History of Japan by Bill Wurtz REACTION 

Oversimplified is hilarious and you will laugh and learn a lot by watching it. And also Bill Wurtz doesn't have any more history videos, just a lot of weird songs.

Also, point of historical note: The Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria is the most BOTCHED successful assassination attempt in history. It starts with the first, he tries to throw a bomb into the motorcade, but it bounces off the convertible roof at the back, and blows up the car behind them. That assassin takes his cyanide pill and dives into a river, only for the cyanide pill not to kill, just inducing vomiting, and the river was only 13 cm deep at the time. He got dragged out of the river and beaten severely before getting taken into custody. 3 more assassins were further up along the route, but fully neglected to do ANYTHING as the motorcade passed, now moving faster to get the Archduke to the Town Hall. From there, Ferdinand arrives at the hall, where he's fully safe..... and then leaves to go visit the hospital where the injured are from the previous blast. This would not have resulted in his assassination, except his driver took a wrong turn, and put them into the path of the mastermind of the whole thing, Princip, who was in the middle of planning how to get a final success out of all this, and building a plan to assassinate him from the Latin Bridge. While he's going through the plan, the Archduke car, realizing they were going the wrong way, stopped, and stalled, nearly right in front of Princip, who took that moment to assassinate Ferdinand.

Those "tornadoes" were actually hurricanes. The odds of that happening are not as low as you might think, though, given how often hurricanes occur around Japan (called typhoons, but they're still the same type of storm).

Bill needs to put out another 20 or so history style vids! Great reaction as always, Fun Fact - Japan now has a population of roughly 125 million though, lol.

I learned a little bit of the history of Japan because of the influence of the Edo period and the Meiji restoration in the development of martial arts. Karate, specifically. The US did not use the atomic bomb on Japan just to test it. They had tested it before, that's how they knew the only needed one per city. The part that this simplification omits, is that in their approach to mainland Japan, the US took the island of Okinawa and it was a complete massacre, not just taking a big toll on both sides, but also making understand the US that in order to take Tokyo, due to the "death is more honorable than surrender" culture of Japan, they would have to kill every man, woman and child old enough to hold a gun. Taking Japan by traditional war tactics would probably had caused an even worse massacre.

I love how you stop and rewatch to make sure you understand what happened.

Two hurricanes that repelled the mongols during their attempted invasions. That's where the word "kamikaze" comes from. "Divine wind."

btw, the "tornadoes" that defeated the mongols twice, is one of the origins of the term "kamikaze" .... broken down this term literally means "gods wind" (kami=god, kaze=wind) and was seen as evidence of the kami protecting japan. kamikaze pilots were called that as they were planes, in the air, aka riding the wind, and defeating the enemies of japan, just like the original kamikazes were seen as. naturally its pretty ..... conceited to name yourself as what you view as a literal godly miracle, but its what it is so lol

If you want to know how to pronounce Japanese words FLAWLESSLY, every time, keep reading.... The vowels "AEIOU" are ALWAYS pronounced the same way. They are not affected by any letters around them. And Japanese words are comprised of a consonant followed by a vowel, almost always, with the exception of a vowel just sitting there on its own, and maybe a few really rare instances that also break this. Usually an "N" is the culprit. Pronunciation time! A is for: "Ahhhhh", that felt good. E is for: "Ehhh"!? What'chu say to me! I is for: "EEEEEE" that is like, so, totally CUH-UTE!!! O is for: "Oh"... Oh, that was it? Really!? U is for: "ooOOOooo"! You like Her. Is that your GIRLfriend? Examples that you know, that enforce this... Nagasaki, Sony (this would sound the same if spelled "Soni") Toyota, Subaru, Nintendo (Just remember the REAL "I" sound) Sushi, Edamame (Those fuzzy, green soybean pods you get before your food at sushi restaurants). Quick breakdown of the above words for understanding word structure mentioned above... Na-ga-sa-ki, So-ny, To-yo-ta, Su-ba-ru, Nin-ten-do (

I would love to see you react to some other of bill wurtz's videos, although they are all pretty different from his history videos. Mostly he writes songs, although they are all in the same vein as the little jingles that he sticks into these videos so I think you would really enjoy them. They all have pretty trippy music videos to go along with them and deceptively introspective lyrics, so a pretty good goldmine for a reaction channel that honestly has gone pretty untapped.

