zoo who did some of the voicelines??
How small internet is sometimes !
On a serious note, excellent video. The Japanese government never apologized for these atrocities.
@@DarkThomyI think tale foundry and cgpgrey also did lines
Now I wanna know who the others where. I think I recognise some of them but not all.
Edit: I just watched the credits. I knew Burgerkrieg was in there. Fantastic Video all around.
You did a great job saying very heinous things!
I am from Pingfang, Harbin. Imagine my shock when Tim mentioned my hometown by name (which is never in western media). I want to share my own experience. I am told of the stories of 731 since young. But the elderlys in my family played it down so much that it was like a blip in the war. So I never knew the severity of it until I'm much older. My grandmother should be a young girl during that time but I never got her to tell me the whole story. She never told any of her children either.
I tried to visit the old site back in 2016 but it was closed "for preservation" and has been for years. My uncle told me he used to go into the abandoned site and play with his friend, not fully realizing what happened there.
I wish there will be more coverage on 731 too, not just the Nanking Massacre. I want to know more about the horrors in my hometown. It should never be forgotten.
thats just the nature of how the world was back then there was no internet and news are largely spread by word of mouth and with all the secrecy all they would have is vague rumors plus kids just dont see the world the way adults do they might notice people not coming back but thats likely all they would see
@@adrianalexandrov7730 and then we have Xinjiang
theres a chance your family doesn't know the whole story themself
check out the book: Factories of Death by Sheldon Harris
Damn that’s absolutely horrifying
More horrifying how well it was covered up absolutely disgraceful
As a Japanese, I was relieved to see such a video being shared with the world.
We learned about Japan's war crimes in class, but mostly only about Korea (comfort women) and China (Nanking Massacre), and not much about other Asian countries.
Japan's current education emphasizes only one point, "peace is important," and forgets to look back at what atrocities were committed in the past.
My English may be incorrect.
Your English is perfectly understandable. Thank you for watching this video.
Thank you.
Why does Japan break bilateral ties with cities which make memorials to Korean comfort women?
Maybe the education is not good enough.
Shoutout to Japan bro, y’all are some weird motherfuckers, in a good way
@@peterc4082 it didn't like the US I assume it's a new change or just not enough to stop the older generation from being disguting ( tho I heard that the youth aren't too liberal either) that said with some education change can happen.
Remember the US only recently started to look down on the Confederacy when it could decades of not centuries ago and we would be way better of that said at least our grandkids will be safe from those nazi scum and I hope the same is for Japan rapid moralziation
Really? But from what I've heard is Japanese government tried to cover all the incident from Japan's society. Are the government finally starting to acknowledge the horrid acts done by military in WW2?
I am originally from China, and when I was in middle school in the US, a classmate had asked me why there were so much Anti-Japanese material in Chinese media, and why couldn't the Chinese just forgive the Japanese like the Jews were able to forgive the Germans. At the time, I could only answer that it wasn't so simple, but as an adult, I think I have a pretty concise explanation. In Germany, it's illegal to deny the holocaust. In Japan, not only do they deny their war crimes, political leaders will publicly visit Yasukuni Shrine and pay respect to war criminals from WWII and other wars.
Shinzo Abe denied them until the day he got packed up.
Yasukuni Shrine enshrines not only the spirits of the Japanese who participated in World War II, but also all those who contributed to modern wars such as the Russo-Japanese War. Visiting Yasukuni Shrine does not affirm war crimes. Please stop distorting the facts. No matter how many times we apologize or compensate you, you will not accept it. How many more times should we apologize?
@@qwertyuiopasdfghjk11111 I just have a question, only one. Why does Yasukuni Shrine worship war criminals like other japanese heroes？
In fact, most japansese believe they are indeed heroes. It is not allow to take a photo in Yasukuni Shrine, but I saw the paper in Yasukuni Shrine. War criminals are promoted as heroes.
@@user-js6pi9lq4o Even if they committed war crimes, it doesn't change the fact that they fought for Japan. There is no connection between crime and being a heroic spirit. For example, President Roosevelt of the United States issued frequent executive orders and was a bit autocratic, but that doesn't change the fact that he saved the United States.
@@qwertyuiopasdfghjk11111 OK, I know you are a militarist, that's enough.This helped me to confirm the phrase "Japan is not anti-war, Japan is only anti-defeat."
You called it "stories we don't tell". I am Korean living in a post-soviet country. Before the war, my grandparents moved from Korea first to China, then to Russia, and then they were forcibly moved to where I live now. Here they've built new life for themselves becoming true Soviet people. When I asked my grandma, why they had to move so many times, she'd tell me there were Japanese coming, that they did "bad things" to people. She would never tell me what those bad things are. It was just a very strong fear of those people. I didn't know what would warrant such a strong reaction, until I started to learn about war crimes Japan has committed.
It breaks my heart to realize that I didn't hear stories like this from her, or her parents, but from people like you. They would never share anything that happened before they were moved here. They were sturdy people, strong and reliable, taught to never complain. I know that they had to be like that to survive, but I also would like to know where my roots are. There are all gone now, I don't speak Korean, my children don't even look Korean, so there is so little there that connects me to them. You telling this story, telling what exactly my family had to run away from, helps me understand them better. Especially now, when, at least in the region I live in, so many people had seemingly forgotten how devastating it can be when people stop thinking of others as human, it is so important to remember the pain and suffering last war had brought onto people. Thank you for making this video, Tim!
I shed a tear over this. Thanks for your story to add to understanding this.
As a Korean who learned the story of what Koreans that lived abroad during that time period went through in history class, thank you for sharing this story. It helped me get a picture of what individuals had to experience. I'd also like to say that you are welcome to visit Korea anytime, if you'd like to.
Thank you for this insight.
This is such a valuable comment to reinforce how important it is to keep on telling stories.
I truly love Japanese history the country is incredible with rich culture and traditions. The more I learn about them the more the country fascinates me. I really Hope to travel and experience the greatness and beauty of the country myself
I remember being taught this in high school. This was because we like anime a lot and our history teacher was like “you like japan so much? I have a story for you all” that was the most intense two weeks of our lives.
I feel that.
Edit: I'm hiding my nonsense below the fold. I was not thinking straight after watching this and couldn't find my source regarding anything I'd written. I'll leave it hidden, but do pop down to @Bob bobson below as he succinctly hit the points i was trying to make, even if what i said was obviously completely opposite. Cheers
Goes to show how successful American indoctrination is in japan that, at least their export media, is so specifically geared to appeal to western audiences. They know how to bend the knee. (Nothing to do avatar, i know it's western made).
I'm trying hard to let my feelings about this video color my opinion on the matter, and i may just be upset, but almost feels like we're still being played.
@@justinkeck2980 I still love japan. But, I’m always…. Aware
Thats exactly how i felt when i first studied about nanjing and japans actions in korea.
I grew up religiously admiring japan as a weeb kid and adolescent, to the point of obsession really ("otaku" at least the western way we use the word). But when i first started understanding japanese imperialism and war crimes... i felt so bad, and so sick even of myself. Kinda like growing up on american movies and at some point realizing that you always ignorantly admired the worst piece of shit that plagues this world and caused/causes so much suffering.
But for some reason i always skipped on studying about unit 731, admittedly nanjing and korea was already a lot of infornation to me and it made me feel horrible (i demember not even being able to watch the animes i always loved so much for a long time, nowadays i can again, but then as you start learning about japan in general, your whole relationship with anime changes drastically right... japan is a fucking weird country).
I dont even know why im saying all that. I just watched the video and i feel like im going trough the same experience of when i learned about nanjing, but now its worse, because its something i always skipped reading about, but always knew existed. And fuck, its so so much worse than i imagined. And of course US is involved. The cherry on top.
Man im so fucking angry and sad after watching this video. Sorry for writing so much.
@@SeaSerpentLevi weirdly. Strangely. I understand why the U.S was involved.
@@wolfangstrike2220 Praise the good, while Denouncing the evil
Many horror movie fans were made aware of Unit 731 with the film “ Men Behind the Sun” made in Hong Kong in 1988. A movie so gruesome it’s still listed as one of the Top 10 most disturbing ever.
And the sequel about Nanking is almost worse... some of the most impactful horror movies I ever watched because I know the stuff showed was but a little tame slice of what really transpired there. Absolutely harrowing.
Or phycology behind a knife is about it
还有一部我们国内电影《黑太阳731》也把日本的暴行表现出来
One of the most horrifying movies I've ever seen is Men behind the Sun which documents this exact place called Unit 731 and the atrocities commited by Ishi and his group. Shocking torturous procedures that was really hard to watch. Worst part is he got away with it and lived a long life. The United States took him in for his scientific knowledge. In my opinion, The U.S. taking him in is just as disgusting as Ishi's atrocious acts.
U can see kt that way or u can see ir as how many billions over lives have been saved from those people deaths did america used the knowledge for good things instead of it being in vain all for nothing those people living is the cost of that
I sincerely hope that History TH-cam picks up on this topic a lot more. The Western front of WW2 and the Nazis have been covered and analyzed with rapturous detail, but the entire Pacific arena and other fronts like Africa have been deeply neglected and underdiscussed. I would love to see this start a conversation
It makes me wonder why, why does this side of history get so little attention. The fact that eastern colture is just neglected in general by the west (which is fair, people care more for their own history), but it can't be everything, it can't explain the sheer scale of the world ignorance to those stories.
I think that most of it boils down to one key difference between the German and the jepanis: the German killing-machine was designed to kill, to eliminate an entire ethnic group from the population, a group that was almost universily unliked, so it was easy for politicians to gain the support of their public, and it was to gain cooperation from conquered populations, like 'we know we just invaded you and stuff but we just want to get rid of those pesky Jews, don't you want to help us?'.
The jepanis killing-machine, however, was designed to research, research bio-warfare, with the murder being a side effect. This meant that when the time came for the war-criminals to answer for their crimes, the Germans were just simple-to-hate war criminals, while the jepanis had a bargaining card.
On top of that, the ethnic group that the German targeted had members all over the world, with political influence all over the world, and when the stories from europe began to spread, every Jew on the plant was quick to see it as their own tragedy. The victims of the jepanise were Chinese, they were Korean, but they weren't Americans, they didn't have political power in America and they didn't have a say in the Tokyo trails either. it's hard to imagine that the US would have even thought to cover this up if there were American victims involved. The tragedy was just too far from home for them to care.
It's sad and hideous how poorly we do when we need to judge criminals for crimes they committed against humans. Not our families, or friends, just humans, complete strangers. It shouldn't matter what the victims were, all that should matter is that they were human beings with human rights, but that alone is not enough.
@@fruity4820 Honestly I feel like it's so many reasons. Guilt on the part of the US for dropping the atomic bomb, the fact that the biggest victims of the Japanese occupation were, as you mentioned, other Asian and smaller island countries that the West didn't care much for. Stories from the allied side in Europe focused primarily on Russia and Germany because those were the nations that invaded their own countries and gave little thought to the other side of the world. I also feel like as with all conflicts, WW2 kind of got reduced to a simplified narrative after it ended. The story about Hitler being the worst man to ever live and the Holocaust kind of became the main mythologized part of the conflict and became the main story people focused on, so much that the other half never seems to get told.
@@hurricaneofcats honestly the US shouldn't be too guilty. Millions of people all over Asia would've thought that death by bombing was the easiest way to go compared to the sexual abuse and the slow, gruesome, and painful deaths that they and their loved ones received from the Japanese. We are happy they lost and we are grateful that the war ended, even when no one in the west cares to listen or acknowledge this.
Because without the Western front, would be painfully clear that US has done near to nothing to win the war. USSR was the winner both on European and African fronts. China and Korea fought tooth and nail against Japan. But this is just bad propaganda during the Cold War.
@@hurricaneofcats I doubt the US was too guilty about the nukes. At the time, it was something to be proud of, it was another weapon, and honestly the difference between one nuke to level a city and thousands of bombers carrying hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs would've left anyone feel the same sense of fear and helplessness. There was the added bonus of the nukes ending the war so it was something to be even more proud of compared to a worse Okinawa for both sides.
The guilt on the nukes and the negative perception of being that absolutely horrific dirty weapon, alongside the radiation scares, came way after the end of WW2, probably around the Cold War and the Red Scare. The WW2 nukes were just big ass bombs for the most part. Nagasaki and Hiroshima are cities that have recovered today, different from Chernobyl and Fukushima.
The West obviously doesn't like talking about the details in Asia, because it puts them in a bad light. The Asian countries that the Japanese occupied were European and American Colonies, to the occupied Asians, the Westerners were just as much the same foreign overlords just like Japan. The Japs thought of themselves as liberators of Asia from exploitative Europeans and Americans, the West also thought of themselves as liberators from the horrible Japs. I remember that in the US speech when they entered the war, they purposefully removed the Philippines and Guam, and only mentioned Pear Harbor in it. There's a lot of implication to that than "they don't care enough to remember".
I'm from Indonesia and through out my history class from elementary to highschool one thing I remember was all of my history teachers always said "3 years of Japan's occupation was so much worse than 300 years of Dutch colonization".
Liar- Indonesian history states Indonesia was liberated by the Japanese. Soekarno was a propaganda officer for the Japanese, Soeharto was an Imperial Japanese soldier, as was Soedirman, Nasoetion Sarwo Edhie and most of Indonesia's current ruling elite.
How can 3 years possibly be worse than 350- you are incredibly stupid to believe such nonsense when in Java War 1825-1830- the Dutch had 6 million+ Javanese die of starvation- this is a figure generated by Dutch and is thus conservative. There was not one year in Indonesia when there was not an armed uprising against the Dutch- the infamous Atjeh War (Aceh) war was one of histories most infamous colonial massacres. Notice the Acehnese did nothing against the Japanese?
Soekarno fully forgave Japan in 1958 not surprising as he knew the Japanese were far less evil than the Dutch.
That says alot.
I concur
budak kolonial @@bogusmogus9551
Unit 731.
America really wanted all that sweet sweet research data...
MKUltra, Operation Big Buzz, Project 112, and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study...
I'm sad my country has so much innocent blood on it's hand.
As an American, it’s sad that I’m not at all surprised we let them get away with it. It’s heartbreaking to know our people played even a little part of that.
Your country committed one of the worst war crimes ever committed, using nuclear bombs on civilians. Not once but twice. Even the testing ruined many peoples lives. Not only killing women and children and old people en masse and indiscriminately, but those not even born yet. Children's skin peeling off and dying slowly and the story of Sadako is what I think of when I think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
"Little" part? You gotta be joking 😮
If only Historians can write honestly without politicians breathing down their necks
Operation Paperclip was a warcrime
@@Xanaduumoh god not this again, yes the atom bombs were unfortunately detonated and killed a lot of people yes America has that to answer for. but don't shift the point of view yet from JAPAN, why does it always seem that people want to steer away when talking about JAPAN'S WAR CRIMES whereas in US its okay let's scrutinize them or even nazi germany as well. yes the atom bombs were dropped on 2 major cities and killed over 120,000 people but hey what's this? the Japanese killed up to an estimate of 10 million in the pacific all of which aren't even participating in the war? you know why I know that? CAUSE MOTHERFUCKING JAPAN HAD CONTROL OF ASIA PACIFIC FOR LIKE A FEW YEARS IN WW2 AND YOU THINK THEY ACCOMPLISHED THAT BY ASKING THE COUNTRIES "HEY COME JOIN ME AND MY FASCIST BUDDIES IN OVERTHROWING THE WESTERN POWERS!"
I can understand the US not wanting to drag the war sooner as a mainland invasion of Japan would rove to be bloodier than just nuking them, just look at the way Japanese defended their first islands against the US its already catastrophic for just a small island what if more into the heart of it. And you know they're just not gonna back down that easily, considering they're the nation tht will even send their men to their deaths if it's already imminent.
I'm a half-Japanesae person through my mother's side, and grew up partially in Japan and in the US. I've always struggled to communicate to people that the worst aspects of Japan's nationalism and wartime atrocities have either gone ignored at home and abroad or actively downplayed and that criticism is seen as unpatriotic. We need to change that and fight back against this tide of revisionist history that plays Japan as a character without blame--alongside its wartime enemy, the US, who actively benefited from the transgressions of its enemies. No nation holds a monopoly on righteousness or scruples, and it is incumbent on the generations thereafter to hold power and power structures accountable--even for things now passing out of living memory as is the case with topics regarding the second world war.
What’s wrong with nationalism? Whats wrong with caring about whats going on in the country you live in? What goes on around you typically affects you
Thank you. As a half American and half Japanese I can see the struggles of acceptance in both societies, so you no doubt had a very hard time. The Yanks are more diverse so it would be easier but who knows.
@@pitchforkpeasant6219 When your nationalism is toxic, or chauvinistic, such as when Japan opposes when non Japanese cities erect comfort women monuments, that's not a good thing. Nationalism is fine as long as it is patriotic and only defensive. Once it is offensive, chauvinist and promotes self to the disadvantage of others it may be called out.
Embrace your bloodlines. You had nothing to do with the past,on either side.... "You", yourself be your best you....
@@grayrecluse7496 He must learn from his past. He must embrace his heritage.
I appreciate how numerous youtubers are finally shedding light on old japan's warcrimes, especially here in asia and southeast asia. We don't blame the current generation, but the past is too gruesome and its just gross that their government would rather silence the victims and pretend they were instead the biggest victims of the war after what they did in nanking, korea, the philippines, all those "comfort women" who were kidnapped and turned into slaves, the horrific torture that gets ignored by the west, etc.
Right. It’s sickening what people can do to other human beings. Some say that war makes monsters, but I really think it just gives them an excuse to be free. I think the national denial of atrocities stems from the fact that it’s very hard to be proud of your identity AND accept that these things really happened. It’s too hard for some people to reconcile, so they cope by pretending it never happened.
@MsMorganVEVO Haha. Try being British. It's entirely possible. History isn't about blame. It's about acknowledging the mistakes and atrocities of the past and ensuring they don't happen again. The British Empire did many awful and disgusting things some of which are near on genocides. It also single handedly stopped the international slave trade on a whim. The good does not outweigh the bad. The bad does not outweigh the good.
@@LoneWulf278 i only see a rapist wanting his victims to keep silent by paying them off or wishing that they die off already because he doesn't want others to know what he did. Worse is that he pretends to be the bigger victim when people look at him. Its pathetic, insulting, blatant victim shaming and absolute refusal to learn from history, not because of regret but because of their bruised pride that they lost.
@@fwuuton Exactly. It’s so messed up.
@Geoff Rogers Are you seriously praising your own country's empire for abolishing its own slave trade?
I've been aware of Unit 731 for years. I've even seen interviews with one of the Japanese experimenters who, in his twilight years, still believes he was doing something good. And, these people were never punished. Many died unrepentant and unremorseful.
The hiding place
Jojo Rabbit
Do you feel the same about Dr fauci?
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana Ill go out on a limb and say that Dr. Fauci most likely knows very little of alternative foreign history and whaqt it has entailed for others in the past. if anyone needs genuine poroof just look at his decisions during the pandemic.
@@grayrecluse7496 Yes. But, that's a different topic.
@@grayrecluse7496are you for real? Encouraging people (encouraging, not forcing) to get a safe vaccine to save lives while hundreds of thousands died of a virus, decades after vaccine development was perfected, is... Comparable to literal torture & pointless human experimentation?
new viewer/subscriber.(and sharer, soon to be.)
You are by far one of the most genuinely passionate, Authentic Orators and documentarians I've viewed in a while.
I watched this straight through, and am still shaking from rage.
It's deplorable beyond words.
Thank you for shedding a light on the dark, and Telling the Stories that Seldom (if ever) get Told.
Wish i could afford to support you financially. But ill damn sure share your channel.
ty sir.
this is one of your strongest videos, in my opinion. your nuance at the start with the appropriateness of fictional comparisons and how far those can or should go threaded the needle in a way many many others fall short on, and it's clear how well researched it is in all your sources. i came in knowing about unit 731 in general but there's a ton there about the specific american response here that i wasn't aware of. i'm sure researching things like this is incredibly taxing, so thank you.
For a history project, I had to cover one of the main genocidal leaders of WW2 and write about their atrocities and what happened in their life to cause them. I chose Hideki Tojo, and was overwhelmed by how vague and hard it was to find information on the crimes of Japan. It was all about how he graduated military school with a high grade and followed a rags to riches story, which jokes and quips about his conservative beliefs of PDA. But the numbers and exact information about his war crimes were hard. I remember my mum saying "those with the most to hide are the least honest", and I still think about that to this day. I guess I now know why that data was so hard to come by.
The US in a nutshell
It's... Odd that you had to do a history project and that the premise was to assume there even was a reason. That seems a little... Editorialized? But I'm glad you chose something so relatively obscure!
@@dvklaveren ..."Some More News" resembles Hello Future Me soooo much, the covered Topics literally Overlap often.
@@nenmaster5218 huh?
@@Salahudiyn777 tbf when it comes to US war crimes and atrocities they aren’t necessarily hidden if you know what specific event your looking for. It’s just that my country has gotten really good at leaving specific parts out of our history books and history classes.
Its terrifying that Unit 731 isn't even the worst thing the IJA did.
Both the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials were failures as not near enough of the perpetrators where punished.
The Tokyo Trials failed by design, because of immunity given to the Royal Family, meaning people like the one behind Nanjing got off scot free
Yeah, Kangaroo courts are always just bub...
Not to the perpetrators but the civilians suffered a lot. Look at what atrocities were commited against the german population by the allies. The german population lived under a dictator, yet it was them that suffered by the "liberators". The documentation hell storm nearly made me puke.
@@deviousalemanni4235 Its war, shit happens. Most of the time it wasn't intentional yet in japan it was highly intentional. Cope and seethe
Both Trials were unprecedented, based on arbitrary rulings and corrupt. There outcomes were predetermined and they should have never have been considered, the long term consequences of those trials will cause nothing but destruction.
The Germans I have met were very aware of their past, however, not so with the Japanese.