I will say, that is a good argument for Shinto (traditional japanese nature and spirit religion). When Mongolia tried to invade, nature messed them up twice. They prayed for help from the spirits, and a storm blew away the enemy. Then the enemy invaded again, they surely prayed again, and it happened again.

The 'died in a tornado' bit refers to tsunamis that happened. The Japanese called it Kamikaze, which means Divine Wind. The first atomic bomb was meant to be dropped on a military city, but it was dropped on a normal one, with normal people. Nagasaki, the area that the second one was dropped, was a military one. There are people who have survived both bombs being dropped. So much needless death simply because rulers want more land.

Again, great content. You have a fantastic presence and your reactions are wildly entertaining. Keep up the great work. I second the idea of checking out all of Oversimplified. All of their videos are informative, entertaining, and friendly to the RU-vid algorithm.

Thank you so much for learning about my country, it was a little bit funny edition, but I think it's almost correct. A comment from Yokohama, Japan(^^)v

This video is so iconic. As a Japanese Studies major in uni, any time someone mentions the opening of the country (which is a LOT) I just hear Bill Wutz in my mind going "Open the country. Stop... having it be closed." Also the "How about I do... anyway?" jingle lives rent free in my head. Also, one of the funnest facts about Japanese history that isn't touched upon a lot is that the Christian missionaries in the 16th century were actually super successful, since Japan had a lot of gods already and so adding one more was not a problem, plus they got schools out of it, but then a century later the government got scared that the church would grow too powerful so they outlawed and persecuted Christians. There are even some famous Japanese martyrs that the Europeans wrote plays about!

Fun fact: a Japanese engineer called Tsutomu Yamaguchi is recognized as the only human to survive both bombings.

9:13 is most of Australia even inhabitable 🥲

Historia Civilis is a great history channel mostly focusing on Rome but with a great simple style

Huh, well an American might not know about the Seven Year War, since it's usually called The French and Indian War in the USA. Although we usually only use that term to refer to the North American theatre. We still use Seven Years War for what was happening in Europe. It's just "world" history is given less emphasis than "US" history.

Agreeing with others and saying you should check out Oversimplified. His history videos are great! Also if you want random subjects (many historical) presented with humor, check out Sam O'Nella Academy.

from all the reactions I have seen.. and I have seen too many! YOu have the best I think, whenever you speak it is not interruptive/annoying instead you seem very true and nice and what you sed that you are "very easily entertained", it is very pleasant for the viewer.

It's 2:30am, I have work in 4 hours and haven't slept as I have been watching all of your videos from Bo Burnham to Tim Minchin and was just about to go to bed when this showed up. My sleep schedule is ruined but thank you for ruining it with joy and laughs!

Fun video Alice I truly am enjoying your journey of Billy Boys content it truly is amazing what people can make with a bit of knowledge and technological prowess....and autotune. I would say it's not so bad thinking about how it would look if the Mongols took a page out of Dorothy's book and went to go see the wonderful Wizard of Oz. To be fair Genghis Kahn was a pretty wicked Witch, so wicked in fact he changed the W to a B. True story that is not historically accurate in any capacity. Can't wait for the next video have a good rest of your week. And congrats on the 6k subs you deserve it truly.

You should definitely react to Oversimplified, it's a great channel!

It's so great when people clarify things and are not assholes about it. Just sharing knowledge, without judges .

This is interesting. You've summed up what Japanese learn in history class in a clear and concise manner.

Hey Alice! Fantastic reaction as always. If you enjoyed this, other than the Oversimplified stuff, you could check out "Civilization Epic Rap" by Dan Bull. It is based on a video game, but in reality is a summary of human culture from a more artistic point of view. It is really well made and sounds amazing. I think you would enjoy that as well.

Japanese vowels always make the same sound. Short vowel sounds every time. A is "ah", e is "eh", i is "ee", u is "ooh" and o is "oh" and that's the only sound for each in every instance. Knowing this makes pronunciation much easier even if you don't know the word or it's meaning.

3:42 This is chikushi, and cyukusyo says "Damn it!" and it would be really funny if there was a country in Japan that said "Damn it!"

"I'm sure everyone was so happy when taxes came in". I'm sure. Especially given the second rule of "no climbing the social ladder". "Hey you have to pay us now and also you can NEVER better your situation no matter what you do. Hope you like where you're at!"

More history reactions, pls. U r great.

You should check out oversimplified. Emu war especially

The two tornadoes (correction: typhoons) is actually where the word Kamikaze came from, with Kami meaning Heavenly or Divine and Kaze meaning Wind. Combine them together and you have Kamikaze (Divine Wind).

love your vids lol

I recommended OverSimplified under your last video, but I'm gonna repeat myself and recommend it again just like some other people - it shows historical events in hilarious way (kinda similar to Bill Wurz) and if you liked this and last video, OverSimplified is something you've absolutely got to see. Also: Extra History / Extra Credits has very cool and entertaining videos about history. Not as funny as Bill or OverSimplified (still funny though), but absolutely fun to watch anyway. Someone in the comments mentioned botched assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (and I think it's one of the moments in history which are more ridiculous than fiction) - if you're interested in that, Extra History covered it in the first of their World War I videos.

Iroquois and Sweden did fight on occasion when Sweden had a small colony near their lands. Just not during the Seven Years War. Sweden much like Denmark weren't a large presence in the Americas but they did have a presence and interacted with the local tribes.

Regarding 8:43, it's also famously the case in North Korea today that their citizens are banned from leaving the country. It's also the case in Ukraine right now if you're a male citizen aged between 18 and 60 (which is particularly messed up given what's happening there at the moment).

Holyshite you're someone i'd ask out to dinner where we can talk about how crazy this world is.

For your knowledge, Japanese characters have fixed sounds to their letters which only change under VERY specific situations. a makes an "AH" sound e makes an "EH" sound i makes an "EE" sound o makes an "OH" sound u makes an "OO" sound For example, Hi is pronounced Hee and Izumo is pronounced Ee-Zoo-Moh It is very important to pronounce every syllable as those are it's own letter in Japanese, Ya. Ma. To. or as it it in Japanese. や。ま。と。(this is the Hiragana for it but it might have Kanji to write it however Kanji uses the same pronunciation as the Hiragana just represented as Chinese character.) All characters in Japanese are derivative of the 5 vowels except for n which is it's own thing. For example: O makes the Oh sound. GO makes the Goh sound. U makes the OO sound. Gu makes the Goo sound. But if you say Gou you'd think it would make the Goh-oo sound but it actually extends the length of the oh sound. it's phonetically written as o with a - above it.

"It's funny how finger puppets only works as a noun...ladies" - Dimitri Martin.

I would love if do a reaction to a video about the crisis of the third history. A reslly imprtant and interesting part of history, which ended in the creation of the basics of the society for the next thousand years (the reforms of diocletian). And a lot of people never heard of it. The videos of extra credits about it are great and fun!

Well if you are worried about wars, you could always watch the universe is way bigger than you think to make the wars look pretty tiny (side effect - it makes you look pretty tiny as well)

Watch Oversimplified - the Emu War! As an australian you ought to like that one

Now it's time to start watching the oversimplified videos

oh come on Alice - Aussie oversimplified THE EMU WAR!!!!!