As a Chinese person I knew about unit 731 since I was a child, I spent the first ten years of my life in the city it was based in, I lived an hour away from the site. The Chinese government likes to make sure we never forget about it, I went to primary school there and they made sure I know they did horrible thing, of course it was not in detail, but we know about. There was also what I call the anit-Japanese TV shows, a genre of TV where I come from centred around the second sino-japanese war, when I was about 7 years old I spent a few days freaked out because one of the cable TV channels at my grandparents house showed a TV show which had a scene of a Japanese soldier pulling a Chinese woman's finger nail off one by one, it was played at 3pm on a Saturday. I find it incredibly sad with the way I think the Chinese government is depicting these things in media in such a way the paints the Japanese as this absolutely evil thing, what they did was horrible and in my opinion something we should never forget, but I can see the government do it for more control over the people, me and the people in mainland china never learn the whole complete story, and I think this takes away the seriousness of the crimes of unit 731, I've been wanting to know more about this for a while now. Thank you for making this video
How can someone be so sick in the head as too think this is somehow a ploy by the government to control people? This evil of Imperial Japan should never be forgotten, because the rest of world has. The length of Chinese dissonances can go to make everything about the CPC is just shocking.
Would you rather see the Japanese being depicted as saints?? Like...it's torture and heinous crimes we are talking about, which the Japanese are flat out REFUSING to admit to or teach to their population...I do not understand you to be honest.
My whole view on japan changed drastically the second I lea about what they did in china, korea, Indonesia...I cannot go a day without thinking about it and it makes my blood boil even tho I'm nowhere from these areas. So to read your comment is surprising...
@@immkk1125
I'll add on my experience as a Chinese person, the Sino-Japanese War is ingrained deeply into the cultural conscious, for good reason, and is pretty intense generational trauma. People should be taught about it. What they did is unforgivable and the fact that Japan refuses to teach about it is a bit rage inducing.
I was TERRIFIED as a child of the Japanese due to all the movies/TV shows depicting the gruesome details of the Sino-Japanese War. I had a similar experience to the original commenter, I remember one day the television showing this Japanese officer running through a pregnant woman with a bayonet, ripping the baby out then shooting it. I was about 5 years old and I freaked out.
I thought everyday that the Japanese were coming to invade again and I was thinking about joining the army in the future to fight them. We were also taught I think a lot of misinformation in school that depicted Japan as said above this evil insidious country. My problem isn't per say that it's being taught but *HOW* it's being taught. Because truthfully, if I wasn't so terrified, I would hate every single Japanese person that I ever met. And I did for a while. It took me a long time to deconstruct that mindset. As said above, it really feels like a way for the government to have greater control over the population because what's the point? It's horrible to watch, doesn't give people the full story and just taught us to hate Japanese people.
@@halfway7690 i see what you mean, and now that you said it, it does actually make sense why you and the other commenter would think that. it didn’t occur to me that the government would use it in order to stir people into fearing invasion etc…
it’s certainly because i have a very different experience than you, but also because of the nature of our own fight for independence, but i remember being taught about our country and what the colonizers did. i was 7 maybe, we were spared the details of the horror, and were never told to fear the invaders because « we will kick them again God willing »
it was more presented in a positive light that made us all, not only proud of those who fought against the injustice that was inflicted upon our people, but also hopeful that whatever bad happens to our country and people we can find the will to fight it like those who died did.
most of our elders preferred not to dwell too much on it, so knowing the full details of the horrific things they went through during occupation is very hard, and every movie/documentary made about them, is very mild as in it doesn’t depict acts of violence that are « too brutal » which is great for not traumatizing children all while educating them on the importance of maintaining independence and working towards bettering the country…but isn’t too great when you need to know everything.
sometimes my dad would drop random facts here and there that turn out to be real (like the execution that were conducted under cliffs, not by shooting ppl but by making boulders fall on top of them, burning ppl alive etc) and the more i know…the worse it gets
sometimes, i even wonder if we aren’t too soft on the french…seeing how people my age completely disregard the crimes they committed not even a century ago
that was in part what caused me to question why you’d think that depicting the japanese as evil isn’t great, bc i feel like we never got to depict the true horrors inflicted on our people and it made me overlook the first commenter’s experience completely, which i apologize for.
i guess that if i grew up being told and shown that i need to fear the french through traumatizing movies, rather than being told that they no longer have power over us, i’d been the one making such a comment. thank you for your insight and i’m sorry that both of you and many others had to deal with such mature and traumatic subjects from a young age, i’m also glad that you can recognize what you went through and look at it objectively…i guess i am way too emotional after all 🥲
@@immkk1125another thing to consider, is that the french largely colonized nations that didnt or never would again hold large political influence within the world. Modern China, Korea and Japan all have horrible histories with each other, each of them inflicting incomprehensible evils upon each other throughout history. Their situation is more similar to that of the Russians, Germans and Jews than that of a colonizer and a colony.
Im glad someone is covering this, because even to this day people in Japan don't even know what happened and some deny it
If Japan says it didn't happen, shouldn't we believe them?
I'm not sure if it still is, but under Abe it was the official position of the Japanese government that none of this ever happened.
@@Tethloach1 Is that a joke? We have first hand accounts from western journalists that documented the sacking of nanking in China. We have photos and old Japanese newspapers depicting the execution of prisoners or using prisoners for target practice with recruits. And the biggest piece of evidence are the very people that committed acts like vivisection of minors with no anesthetic talking about what they did without remorse and never receiving any punishment for it decades after the war.
@@Tethloach1 if there’s evidence that they did, why would you deny it?
@@Tethloach1 If Germany says that the Holocaust wasn’t that bad, should we believe them?
I thought at first, "Oh, it's unexpected to see a historical documentary from Tim," and then I heard about the Fire Nation and everything became clear
I saw the trailer and thought: “there’s no way he mentions Avatar in this.”
Then I saw the ‘the fire nation’ first chapter title…
Tom?
i had the exact same experience
It was all just an excuse to talk about Avatar, WW2 i mean
Yeah, this was random at first but then the comparison of Japan with the Fire Nation cleared things up.
There is no greater frustration that comes from my heart when prominent Japanese politicians actively work to deny wrongdoing, when all their neighbors ask for is acknowledgement and reflection.
Tim, thanks…I’m impressed you got this on TH-cam. You’ve highlighted a sad trend that I’d call “ideological schizophrenia”… t scream support for what is contradicted by your history, actions and policies. You’ve done a first rate piece of work here, please keep it up!
11:02
I knew of this atrocity. Not because of Avatar. But because of My Hero Academia. A couple years ago a chapter came out revealing the true name of one of the master mind villains of the story. An evil scientist who experimented on people turning them into “Nomu”, into monsters.
The author. Kohei Horikoshi often likes using puns in his names. But the name he chose for this evil scientist was Maruta Shiga. A homonym for the words, “Log-master”. Clearly referencing Shiro Ishii and the atrocities he committed in this character. But in doing this, whilst to the uneducated amongst us it enlightened us to this particular atrocity. He got a lot of backlash. And as a result changed Maruta Shiga’s name to Kyudai Garaki.
It was a time where an author got in trouble for directly referencing this atrocity in his fiction.
Huh
@@tennicksalvarez9079 What does that mean?
Actually, I think he said that was a coincidence. Unless he’s amended that statement since.
@@gardenshed6043 that sometimes a truth is so disturbing all you can do is grunt.
@@andrewli6606 Yes I think he did say that. But I more interpreted that he didn’t mean any harm. I think given the obvious parallels he likely wanted the name to illustrate how terrible a person this really is. But didn’t think of how bringing up these terrible acts can negative impact a reader when they learn of these terrible things happening. Ignorance is bliss they say.
Watching this reminds me of my 9th grade social studies teacher. My class said they wanted to learn about Japan, so he taught us about religions and samurai and calligraphy... and then he taught us about this. It makes me grateful that he understood the importance of studying the worst parts of history. Thank you for making this. It left an impression, just as it did then.
That teacher you had was likely risking his job doing that. Schools and government are pretty cagey about what is taught in class. I commend and respect your social studies teacher for this reason.
Sounds like an amazing teacher.
Mine told things how they were. We all had a good conversation about the past atrositys of our nation. Just look up Bikini island.
And now all they teach is sushi, anime, and the Samurai.
@@fleonard4 no they dont
This should expand into a 3-4-10 part series that goes all the way into every detail the sources quoted shared and the evidence, testimonies, and confessions show. I guarantee everyone who watched this from start to finish would love an in depth even further than this amazing piece of work, fully in depth series. I am going to read all of the bookies cited and go through every source used to better understand this because the whole of the story is out there; we just have to dedicate ourselves to reading it and understanding it further so hopefully more people who watched this can go on to further the spread of this hidden atrocity. I will do my best to help but I know I’ll never get a series better than this one finished. The dedication and amazing source material always displayed on screen was truly prize winning research in my opinion. All of that information packed into an hour and 45 minutes must have been so difficult. Especially deciding what goes in and what can’t simply because of time constraints and story line complexity. But again that’s why I say a larger body of work in a multi series would be amazing. Like if every chapter was 1 hour and 45 minutes. Can you imagine that story? This video gave us all the ability to do that and more. I’m definitely researching it, I hope I’m disciplined enough to make a series one tenth as informative and engaging when I’m done. I also hope their are more among the 1 million plus views this has. Who like me want to furred delve into this horror to better understand it’s true honest and real depth in extreme detail.
Great work!
People not only do not talk enough about how evil Japan is, but the USA too.
My dads side is holocaust survivors from Austria and my moms side survived Japanese occupation of Taiwan. Dad's side is a big part of family history, always knew it growing up. Mom's side never spoke about it much, only how my Grandmother didn't like the Japanese because of her childhood. Thank you for sharing, both sides are important and horrific.
holy smokes, your existence is like a miracle, think about it, your ancestors survived 2 of some of the largest genocides in history, think of all the people who don't exist today because their potential ancestors died in either of the genocides, we consider these death tolls as is they're a static statistic but it's really dynamic and grows through time exponentially just as their descendants would've had they not been brutally murdered over senseless cruel ignorance. The true number is impossible to estimate because of this factor, but it should be factored in when we consider the death toll because t's not just killing people who are alive it's destroying the potential existence of people who would've been born if not for the tragedy of humanity.
What you say is very different from other Taiwanese survivers and am very surprised.
Don't you know there are a lot of shrines that worship Japanese soldiers in Taiwan and still do memorial service every year? There is a statue of Japanese guy and Taiwanese history book and it says he is a respectful person. I've heard a lot of old Taiwanese people appreciate to Japan but they are upset because Japan apologize a lot to Western countries, China and Korean. Is your grand mother Chinese Taiwanese who came from China to Taiwan after WW2?
I don't believe a word of your lies.
@@markiobook8639 I understand you can't believe it. Because the western countries, China and Korea changed the histories by propaganda. Why don't you go to Taiwan and ask people around? You will be very surprised.
@@markiobook8639 They're either lying or they're not.
There was some controversy a few years surrounding a My Hero Academia character being potentially named after one of the perpetrators of these atrocities, eventually being renamed due to the backlash. I cannot speak to whether the naming was intentional, but it seems to not be a piece of history forgotten by all.
And ironically he turned out to be evil and a terrible person so the name would have fit perfectly.
@@solisprime2669i mean if you wanted to name your villain Heinrich Himmler I’m not sure that would be super appropriate
@@capadociaash8003 why not it's not like your making the person a hero no your making a villain why not give it a villain name. Like Darth Sidious isnt called Darth Cuddlefish and Hugs Sidious is dark and evil.
@@capadociaash8003 We have a minor character in an adult cartoon named "Bradley Hitler Smith" and I haven't seen anyone cry foul over that.