As a history buff I think you would enjoy Youjo Senki . It's an alternate history anime set in 1930s Europe .

Definitely do oversimplified it’s just as good

Point of Historical Note: The Bombs were a method of expediency, at the time the Japanese people were swept up by national fervor and their government refused to publish about how poorly the war had been going for them and the horrors they inflicted on the rest of the world. Germany had officially surrendered a few months prior and the division of Berlin/Germany was absolutely terrible, Russia was preparing an invasion from the north and from experience the US would have had to kill hundreds of thousands of military only to be faced with suicide from the general population. An invasion by land would take months and would have likely ended up with Japan divided the way Germany had been so the bomb was dropped on the major military production centers in Japan to force their surrender. When Japan surrendered their government was reorganized with Emperor Hirohito remaining as a major political figure in the government. on the whole the bombs cost ~250,000 lives but the projected loss from potential ground invasion plus years of division afterword would be difficult to tell. It's kind of ironic that one of the most horrible military actions in history likely saved more lives than it would have cost otherwise.

Alice if you're enjoying his videos you should check some of his full music videos! Try "I'm a princess", it's unique, but the vibes are real.

hey alice your good humour

a recommendation for you privately is the Fall of Civilizations podcast on YT, their vids go from 1h - 3h so not rly great for reaction but he makes great interesting content

Okay, so the part with Oda Nobunaga is called the Sengoku Jidai, or Warring States Period, and it is INSANE. Extra Credits did a video series on it, under the title Extra History, and you should definitely watch the whole thing: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hDsdkoln59A.html

A tip regarding your attempt at pronouncing the Japanese place names: English does funny things with vowels and makes many of them into diphtongs while most other languages don't. For example, I is never pronounced as "eye" in Japanese or in any other language (as far as I know).

You don't seem to realize how populated Japan is. 30 million was BEFORE industrialisation (the period in which most countries had an economic boom), it's 127 millions now. More than 4 times as much. Populations in general before the 19th century were small, apart from a few places. Modern society suddenly enabled most of the population to be fed and diseases made less victims (and of course people continued to make a lot of babies like in tradional societies, the only difference is that they survived), thus explaining the demographic booms. As for Australia, it has always been very empty, this country is actually the exception here. Still, Australia's population also exploded, mainly due to immigration (mainly from Europe) it went from 3 million in 1900 to 26 million now. But the countries which populations exploded the most historically with the emergeance of modern society, are mostly the developing countries of nowadays. In Africa, it's kind of insane. For example Ethiopia went from 4 million in 1900 to 108 million now, and the most remarquable is that it was only due to natural growth (high birthrate for a long period of time), and it's not even finished now...

You should check out Sabaton - music inspired by History, and the band even has their own history channel to explain the events each song is about :)

Alice said "let's get into it" at least 4 times before we got into it 😂 Way to get into it

who surrenders after one A-bomb? excellent reaction as always.

Quick tip. The s at the end of Iroquois is silent. It's like Illinois. No s sound at the end. If you want to pronounce Iroquois _really_ accurately, it's pronounced EER-uh-kwuh but just dropping the s is good enough for most: EER-uh-coy. Illinois is just ILL-uh-noy. Love your videos. And your hair. I wish mine was that healthy. :)

"Japan should take the islands!"

Japans population is 127 million. Slightly less than Russias. Which is about 45 times bigger. Huh, less than I thought.