@@jordanjoestar-turniptruck i think theres a lot of anger at japanese media who love to parade around their war criminals. Remind yourself that many Japanese war criminals were FORGIVEN. Abe worked to eliminate comfort women from public eye and many right wing Japanese leaders are simply waiting for them to die so they can never address the crimes committed against them. Remind yourself that Japan TO THIS DAY HAS A SHRINE DEDICATED TO THEIR SOLDIERS AND WAR CRIMINALS. Ask yourself why fans, especially asian fans, would be upset at the mere mention of him in a media they enjoy? If hitler's crimes were wiped from textbooks, then some book has a side antagonist with his name, and people come to know hitler by this character, and not the real person who is responsible for one of the biggest massacres in history, wouldn't that feel like a horrific injustice?
I watched this before going to bed and it kept me up at night and stayed with me for the entire day. I just can't get the cruelty out of my head.
Thank you for mentioning the Philippines my grandfather Guillermo “bill” farinas survived one of the many work camps they had during the war. He was a young man in his late teens early 20s and barely survived. He left after the war and signed a contract for the cane fields in Hawaii. He arrived in Hawaii before statehood he was the only person on his boat who could read and write. He was severely traumatized by the Japanese and what they did in the Philippines but hid it away until he was very old and his mind was slipping. He raised my mom and her two older sisters while being an electrician and sending money home to put his family in school. The Farinas family is now doctors lawyers politicians and even the owners of a large bus company in the PI now my grandfather lived to be 92 years old born in 1924
His daughters grew up to be well educated successful women (my mom being women of the first female osha officers to work on an oil field and having many degrees between them) he raised them in Southern California (Carson then north Torrence) and instilled a hardworking persevering attitude in them all. He was a good man and again only let his trauma slip many years later which is truly remarkable considering the things he saw. He sang in ilocano on the night he passed
I'm half Japanese myself, and while I grew up in Europe, whenever I'd visit Japan, my grandparents filled me with that sense of victim hood. Becoming a teenager was also about learning the truth about Japan's history. I've always felt uncomfortable about the tendency to see Japan as a utopia, but the more I learned about Japan's past, and how they hide it, I've become furious at how, now, people tend to think Japan must've had an amazing history.
Japan has an amazing history and it was one of the worst genocidal empires to exist. It is both, not either or.
I don't think it is bad that people like Japanese history, like it is not bad that people like German history.
What I do think is bad is that things like how horrible Imperial Japan really was is not as well known as it should be.
All countries have horrific and great parts of history and its not all black and white. For example I really enjoy the sengoku jidaii and the edo period but I taught myself the horrors of imperialist Japan so I'm not ignorant to those countries who were affected by imperialist Japan. What we need is history taught in schools which show all aspects of history and not try and hide the most horrific parts which is the case in many countries.
@@nik021298 well said. Glad you pointed this out
@@amelia4842 in a world that tries to paint reality as black and white, it’s uplifting to see yours and Nico’s comments. I was beginning to think I’m alone…
@@amelia4842 Almost no country in any part of history is free of horrific things. You mention liking Edo Japan, but were you aware that there is a shrine in Kyoto that still exists today from that period dedicated to the sliced-off noses of 38000 Koreans and 30000 Chinese from when Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea during that time? It's fine to like things, but frankly there is a tendency to hide or at least not talk about horrific things, especially when they involve things we like because it's just more comfortable that way. For its part, Korean women suffered systematic rape during the Imperial Japanese occupation, but what is less known is that South Korean soldiers during the Vietnam war committed a lot of sex crimes on Vietnamese civilian women as well, and many Koreans will deny this fact while also crying for justice for comfort women. China also has tons of awful things in its history, not just what is happening to Uighurs and Tibetans today but many things to many people groups throughout history, too many to list honestly, of which many are either denied or even justified and defended widely throughout China today.
The question remains then: where do we begin with this recognition, how much attention should we give it relative to the good things, and how do we prevent these things from repeating, as they have a tendency to do? With the example I gave of the nose shrine in Kyoto, it's not like there's anything to be done now. Japan could take it down as a show of respect to Korea as it remains a diplomatic sticking point today, but they aren't going to do that, just like they aren't going to remove the dedication to their war criminals at the Yasukuni shrine, for whatever reason. Will there be any material benefit from doing it? Do the victims even matter anymore, given it happened in the 1500s? Certainly no one cares about Genghis's victims anymore, if anything he's celebrated today and people think that's fine and understandable, because frankly the events happened too long ago and people are more prone to honoring the good than condemning the bad - and as a side note, the way we venerate awful, aggressive people is kinda strange imo. Frederick the Great was an aggressive warmongering expansionist, Alexander the Great was the same, so was Genghis and so was Caesar. Otto Von Bismarck is lauded today as an expert statesman but he also engineered wars to benefit the state of Prussia and arguably set the stage for world war one with his power balance shenanigans. So is deliberately engineering wars in order to more effectively absorb smaller states into an empire the work of a "great statesman?"
I love learning about Japanese history because of how static it was relative to most of the world due to it's traditionalism and isolationism and how explosively it changed in the Meiji Era onward, but there is an important quote to remember whenever you study any history.
"If you are not disturbed by history you are not studying real history."
I truly love Japanese history the country is incredible with rich culture and traditions. The more I learn about them the more the country fascinates me. I really Hope to travel and experience the greatness and beauty of the country myself. The more I learn about their crimes the more I'm fascinated by the country.The Japanese history is amazing and so engrossing
"If you are not disturbed by history you are not studying real history."
What?
@@Gloverfield History is filled to the brim with disturbing and fucked up things. If you're not finding anything disturbing looking into history you're probably reading a biased, romanticized account and not the real thing.
Or maybe you're just not surprised anymore... and the worst is may yet to come...
@@Gloverfield Being 'not surprised anymore' still acknowledges that it was disturbing at some point. The quote is about people who have never been disturbed by it because they only read romanticized or sanitized account
By far the most horrific video I have ever watched on YT. Yet it is my human duty to witness its truth.
Thank you for taking on this monumental and terrible history and bringing it to the light of mankind.
You can look more into:
* Unit 731
* Sook Ching Massacre
* Manila Massacre
* Pontianak Massacre
* Jesselton Revolt
* Numerous atrocities committed against Prisoners of War, f.e. Sandakan Death March, Bataan Death March, Laha Massacre, Parit Sulong Massacre, etc etc. It's well-known and documented that they used Prisoners of War as slave labor and subjected them to torture and mistreatment (starvation + dehydration). The prime example is the Burma Railway.
* Not to mention the comfort women incidents, where the Japanese Army brought in an estimated 200,000 women (I'm not sure if this number is exaggerated, but the point still stands) from numerous countries to turn them into sexual slaves. These soldiers would bring the women into their camps and basically they would later fuck, rape, and sexually abuse them.
As a Japan-born Japanese American, I acknowledge that Japan committed crimes against humanity on an unprecedented scale in WWII. U731, Nanjing, Comfort Women, torture and slaughter across South East Asia. Truly despicable.
Its always been a question in my mind about what is different between Germany and Japan.
This video partly explains it. Japanese war crimes against Asians weren't really war crimes as far as the Allies were concerned at the end of the war. Japanese war criminals weren't really punished, and Japan had to be quickly turned around as a factory and base for Korean War and Vietnam.
To say Japan didn't officially acknowledge its wartime conduct in Asia isn't quite correct either.
Even though we do have lying politicians who deny, the official stance of Japan has always been that it has committed war crimes, and Japan has settled the matter with most of the victim governments.
Japan didn't compensate the victims directly, instead left it to the governments of China, Korea to distribute.
Japan probably handled this in a legally fairly legit way, however from the POV of the victims, their governments might not have fully paid them.
Plenty of private Japanese citizens have set up funds to compensate the victims, but the victims want OFFICIAL recognition.
From the POV of the Japanese gov, official recognition does already exist, so the official response would have to be its a settled matter.
My understanding is that this all was handled in a lousy manner from the get go. It left all parties unsatisfied.
I'm totally open to Japan making a renewed statement of its past atrocities and renegotiating a compensation. However, I also think China and Korea have also amplified anti-Japanese sentiment because its convenient, and unless all parties make a concerted effort to truly right and acknowledge the past and stop using it as a scapegoat, this issue will never be resolved, and Japan can never become like Germany and the Holocaust.
It’s definitely shocking hearing accounts from POWs that were captured by Japan, but none of them ever ever talk about, well, Japan’s *other* concentration camps
"Some More News" resembles Hello Future Me so much, the covered Topics literally Overlap often...
I visited Yasukuni shrine a few years ago because I had heard about how controversial it was and wanted to see for myself. It is truly wild to visit when you know beforehand what happened. There was a display with a letter from a Japanese soldier in WWII, talking about how hard it was to be a soldier and how much he missed his family. There were statues celebrating kamikaze pilots and military dogs. There was an abstract sculpture of a mother offering water, since dying Japanese soldiers would call out for their mothers as they died. When I visited, nothing I mentioned was displayed with any guilt, shame, or apology. No mention of what those Japanese soldiers were doing. Truly surreal and sad.
I truly love Japanese history the country is incredible with rich culture and traditions. The more I learn about them the more the country fascinates me. I really Hope to travel and experience the greatness and beauty of the country myself. The more I learn about their crimes the more I'm fascinated by the country.The Japanese history is amazing and so engrossing. I will make sure to pray in that shrine for the peace of the brave departed Japanese solders
@@dhimankalita1690 Dude, are you autistic or something? If you are, sorry for sounding so harsh, but this isn't the kind of thing you lionize as "fascinating." It's horrible. People suffered, terribly. Just try to imagine you yourself or one of your loved ones had to suffer this way. I'm not saying Japan is exclusive in this behavior, and I get being fascinated with their culture, I used to be myself, but hearing of serious war crimes and saying that these crimes are fascinating and give you a desire to experience the rest of the culture is just... Come on, man. Why do I even need to tell you why that's bad?
@@dhimankalita1690 What's wrong with you?
I feel bad for the soldiers. They were normal young men born in the wrong time.
@@LarryWater They raped and murdered hundreds of thousands.
Thank you for this. I can't imagine how difficult this video must have been to research, write, film and edit. I've had to pause many times to take a break from it all and I'm only watching the end result. So, thank you.
Never expected to see The Last Airbender in a video about real life horrific war-crimes.
On my second watch: As a German, I am in tears. My country has caused suffering beyond what a human can comprehend but at least we faced *some* consequences. The Western allies and the USSR split our country among them for decades to keep an eye on us like a rehabilitation program. I am grateful to the international community that they gave us the chance and this includes the United States. Why could they not respect other victims like they respected ours. We just passed Holocaust remembrance day, a day not only to mourn the dead but to celebrate the living. All these people in China, in the Philippines, in Japan itself were denied their right to be mourned and the survivors right to tell their story. This is... I am running out of adjectives.
Thank you for this incredible documentary.
Filipino here, we may not have a holiday to mourn the losses in WWII, but we preserved as much history as we can through museums & actually teaching it in classes. You can even see landmarks of the Bataan March if you go to the place where it happened.
Part of the truth in germany is that both super powers made a run to get their hands on the best scientists. Those who made a deal to work for NASA or the soviet equivalent got immunity from the nuremberg trials. Except the US had to deal with the europian allies as well and could not simply do their thing...
The US was literally used as a template for Nazi Germany.
@@humanwithaplaylist wut?