Australia was one t(e largest britosh colonies at the time of the league of nations so it had some pull but was also technicaly apsrt of it as apart of britain Later in 1930s it becomes a dominion making it more eauil to britain in the empire and independent of britains parliament

Video starts at 2:25

Nice Reaction ❤️ Reaction Histori of Indonesia 12 minuts 🇮🇩

In the event you ever run into some more Japanese stuff that you need or want to pronounce, Japanese almost never has hard vowel sounds, so if you stick to soft vowels you'll probably nail a lot of the pronunciations fairly easily.

bo burnham - sad oh and watch bill burr... seems to be mandatory for reaction channels

8:56 there is a story about a Japanese sailor who was the only fisherman to survive a storm and ended up washing up on the shores of Russia. The Japanese government wouldn’t let him back in so he ended up living the rest of his life in Russia. He even went to Moscow and taught the Russians how to speak Japanese

You should get a dummy battery for your camera with an ac connector. 💜🇦🇺

Day 10 of asking Alice to return

KAMIKAZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You REALLY need to watch Oversimplified xD

I think you should watch kurzgesagt's video on nukes and how they would affect a city.

I love how all season Brits never pronounce anything correctly. It's cute. EDIT: yes 30 million people is a lot of people but that was also Japan hundreds of years ago. Nowadays there's 30 million people live in just Tokyo alone. In Australia is known for having a small population relative to its size because Australia in and of itself is roughly the size of the lower 48 United States and its population is smaller than Texas

You should watch some videos from the Oversimplified channel. He's really good at what he does and unlike bill wortz he's still making videos.

...and they died in a tornado...

Bada bing bada (insert authors name) .... Siplmy the best

FOREVER TOKUGAWA

...I may not be an expert, but can you not run a cable to charge the camera as you're recording?

Sadly these are the only 2 history videos he’s done lol I don’t know why he doesn’t do more of these videos focused on specific countries, considering the tremendous popularity of just the Japan video and the World History one

yes! Now it's time for a review test. What do Japanese people call their country? No one can answer

Oversimplified? Highly recommended!

can you react to Tim Minchin I'll Take Lonely Tonight. there is a music video and it's a very different Tim song.

Please watch Mt. Saint Helens by Bill Wurtz!

react to Geography Now Japan. from channel Geography Now. it’s amazing

some of your place pronunciations weren’t too bad lol chikushi: chee koo shee hi: hee izumo: ee zoo mo (the kind of ‘mo’ that’s in the start of ‘more’??) kibi: keebee koshi: ko (same vowel as the mo) shee yamato: ya mat oh (same o) kenu: keh noo (noo as in noodle)

If you ever have trouble pronouncing Yamato, just sing "Uchuu Senkan" at an anime convention, and a thousand nerds will provide you with the proper pronunciation.

"... monkey fun, ... " ?

Please react to why don’t we if you havent

Can you react to Pieces by Jinjer? It's pronounced the same as ginger so it's on brand. Don't look anything up, just blind react to their live session.

React to oversimplified world war 2

The 7 years war is crucial for European history, besides Sweden and Iroquois. 😉Frederick the Great was on the brink of losing because he was just over-ambitious. Then-Russian Tzaress Elisabeth died, and her son adored Frederick, so he withdrew Russia from the war. Else Prussia would have fallen, and the Germany of 1871, with WW 1, and the not so funny moustache guy for WW 2 would never have happened. But back to Japan and Samurai suhsi. ^^

PLEASE check out Oversimplified!! Its sooooooo good!

*(Please react on geography now india)*

Not positive, but since the guy is from sweden, & I know people from sweden who have a J near the beginning of their name that is pronounced like a Y sound. So Im guessing you pronounce his name Byottis with a long O so yo rather than ya sound B o tis. I could be way wrong, but that's my guess.

react to the spanish civil war

You look similar to stormy daniel somehow

Why can't you have the camera plugged into the wall and not run out of power?, said the dude who doesn't know how that works

Wait wait wait....the part when they locked down the country....didn't your country JUST do this for 2 years for COVID?! :D

Hi = "he" Chikushi = "Chee-Koo-She" Izumo = "EE-Zoo-Moe" Koshi = "Koe-She" Kibi = "Key-Bee" Yamato = "Yah-Mah-Toe" Kenu = "Keh-New"

Please react to Oversimplified's videos, also funny and educational! =D =)

Alice...i REALLY hope you arent done reacting to Bo Burnham.