Along with Holocaust Remembrance Day there should be a day to remember the fallen from these Japanese "experiments" as well as a day (or maybe an entire week) for the natives of North and South America who were the first to suffer this "modern" form of genocide. There are VIRTUALLY no Aztecs left in the world because of what the Spanish did. Lost breeds of dog. Technologies, languages, and cultures we'll never know. Disease spread purposefully. Mass unmarked graves of literal children. ...God it's so depressing what people are capable of.
In 2019, Osaka broke its city sistership with San Francisco for someone erecting a statue mourning pleasure women. Japan is still glorifying its imperial past to this day, and punishing and decrying those who want to mourn the pain they inflicted.
Spoken like someone truly ignorant of reality...pathetic...
@@TheHuffmanator Care to elaborate?
Wow. I didn’t know that. Smh.
@@MrTheWaterbearpleasure women were mostly Chinese women and young girls who were forced to perform certain acts to keep Japanese morale up
@@trentavius626 Pleasure women were detained and abused by the Japanese occupying forces “for their pleasure.” They were taken from all occupied territories, including but not limited to China, Taiwan, Korea, and The Philippines. This is a well-documented practice and many victims survived into recent times, and certainly, their families and descendants still carry sadness and mourn their suffering.
I don’t know what you meant to imply by stating that “pleasure women were mostly Chinese”?
The irony of a nation conducting war crime trials that dropped atmoic bombs on civilians
This is without question the greatest video you have ever made I had no idea that Unit 731 was even a thing and you really managed to perfectly capture just what these people have gone through well done.
You can look more into:
* Nanjing Massacre (Nanjing, CN)
* Sook Ching Massacre
* Manila Massacre
* Pontianak Massacre
* Jesselton Revolt
* Numerous atrocities committed against Prisoners of War, f.e. Sandakan Death March, Bataan Death March, Laha Massacre, Parit Sulong Massacre, etc etc. It's well-known and documented that they used Prisoners of War as slave labor and subjected them to torture and mistreatment (starvation + dehydration). The prime example is the Burma Railway.
* Not to mention the comfort women incidents, where the Japanese Army brought in an estimated 200,000 women (I'm not sure if this number is exaggerated, but the point still stands) from numerous countries to turn them into sexual slaves. These soldiers would bring the women into their camps and basically they would later fuck, rape, and sexually abuse them.
This is the second time I'm writing this comment. The first comment was the result of my emotions bubbling over. I am Chinese, and I was assigned the topic of the Nanking Massacre for a history presentation in High School. Reading the words, seeing the pictures, it felt like being dunked in ice water with none of the chill. That seeping uncomfortable cold while the rest of your body is burning hot. And the hatred. The hatred of losing your innocence, seeing a country you have always wanted to visit transform into a monument of disgust because they didn't just kill people like you in the past, they slowly and methodically did it in the most sadistic ways imaginable. Then the country has the gall to erase every record of their atrocities from their history. Few, if any, Japanese adults know about the monstrous acts their country committed because the government saw it as shameful. It is shameful. They should be ashamed.
The Uighur Muslims definitely can empathize with you on this. Human beings are not so ethical.
Not to understate the atrocities that were in fact committed, and not to say the Japanese were not to blame. But you have to remember, this is a small group of people that did this, you can't put the entirety of Japan under the rug because a few people did something horrible. As for the covering up part, well, OF COURSE THEY WOULD COVER IT UP, you literally can't blame them, if you murdered someone, you don't just come out and say 'hey look guys, I murdered someone!'. It is a completely rational decision to try to cover it up, although it sounds wrong, it's what anybody would have done.
Also, you can't let the distant past affect your view that much, anyone that was involved with it is dead, and the country has dramatically changed, the same could be said about a lot of places. When I learned about the genocides and brutality that the US has done in the past, it was tempting to hate them, but although those events are unforgivable, they are from a long time ago, and it is a very different world now.
And last but not least, they should not be ashamed from not knowing, there are many things I do not know about my own country, but I know that a lot of bad things have happened here. why would I be ashamed of not knowing if nobody has told me? And why should they be ashamed for something they were never taught
I think you are being a little to hard on em.
Check my last posted comments before crying to me in the comments please.
@@that0nedegenerate It wasn't that long ago, my grandfather lived through Japanese occupation of Malaysia and Singapore. Plus the entire country of Japan was in on it. It wasn't just one place that was devastated, it was wherever their armies touched down. As for your views on anyone covering up murder, look at Germany. They owned their shit, they're still owning up to the travesties the Nazis committed. Japan is only protecting its national pride by keeping their involvement of WW2 hidden from their citizens. I am not condoning the stuff the US did either. I don't hate Japanese people, I hate the Japanese government and their lax attitude towards atoning for HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION, government authorized rape, and trying to "cleanse" Asia 80 years ago. 80 years. That's not that long ago. I'm not asking for every Japanese person to get on their knees and beg for forgiveness, I just want these events acknowledged.
@@uzimax322ighurs love China’s government. Of course not the separatists ones.
@@that0nedegenerate think they called that intergenerational trauma. Your comment could be construe by some as insensitive. It isn’t the cover up that so upsetting that cover up has been exposed now is the copping up to it. But after all the evidence they still deny their atrocities. There’s a huge difference. Like a suspect is arrested for a crime, like murder or something, he’s going to deny it of course, but once the evidence has proved him guilty and he is sentenced to prison so the convict apologizes to the victim’s family or continue to deny them that closure? Take it from someone who knows something about this. A majority of the people in prison who murdered who always admit to what they done and apologized from their crime. I hope this analogy helps.
Thank you for brining this up.
Foreiners today usually think that Chinese people are making a fuss for politcal reasons when we ask for an apology from Japan.
No, ladies and gentlemen. There are so many war crimes that Japan escaped from justice, it makes my blood boil, even when I'm firmly against CCP rule.
After I visited the Nanjing Massacre Museum I reflected upon Japan today vs Japan in its long history.
While I don’t dislike the Japanese people or rather the surface I see and interact with, I have often come across aspects of their deeper mindset that makes me wonder if Japan has changed its desire of empire.
This is just a personal observation but I’m not convinced that even though Japan eventually lost, they didn’t see the major winning power “the US” as a potential empire with similar desires of empire.
We see today with COVID, many say it’s a lab leak, perhaps, but it’s exposed US labs experimenting with viruses in several countries, it also exposes the US funding of the lab in Wuhan, under this consideration it is just as likely that if it was leaked from the Wuhan Lab the US funded that the US initiated it.
Who benefits, the US, who wins the information war, the US, who turns the west and others against China, the US.
So from my personal observation, I think the US is the most likely instigator of this virus, and if true proof that the US became an extension of the ideals of the Japanese in the 2930-40’s.
Except how do you exact justice upon an entire nation? I mean, the US dropped the damn sun on them... twice. I think that's "justice" enough.
@@pookaverse maybe just admit their crimes, stop pretending nothing happened?
@@esplace3023The US responded late to Chinese aggression lmao. China was undermining US interests, seizing naval vessels, and hacking us for years before we started to change our approach to China to a more confrontational one.
@@stoneruler Japan has. Multiple times. Granted much of that didn’t happen until after the emperor died, but there has been millions in restoration money and multiple public admissions and apologies.
Wtf's going on in these comments, why are Imperial Japanese apologists suddenly flooding the replies?;
It was said before and it will be said again : "History is written by the victors. . . and there isn't one page who isn't stained with the blood of the innocent that wasn't ripped off from the History books"
Thank you for acknowledging the suffering of the Philippines as well.. things like the Bataan Death March, Japanese occupation, and the Philippine-American War + Carpet Bombing of Intramuros are often ignored or denied.
31:30 vaccines
31:30 vaccines
Wdym? All of those topics are covered extensively in modern history books in the country, at least from the ones I managed to read from my time as a student
Tbf its even more popular because of phillipines was more familiar for USA. There were many other less well known atrocities commited in other countries in Asia by the Japanese military... and Allied Forces.
Family from north east china and korea told me about unit 731 years ago. Shame on my country for not bringing those thugs to the gallows. Interesting video but you lost me with the avatar junk
Korea's most respected poet (Yoon Dongju) was killed because of Japanese human experimentation while incarcerated. He received seawater injections for the purpose of researching saline solutions and died of complications.
Cool.
@@fxxxxck If it truly was seawater, it certainly could of been a horrible infection in his blood due to contamination. Excess salt also dehydrates you and if you’re on prison rations of food and water you just die.
@@fxxxxck Our bodies are ~60% water; It’s in all of our important fluids (blood, sweat, spit, etc) and without those our bodies go haywire and shut down. Kind of gross and cool but, blood will actually thicken up when dehydrated which can impede the transfer of nutrients and oxygen around the body. A very bad way to go out imo
@@froggytoadeli correct. It was an infection from the seawater.
@@fxxxxck as the other person pointed it out, the cause of death was from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by an infection. He had been imprisoned for 1 year and 7 months at the time of his death.
I’m Indonesian. My country was one of the south east Asian countries that has become the victim of the imperial Japanese war, expansion, and propaganda for at least 3 years around 1943-1945. My country was also colonised by the Dutch for at least 3 centuries before the Japanese came. There’s a saying that the horrid impact of the 3 years colonisation by the Japanese was far worse than the 3 centuries by the Dutch. Not that we prefer to be colonised by one instead of another though. Thanks for sharing this information with us.
The problem is so much atrocity was going on at once, it's very hard to know everything. I appreciate this video very much. Nest should be an in depth video on the Ustaše.
The numerous war crimes committed by the Empire of Japan and its institutions and soldiers seem to be endless. Look deep enough into a particular topic of Japan's conquest in the 1930s and 1940s and you'd uncover layers of them, interconnected more than not to a callous disregard of human lives.
A lot may have heard of the 1957 movie The Bridge on the River Kwai, based on a 1952 French novel of a similar name (The Bridge over the River Kwai), itself based on the construction of the Burma Railway during 1943 to 1945, in which the Japanese used forced labour of civilians and Allied POWs. However, this was not the only railway that Japan "built". Just off the S.E. Asian peninsula, on the island of Sumatra, the Japanese wanted to connect the east coast of the island with the west coast, and ordered the construction of the Sumatran Railroad (also known as Pekanbaroe Railroad).
A few books were written on this in the West, but compared to the Burma Railway, the Sumatran one is much less well known. Worse still, these lesser known books mostly documented the suffering of the few thousand Allied POWs who worked on the Sumatran Railroad ... though in fact, 120 thousand native Indonesians had also worked alongside these POWs, and almost nothing has been written about them, mainly because the vast majority - approx. a hundred thousand! - of these forced native labourers worked to death on the railroad.
One can't and shouldn't quantify suffering, but for those in the so-called West, for every Allied soldier who died, ten or more Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Indonesian, Malay, Indochinese, Burmese, or many other peoples died as well. For every well known (Burma) Railway, there is another (Sumatran) Railroad, and yet still another (Banten) Railroad.
The conclusion is a bit reductionist given the “the West did bad, but Japan did worse” when considering that Germany and Italy were part of the West. Not to mention the deliberate starvation of the Bengal people by Churchill caused millions of deaths, nor the millions of deaths caused by the successful empires of the European powers in North and South America, Asia and Africa. There’s a lot of blame to go around and the West, especially the political leaders are not the good guys, especially when they don’t acknowledge their past mistakes nor intend to make things better, only to heighten their profits even more.
@@lawrencehan463 so does that mean everyone is the bad guy?
@@lawrencehan463 That doesn’t sound like the conclusion. It’s an “and” not a “but”.
@@kakyoindonut3213 We shouldn't simp Empires, or think that because we were born in one that they are inherently good - they are all abysmal and should be considered barriers to a better future rather than the natural way of things.
I truly love Japanese history the country is incredible with rich culture and traditions. The more I learn about them the more the country fascinates me. I really Hope to travel and experience the greatness and beauty of the country myself. The more I learn about their crimes the more I'm fascinated by the country.The Japanese history is amazing and so engrossing
As a Chinese, I hate watching films or documentaries depicting the 2nd Sino-Japanese war. Because it's just too depressing.
But I watched this entire video, and thank you for bringing a lesser known aspect of that brutal war into the light.
I bet. It's tough to watch these things as an American because you deep down can feel the betrayal of those of your nation at the highest level go against the principles that make up our nation because of their twisted dedication towards whatever guides them in life.
I understand the difficulty of making decisions especially hard ones but I think when you compromise your core values you have lost in some ways.
sorry to hear
Don't worry the CCP are doing far worse things
@@kabloosh699 China is the best country with the best government on the planet right now. What are you talking about.
Ip Man was pretty good. It takes place during the 2nd Sino-Japanese war.
Thank you.
Im sick of people only talking about nazi Germany. Everytime I say I'm ethnically German people bring up WWII but people don't do that for any other nationality.
All countries have a dark past
For something a bit lighter, if you look at the bald man with glasses at 1:04:36 , his name is Tojo, and during the trials someone sat behind him would let the intrusive thoughts win and slap the back of his head mid-trials. There's a video of it called something like "Tojos head (BALD) gets slapped"
th-cam.com/video/WoEb03tzwxs/w-d-xo.html
I knew a lot about the crimes in Unit 731. I had no idea how much the US was involved in the cover-up. That's sickening.
Well i hope your prepared to vomit your guts out once you learn all the other shady and evil sh*t the US government has done.
Why be surprised.
The USA wanted the fruits of the Axis powers research.
And not long afterwards their 'scientists' were trying some of it.
Oddly they did not follow up on the harm done by nicotine. That took quite a while.
Strange choices and not only by one nation.
I didn't know, but I'm not really surprised.
The US also tried to cover up the atrocities of Nazi Germany.
I am an American and fully agree. General Macarthur was a prima dona, acting like a queen bee having all the worker bees waiting hand and foot on him. His reputation is very overrated. Of course, he was the ultimate promoter of himself.
Tim, if you want to switch from "Fictional World Building" to "I'm gonna make feel uncomfortable documentaries"....I'm here for it. This was incredible. You have a knack for speaking about serious and dark matters in a way that doesn't over dramatize nor under represent them. It's truly amazing seeing you do a project like this so well after watching you all those years ago talk about HTTYD and if Toothless was a Titan wing (I'm not belittling your previous work, just trying to contrast it). Your growth into a skilled, multifaceted creator has been a treat and a pleasure to watch, and I can't wait to see what you do next!
This is epitome of dramatic. What are you even saying...
@@aixle3590 They're saying it was appropriately dramatic.
Mr. Tim Hickman, a writer, you certainly deserve my highest & ineffable admiration & kudos on this documentary for a job exceptionally well done!--the notorious Unit 731 & the US's cover-up/or immunity in exchange for the data. I've read many books & watched several videos including Japanese ones in which Ishii Shiro's tape recorder stated " Of course, I did not divulge all those invaluable data we procured after over 8 yrs of human experiments on Russians & Asians to Americans at Fort Derrick, but only about 70-80% was given!"--(they were repeatedly invited to the Fort to give them the lectures." ) It is indeed the actual fact that the movie about Hideki Tojo lasting nearly 3 hours as the Japanese super hero & patiot had been a great hit all around Japan in 2000. Making the matter worse, the Japanese government prohibits any teachers to unfold any things adversary to their interests or the unwavering facts such as Nanking massacre, Comfort women, Burma death railroads construction, Bataan death march, & the list goes on. Thus, almost all of Japanese are totally unaware of those unspeakable atrocities incurred on the invaded or Asians, & Europeans, & some American POWs. As a consequence, there exist no sense of repentance or remorse on their past heinous deeds--so most likely to be repeated should such plight occur again. Btw, the Japanese ultra right-wing ( several millions ) has increasingly getting powerful thanks to their governmental tacit support. They, believe or not, consider themselves as the chosen people & protected by that demigod, the emperor, & therefore they have right to be supreme in the whole world, & that is absolutely an absurd, preposterous, & deranged mind-set! But, truly dangerous sign to the peaceful world!?,,,,Finally, my heartfelt gratitude to you for this meticulously detailed documentary.,,,,,Appreciated & admired it to the core in the comfort of my residence.,,,,From the USA,,,,,(08/11/24)
Unlike stories, in real life, the average person wouldn't be Schindler. The average person who today says "I would be the one doing the right thing", in reality would raise their hand in salute, even if they don't mean it, just to avoid being targeted.
According to Milgrim’s experiments 2/3 people would electrocute someone if told to do so
My grandma had once told me small snippets of stories from her childhood--the Japanese soldiers at her school, having to shave her head to look more like a boy, and more--and I had never once made the connection that her hometown in Harbin had to do with Unit 731. I am speechless. She was only a very small child during WWII but the suffering her parents must have gone through, along with everyone else, is unimaginable.
As cruel as it is it may have been , it might have been a saving grace for your grandma to look like something she wasn’t. Especially considering “comfort homes” they were known to have
Holy hell, Tim. You made a full on documentary and I am so excited to watch this.
Edited to add: this is phenomenal, Tim. I feel like I need to watch this several more times to fully take in all the information you covered. Excellent work.
I concur with the series of statements you have said.
What exactly are you focusing on, if not the details?
This is so dense it could be the topic of several history classes
@@derrickstorm6976 my ADHD means it's common that I miss things the first time I read or watch them. For me this deserves a second watch at minimum considering how much history Tim covered, but that isn't going to be the same for everyone
Thank you for making this video. There is a sad lack of information on this topic in English, for obvious reasons.
When somebody starts refering to people as "human material", you know atrocities lie ahead...
I knew this was going to be about Shiro Ishii - I studied Unit 731 as part of my postgrad looking at bioterrorism. The things that happened there are beneath contempt, and the fact that there weren't far more serious consequences for the perpetrators should be a lasting shame for all involved. I'm really glad that Tim decided to cover this so comprehensively, especially since some of the worst aspects of their crimes aren't often taught in Japanese schools. Most countries are guilty of atrocities against humanity in times of war - but failing to remember them, own them, speak about them and teach them is a recipe for repeating them.
I truly love Japanese history the country is incredible with rich culture and traditions. The more I learn about them the more the country fascinates me. I really Hope to travel and experience the greatness and beauty of the country myself. The more I learn about their crimes the more I'm fascinated by the country.The Japanese history is amazing and so engrossing
@@dhimankalita1690 🤡
@@noirto2 Japan is love
This dude is a troll he’s in every ones comments
This reminds me when Truman's son went to Japan and they asked him to apologize for nuking them.
Couple of corrections on the aircraft carrier point, first the British developed the first effective aircraft carriers and the second that Pearl Harbour was predated by the British attack on Toronto
I mentioned to my brother that id like to learn more about the atrocitys done by the japaanese in the second world war and he sent me this. I couldnt watch it all in once sitting cause I got sick to my stomach. Thank you for compiling this information and making it available to people like me who are trying to reeducucate ourselves.
How dark Avatar's ending could've been if suddenly Zuko had some fire nation politicians walk to his room and tell him that all evidence of the Air Bender's genocides had been "taken care of" Zuko reacting with horror or disgust only to be told "for a new era of peace, it's for the best."
For the love of all that is holy, why have you put this image in my head?
This would be a good writing prompt „ young, naive, righteous king fights for his rightful place on the throne, realizes he just made himself head of a fascist state, what does he do next? “
@@user-ny2fk9gm1kI’ve actually been thinking about this. I have started to long for more reality in programming. If we have to do it through FF, that might be what’s necessary right now. Let me know if you write it. I’d love to read that.
Worse part: Aang knows and said those exact words
Among the imperialist, ancient & contemporary, ONLY PRC government aborted/killed approximately 336 million unborn babies for the sake of economic recovery/MONEY (One Child policy), by state law (PRC)/by default/NO CHOICE, of their own blood, in peaceful times/NO WAR, from 1979 to 2015 (decades of silent killings in the millions), NO APOLOGIES to the people of China/NO ACCOUNTABILITY! PRC government slaughtered the future of the people of China! No exception/no mercy to the unborn babies and to the parents/families! Sparrows, mosquitoes, rats and flies had a better deal with the PRC government with the FOUR PESTS CAMPAIGN was carried out only for four (4 ) years compared to One Child Policy (1979 to 2015) which was over 3 decades!!! PRC government BORROWED a FOREIGN IDEOLOGY that CORRUPTED Chinese culture and heritage! Confucius, Sun Tzu and Bruce Lee would weep in their graves knowing this! Worst atrocity in human history!!!! Worse than Nanjing massacre 500,000 killed, Holocaust 6 million killed and World War I + World War II (40 million + 60 million or more)! Combine the population of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, still short of 336 million!
As someone who grew up in Singapore with grandparents that lived through the Japanese occupation, I felt I had a better idea than most of what the image of Japanese atrocity looked like. However, watching this made me sick. Sick at the depravity of the perpetrators, the detachment and greed of those responsible for prosecuting them, but most importantly sick of my ignorance that such acts even happened. Even knowing this now, there is a certain disbelief. As if the events detailed were too horrific to be true. These stories deserved to be told; need to be told. A warning against the depths in which humans can sink to. Thank you for this labour of love. To tell a story most would be uncomfortable researching, let alone recounting is most appreciated.
All of the soldiers who are still alive should have the exact same things done to them.
@@kayakat1869 even if I were to believe in such severe form of retributive justice. It's been 93 years since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China started. If there are any still alive they'd probably die of a heart attack long before any punishment were enacted upon them.
Besides, even if those directly responsible do need to be held accountable, this was a systemic issue. Condoned by the highest levels of government, by the emperor.
I think something better than torturers being tortured, would be Japan itself apologizing and accepting blame officially, paying reparations, and denouncing their war criminals.
@@nik021298 In 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did an international photo op by sitting in a fighter jet with 731 emblazoned on the side. He gave a thumbs up.
@@nik021298 "apologizing and accepting blame officially, paying reparations" They've attempted it a few times, but with the condition that the victims and their nations never again mention the history ever again.
In other words, just not an apology at all really.
A country where; a member of a trade delegate is comfortable with kicking a Taiwanese memorial statue to comfort women or has sent people to UN meetings to ask the UN to change the definition of comfort women to "mere prostit**** not s** slav**" or a politician representing a political party representing a cult that is loud in denying Japanese war crimes having given speeches at America's CPAC numerous times, will never give a heartfelt apology.
@@kayakat1869 many soldiers from those days did regret their actions. Many organize trips each year on anniversaries to sweep tombs of the cities they went to, having went to their families (if they could be found) and asked for understanding. There are those who refuse to acknowledge that massacres, chiefly the Japanese government, and they barely mention ww2 (and Japan's role, as an aggressor, not a victim). But I still believe when actual individuals are exposed to the history, to people's eyewitness stories and people from China, Korea, Malay, Philippine (and other countries they invaded...), they would not stand with hatred and refuse to see what really happened
It shocks me to hear this when Japan is still mostly viewed as a victim of WWII...
This is an extremely powerful and heart-wrenching documentary, but an important story to tell. You're right about how a lot of Holocaust media has painted non-Jewish people as being these saviors, and as a Jewish person who had lost family to those atrocities, it always did rub me the wrong way. I'm glad you brought it to attention. What happened at Unit 731 was an atrocity, truly the most vile, horrendous and monstrous thing ever committed by human hands, but it's important that we never forget what happened. To forget is to let it happen again. Or as the Santayana quote goes. Well done, Tim, well done.
I learned about Japanese war crimes back in high school. We learned about genocides that people don’t talk about, like the Rwandan Genocide and the Bosnian Genocide. The Rape of Nanking has stuck with me because the soldiers had the audacity to document it with pictures.
The children and grandchildren of the soldiers are still alive, carrying their rotten genes around like it's nothing. There are some things so horrible that I don't even think future generations can wipe off the grime of their forefathers.
@@kayakat1869 Rotten genes? They have no control over what their parents did. If anything, the Japanese government should acknowledge and apologize.
Another one I would like to mention as a Bengali is the Bangladeshi Genoncide.
@@kayakat1869 but the future generations are not the same as their ancestors. I think atla should’ve taught you that
@@goldenbunnies4143 it's so hard irl. Sometimes someone needs to be punished.
At first, I thought it was weird to bring up the Fire Nation or works of fiction in general when seriously discussing such a dark place in our history, but I see that the intent is to show that reality doesn't always have the edge of optimism that fiction tends to bring. Good video, Tim!
I'm sure there's an ATLA fanfic somewhere that has the Fire Nation doing this kind of human experimentation and torture that Azula or Ozai oversee directly.
Reality is much worse
The fire nation has nothing on imperial Japan lmao. They're saints compared to them.
Reality has this thing, were an act of kindness can bring ruin (material goods donations ruining home grown manufacturers) and horrible things contributing to the modern world (WW1/2 Germany's democracy or the eastern European nation states).
The former being the more important lesson though, as the good from bad is often just damage control instead of a planned action.
Are you kidding? Only terminally online over-socialized college kids could think it's ok to compare something so grave as Unit 731 to a fucking cartoon show...
As a Korean, thank you
The video started and I panicked because you were talking so fast lmao my french brain couldn't process this, so I watched the video in 0.75 but I liked it a lot! Good job, so interesting
Wow. You got me literally stunned.
I knew about Unit 731 before. I've talked to others about them,
I've read about them, watched documentaries - but never have
I seen all the pieces put together and contextualized for the world
today this well. Thank you for that. Going forward, this video will be
the primary reference I hand to people when talking about this topic.
PS: *Thank you* for having the decency of keeping this essay
unsponsored, and probably demonetized. I don't think I could've
tolerated "THIS VIDEO IS SPONSORED BY SURFSHARK" when
dealing with grave atrocities.
"It's a grave atrocity when you don't have a VPN!" Yeah, agreed. No sponsorship was the right call
There was a video by another guy called The Demon of Unit 731.
In most videos, he jokes about having a sponsor. He didn't even joke in that video.
1:00 I’m fairly certain the Fire Nation was EXPLICITLY intended to represent imperial japan. I mean firebending is literally the only one in which the movements are based on Japanese martial arts. They literally get power from the sun, their flags’ emblem can be switched out for an imperial rising sun and not much would change. It was intentional, just like the Earth Nation represents and takes cues from ancient imperial China in fashion, architecture, and the fact that it’s a gigantic country.
Makes sense
As a Korean-American watching the Avatar, I knew it resonated with me for a reason. I saw and understood all the undertones.
Do you understand how cringe it is to compare WW2 Japan to the cartoon fire nation
@@nicholasgeere5125 I don't think you paid attention while watching this video, if you even watched it at all.
@@nicholasgeere5125 its useful to use a fictional comparison so people understand better, but the comparison will never show how truly horrifying the atrocities are
Wow an hour and 45 minutes on this subject . Most I’ve seen is 25 minutes or 30. This gotta be packed with info . Awsome
you know its a serious video when the youtuber films himself outside in a forest
Very few countries have an unfiltered history coverage in their education systems. Japan just happens to have one of the one that hides a very shameful history. The US doesn't even come close, despite their history not being clean in the slightest. I've legitimately heard some really depressing claims and opinions as a result of this.
And even then, knowing what i know now? It almost feels less ofoutward malice and more 'how the hell do you EXPLAIN it all?' I don't know how education is now, but in the 90's we were taught hte trail of tears, how the cherokee fought and won in OUR courts the right to their land.... before being marched off. We were taught of the horrifying treatment of chineese hoping for a better life, or latinos looking for work.
or of the internment camps where US citezens were rounded up, inprisoned, and then when it was all over told they can't go back to their home andgiven money for a bus ticket.
Look when Ronald Fucking Regan acknowledges something was fucked up...
And yet what we were taught isn't even a fraction of it all. Yet we WERE taught that history is 'messy.'
Or maybe i"m confusing the period when history channel was good and mixing that in with the highlights of school.
@@singletona082 Some things are outright falsehoods as well. Such as teaching that the war of 1812 was NOT an imperialistic attempt at taking over Canada by right of manifest destiny. Apparently at least in certain parts, kids learn that they were ships that arrived late from the war of Independence. I bet the majority of Americans believe that the current White House is the first one.
Technically, you can buy books about this kind of historical studies. They're very niche, legitimate, published material, and often time not very normy-readers-friendly.
Teachers can't stop you from buying them and reading them, however, if you have to cram your study like Japanese schools told you to, you probably won't look into that kind of books. I bet you will more likely start hoarding light-novels than diving into history books.
@@VelaiciaCreator What bothers me is with the current climate of firehosing lies out. To anyone who genuinely wants to learn it's become a task of sorting out fact from falsehood, to historical innacuracies that aren't malicious but are there, and all while you have peopleshrieking 'Conspiricy! Believe what i want you to believe not what you are reading!'
T othe point that it almost feels easier to believe that is the point of this 'fake news' shrieking. To discourage learning.
The US is currently working on becoming worse. At least the red states.
For those that visit Japan, namely Okinawa, I suggest you look around and even visit the Himeyuri Shrine and Peace Museum.
I’m half Japanese on my mother’s side, my great grandfather was conscripted by the Empire and my grandmother and her mother hid in tunnels dug out in the family well, where she was just at the age of six.
I’ve never been to any of the other shrines, though I’ve often heard they give a different meaning. When you look around Okinawa, it has changed much over the past several decades, the terrain is unrecognizable from a hundred years ago, the terrain molded from war, scars that etch deeper than the soil.
Soldiers still march and patrol up and down Okinawa, living and dead, the souls of hundreds of thousands mark their place. Even to this day military bases make up a significant portion of the island’s space. My mother never knew about the history of Japan and the war, no one spoke of it, they barely even taught it, she was born under Shōwa which makes you realize how long his reign went on for.
The government never answered for the crimes they committed, they barely even had the excuse that they were reformed like the Germans did.
When I lived in Okinawa, I was always going to be a foreigner, gaikakujin, it makes me wonder what it would be like back then in the Second World War.
I’d probably be either considered a half-breed and shunned or conscripted like my forebears to fight for a country that never cared until they needed bodies to be thrown against what would become my people’s liberators.
If that’s how they treat the people that lived under the Empire for centuries, I can’t begin to imagine what truly horrible things that went on in Mainland China and to those that met any fate against the Japanese Empire.
I lived in Okinawa for a while with my brother. He's half Chinese, half Japanese. My gramama is from a village around Nanking. I think the history speaks for itself. When I was younger he introduced me to the shrines and the caves, and I remember being able to go down into one and just how dark and cold it was.
I remember learning hōgen when I lived there since that's what my brother speaks. He's a traditionalist. Leaving to visit Shinjuku and only speaking hōgen was.. harrowing. If today it gives you a nasty look and downright volatile response, I can only imagine how it was in the 40's. Okinawans were barely wanted in the war besides warm bodies for bullets to be caught in. They're outsiders, and still have Xenophobia embedded in the culture. I won't say it's not two-sided but.. the war really, really fucked up the culture.
These days I've tried to learn a bastardized version of Kansai-ben to at least get by. My grandmother will still flinch when she hears Japanese since her mother used to tell her stories. Meemo-Hana won't tell me or my brother anything about her history, village, or anything about her mother. All I have is a picture of her. I can't say I blame her.
War in general is really, really fucked up.
@@EspressoStreams hey! Thanks for leaving a comment, it’s important to remember and carry on the stories and history of the past and I appreciate you sharing yours here. I respect you going out and learning the language, especially a regional dialect. I was pretty apathetic during my living in Okinawa and it was only when I returned to the States that I thought over deeply about my experiences there. I personally have never visited mainland Japan, atleast in recent memory, I lived with my grandmother whom rarely ever talked about the past or even with me. The language barrier never allowed me to truly talk with my family on a deep level as I could only carry myself in basic conversation. My family there doesn’t really consider me being Japanese or Okinawan, I’m American to them. I personally would like to visit China and explore the rich history there, though I heard that ever since Xi Jinping took office that the country has become a lot more anti-West, blaming America and Japan for inciting and promoting violence and unrest in the country.
@@edie9158 So, Xi is extremely anti-capitalist in general.. which is oddly ironic in general. The big cities in China are extremely-for him since they get the most exposure to him. Meemo lives coastally now, more secluded in a more village-like area with a group of traditionalist people. She survived Mòuh Jaahk-dūng, which she calls the lāai chàaih years. She has no respect for the government but you do have to play the part. Most older generation keep traditions, play the part, but in the home and with their families they're still extremely loyal to the ideals of an empire, or at least the consideration of a more peaceful place. Communism killed a lot of people, and even the psuedo-comucapitalism limits a lot of peoples lives and ruined so many families that the older generation despise the regime. Hana can't see her son in Japan right now (My brother) without him pulling some strings, so it's one of those things that causes friction. I can't see her either, since I'm American, Cam is Japanese in Okinawa, and she's Chinese. It's insane. My chances of surviving rural China are bad.
We all speak Ryūkyū hōgen in group chat to keep things private. But I can tell Meemo doesn't like it. I've learned Cantonese from her, and speak it with her to keep her happy. I wish I could spend more time with her and learn more about her culture, but at this point I'm completely disconnected from the Chinese and Asian side of my family while in America. Politics are extremely frustrating.
I used to have a dual Citizenship before 18, but after coming of age had to choose my country. I met someone in the USA. So, I live here. Sometimes I wonder if I made the correct choice, but I never loved living in Japan. There wouldn't have been much for me there. Okinawa was beautiful, sure, but I cannot speak mainlander, I can't speak any dialect outside of some Kansai and a dying, near-dead language and dialects of Mandarin/Cantonese, Korean, English, and some Mongolian. While learning is an option, at 18 I would have been on my own. It wasn't feasible.
The Universities in Japan really should start teaching Ryūkyū hōgen to revive it. It's part of the national language and it's honestly beautiful. I miss hearing it. The language flows so much easier and has a more soft, friendly tone. The phrases are easier and has a more Chinese-sounding connotation due to long-standing trade deals with China in early years.
The honorifics and specifics are MUCH more difficult, but it's definitely much more friendly and less xenophobic in general. Here's a phrase I heard a lot:
ichariba choudee/once we speak we are united(informal goodbye)
Thanks for listening. It's been lovely.
They're coming back for a second round motherfkers long live japan and the emperor
You will be nothing but meat
the thing is, the united states is basicly using japan or okinawa as a military base, so in fact japan right now is just a us colony an unsinkable aircraft carrier to fight china with
I love this type of content from this channel. Great work.
This is an excellent video essay. I’ve been enthralled by the horrors of the 20th century and I found this video very informational. I knew about unit 731 but you did a great job illustrating the experiments that happened there. I hope you do more long and in depth videos like this one.
My nan's uncle was a prisoner of war in Japan, he came home weighing less than 20kg, my nan saw the scars and bruises on him and asked about them once. He never really told anybody what exactly he'd been through in his time there, but the state he returned in told us enough.
Not to discredit horrors he faced but worlds skinniest woman, an anorectic was 27kg.
@@Ironbattlemace well op's nan's uncle probably didn't bother to call the Guinness book of world records after coming home from the war
@@Todietipso An adult man would sooner perish before he ever reach the weight of "less than 20 kg" from starvation. Do you know how much is 20 kg? Use some common sense. Maybe he meant "weighing 20 kg less", otherwise this is nothing but a tall tale.
@@Todietipso and you decided to disrespect your ancestors by being bad at math 😂
it's impossible for a grown man to be less than 20kg without dying, was he a child at the time?
My dad is a Malaysian Chinese man born to parents who experienced the brutal Japanese occupation. He also is an avid consumer of Chinese media (that is, history books and television programs) and has amassed a huge mental record of Japanese war stories and atrocities (among many others), many of which have not been covered in English media. To no surprise I was taught about Unit 731 very early and I have no doubt it forms a core example of his (and subsequently my own) definition of absolute human evil. It's incredible how some historic events can so deeply resonate with people who have not necessarily lived through them.
“Avid consumer of Chinese media” doesn’t exactly lend one credibility
Sure but if it helps, he's an avid consumer of Western media too. He attended an English-medium high school when the general paper examination was still mandatory and spent 10 years in the US and UK for his degree and PhD. My point about how he and I learnt about these events earlier than most still stands.
You know what's f**ked up? Both the nationalists and the communists used Japanese soldiers for their own benefits after Japan surrendered during the Chinese civil war, the commander-in-chief of the China expedition army, Yasuji Okamura, even became Chiang Kai-shek's military adviser.
@fantasyfan9 that's what i was thinking
@@fantasyfan9320 : What about Taiwanese media?
Brilliant work, thank you very much for making this. X
“Where human material can plucked from the streets like rats.”, is such an intimidating and horrifying line to hear from someone versed in the human body.
Unlike Germany, Japan was spared having to repent, having accept responsibility and shame, simply because it offered the US more financial and strategic military value. It's incredibly frustrating to think that it may already be too late to do anything about that fact
Germany did not repent. The Germans still have an attitude of superiority to Poles. They're constantly interfering in Poland's internal politics. And before Hitler the Germans were oppressing and ethnically cleansing the Polish people. The language was being stamped out and Poles could not build houses in Germany so they made homes on wheels which skirted German laws because Germans go by the letter and not spirit of the law in their Prussian tradition which comes all the way from the disgusting Teutonic Knights.
This is why competition is important. Germany was occupied by 4 nations. Japan was occupied by one.
@@trequor Only two mattered. US and USSR.
@@peterc4082 Not true. Besides the UK still being a proper world power for a few years after the war, both the UK and France being present gave them leverage and incentive. Coverups are a million times harder when several independent systems are involved. French contractors have no reason to care about American gag orders
They sort of dropped the sun on them twice.
I'm German and learnt extensively abt Nazi Germany and went to concentration camps twice. When people talk about Japanese warcrimes it often reminds me strongly about atrocities commited by Germany.
I specifically remember hearing about a doctor in a concentration camp throwing the prisoners out onto the snow naked to watch how the cold would affect them and how long they would survive.
I also visited a war camp in South Korea and was surprised how much it looked like the concentration camp I visited, just the whole architecture seemed very similar.
Apparently to this day medicine uses nazi data for how long humans can survive in the cold etc.
I truly love Japanese history the country is incredible with rich culture and traditions. The more I learn about them the more the country fascinates me. I really Hope to travel and experience the greatness and beauty of the country myself. The more I learn about their crimes the more I'm fascinated by the country.The Japanese history is amazing and so engrossing.
2:46 I can hear that scene and it still gives me chills
Most people don’t know that during WW2 Japan and German Nazi were allies…
Additionally rising sun flag is still being used in Japan at this time
which this flag has the
same meaning as Hakenkreuz Nazi
My Father was a POW, 3 and a half years of hell, and would never go into a hospital after what they had done to him and his brothers. Thanks for your presentation
Prayers to you, your father and your family. No man forgotten, even if it’s by name only.
Similar story, but my grandfather... The hurt and anger passed on to my father. Most modern medicine based on atrocities committed, that makes me also have little faith in hospitals. Alternative medicine and prevention are better options. Does the cure for cancer lie with sound waves by a chorus humming certain frequencies?
@@danc.5509As a biochemist. Please don't ever suggest this ever again. Chemotherapeutic agents have been routinely tested on cancer cell lines and took millions of dollars and years to develop. Your lavender water is nothing in comparison and will do nothing to aberrant cell growth. I refuse to see a comment like this and say nothing. Stop it.
Just wanted to point out that while your father may have been a POW with the Japanese, he most assuredly wasn't a prisoner of Unit 731. The reason is that no one escaped alive from Unit 731, there are literally 0 records of anyone surviving the barbaric procedures they enacted on people
@@MSDX360 that's not what they said though. even if their father wasnt a prisioner of unit 731, the fact he was a POW means he knows these horrors much more closely than any of us would
I'm a 33 years old German, and I love how emotional you get and how you display your anger while you make your point of view clear to us. Your speech is just perfect and I thank you for that.
When I first ready about this unit in the internet and learned about their atrocities my stomach turned and I thought I need to puke.
They were real monsters who shouldn't be honored.
Thank you for your video!
Germans know a thing or two about sounding angry when speaking and showing emotion. One of the best at this was a man from Austria actually.
@@badcornflakes6374😂
All humans are monsters. But these war criminals are a special shade of evil.
Dude Your Near Pears Asian N**ies Nearly Took out all of asia
Jep, und da geht die alte Lüge der Unvergleichbarkeit des Holocaust dahin. Zum 770ten mal... Es ist mit Sicherheit gut, dass wir unsere eigene Geschichte aufarbeiten, aber wenn man dies mit Lügen über dessen Unvergleichbarkeit umgibt und so tut, als wären Kriegsverbrechen in diesem Ausmaße einzigartig, ist das gefährlich. Eines Tages werden viele der ehemaligen Schüler herausfinden, dass solche Verbrechen allzu allgegenwärtig sind und ihre eigenen Schlüsse daraus ziehen - zeitgleich mit der Erkenntnis, dass sie belogen worden sind, das Propaganda mit im Spiel ist. Ich denke, das ist gefährlich. Das ist ein Fehler. Wer braucht bei solchen Verbrechen schon dabei beteuert bekommen, dass dieses Böse einzigartig ist, damit er versteht, dass es schrecklich war? Es ist eine unnötige Lüge und damit eine unnötige Schwachstelle in der Aufbereitung der Nazizeit.
Unvergleichbar keines Wegs, aber man muss es nicht vergleichen. Kein Verbrechen wird dadurch besser oder einfacher zu rechtfertigen, wenn es mehrfach geschieht.
This is my first time hearing anything about this so great job!
You can look more into:
* Unit 731
* Sook Ching Massacre
* Manila Massacre
* Pontianak Massacre
* Jesselton Revolt
* Numerous atrocities committed against Prisoners of War, f.e. Sandakan Death March, Bataan Death March, Laha Massacre, Parit Sulong Massacre, etc etc. It's well-known and documented that they used Prisoners of War as slave labor and subjected them to torture and mistreatment (starvation + dehydration). The prime example is the Burma Railway.
* Not to mention the comfort women incidents, where the Japanese Army brought in an estimated 200,000 women (I'm not sure if this number is exaggerated, but the point still stands) from numerous countries to turn them into sexual slaves. These soldiers would bring the women into their camps and basically they would later fuck, rape, and sexually abuse them.
Holy hell this was such a powerful video. Truly, thank you.
My feelings towards watching videos like this are always so complicated. I am third generation japanese american. My family had migrated to the big island a few years before pearl harbor and my grandfather remembered watching it happen. Thankfully they weren't sent to the camps but some of our other family did. Due to this, I grew up learning about what japan had done very young and didn't realize till I was older that it wasn't something reenforced and taught at the same time as the holocaust like I had been. On the other side of things, my very racist and xenophobic german grandmother was a very proud person who thought of herself as a "good" german person, would downplay the holocaust in front of my jewish aunt and her family to her face and treated my japanese mother like trash and thought of us kids dirty the more japanese we looked. Like I said, complicated, I always feel gross talking to my father that spews the same type of bullshit his mother did (no idea how he ended up with my mom). I am so sorry to anyones who's family was in anyway effected by the axis powers and especially the japanese empire. None of you ever deserved any of it and I hope that with people actually starting to learn about it more wide spread has helped with healing.
That's, to say the least, a very complicated family situation.
😅
I hope that you're free someday from the burden of shame that you never deserved to have placed on you. 😊 You had nothing to do with any of the suffering caused, and neither did I for the crimes my ancestors committed. In our ancestry, we all have heroes and villains, but we don't carry their blood. We carry only our own. There's no sense in being ashamed--or proud--of our ancestry. We had no part in their failure or their success.
It's a shame how family can be divided along racial lines, my family has the same issue.
If you win the war, you get to dictate all information on it. History is written by the victors. The Holocaust deserves to be downplayed.
@@marcovidal9782 I wouldn't downplay one atrocity just to make another more apparent.
My parents were Nisei, both raised in Colorado. But after high school, my mother went to Japan to learn basic cultural stuff, like ikebana (flower arranging), wagakki (Japanese instruments), and so on. She stayed after that, but when WWII started, she was "too American" to be allowed to stay in Japan, and "too Japanese" to be allowed back home. She ended up in POW camp in the Phillipines after fleeing there... And though she NEVER spoke about it (I found out about this after one of my aunts told me the basics)? I can't imagine what she went through, though a comfort station does spring to mind (and makes me physically ill.)
Thank you for this video. While this is a part of my culture I cannot bear to dig into wholly, it's very important to know, and bring to people's attention. Especially at this time, when extremists seem to be popping up everywhere, almost proud of their horrible beliefs. We need to remember what can ultimately happen if those beliefs go unchecked.
I truly love Japanese history the country is incredible with rich culture and traditions. The more I learn about them the more the country fascinates me. I really Hope to travel and experience the greatness and beauty of the country myself. The more I learn about their crimes the more I'm fascinated by the country.The Japanese history is amazing and so engrossing
As a Japanese person I wish this was told in our schools too.
I had never heard of this, so thank you for changing that. I did know a little about the human experiments done by the US at S4 into the 80s, but since most of the information on that has been destroyed or is still classified into oblivion, it's still in the realm of wispers. Sadly, it does not suprise me that we were willing to sell out all morals for this. It is in line with the other stuff we have done.