How Do the Japanese Teach About WWII? 

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Germany: "We remember, we're sorry" Japan: "Sorry, we dont remember"

Japan: We were having a picnic in China, and all over the Pacific. Then for some reason the Americans nuked us.

My grandparents went to Japan about 10 years ago as part of a tour group. My step grandma's father served in the Marines in the Pacific during WWII and witnessed atrocities. They went to Hiroshima and the tour guide presented the atomic bomb as the peaceful people of Japan were randomly attacked by the horrible Americans. When my step grandma told her about stories she heard about Japanese soldiers, the tour guide told her to leave. She believed it was lies made to make Japan look bad because Americans are jealous of Japan's success. This was someone leading tour groups!

My wife is Japanese from Japan. They do not mention the rape of Nanking, they do not mention the empire aggression they wanted, they glance over Pearl Harbor, but they sure do talk about the atom bombs and fire bombing of the cities. It’s sanitized history.

When I studied Japanese in college I had several Japanese friends. They told me America only dropped the atomic bomb on Japan and not Germany because of racism. When I told them the atomic bomb wasn’t successfully tested until after Germany surrendered, they had a rather shocked look on their faces.

For a culture so obsessed with honor they sure did lack it.

When I was living in Japan, a friendly clothing-shop owner asked me while doing small talk where I came from. "Germany", I answered. He brightened, smiled, told me Germany is a great country and if I knew that Japan and Germany were war-time friends? He told me what a strong leader Hitler was, and proudly showed me a Nazi-uniform replica hat in his (otherwise normal) clothing shop. He couldn't understand, why I didn't want to buy it?? I tried to explain as politely as possible that he shouldn't sell stuff like that, especially to Germans, that swastika symbols were illegal in Germany and that Hitler was a "really bad man". He was genuinely confused. He never learned in school about the "bad stuff" of Nazi-Germany and was terribly sorry, apologising about the Nazi hat. I saw him again a few weeks later when I was in the area. He recognised me and told me that, after going home that day he googled Hitler and the Nazi regime. He was shocked about what he found and apoligised again about not knowing about that stuff before.

I’m an American who taught English in Japanese junior high schools for 17 years. Before that, I tutored Japanese exchange students in the USA. Now most exchange student programs have some academic requirements to take part, you’re usually talking about some very smart kids. So I was really shocked the first time I was tutoring a girl in history and the subject was the Battle of Midway in WW2, we were going into great detail and she was taking all these notes when I asked if she had any questions so far and she honestly asked me 1) what countries fought in the war, and 2) which side won. 🤨?!

I lived in Japan for a few years in the mid 90’s and I was stunned at how many Japanese had no idea of what transpired during WW2. Never mind covering up atrocities, everyone does that, but they really were taught that they were just going about their own business when suddenly America attacked them. This didn’t really start changing until the internet became widely available.

china, korea: yeah we just want you to apologize Japan: we're sorry that you feel like you need an apology

I served with a Japanese man. He stuck out like a sore thumb. He looked like a 25 year old and a 70 year old at the same time. He was a 30 year old Private with Jump Wings. These facts begged some questions. His name was Hiro Yoshimitsu [Yoshi]. He joined the Japanese Ground Defense Force at 17 years of age. He did not like school. He did not study. He excelled at being a warrior. He volunteered for everything. He eventually earned an officer commission. As such he was offered a slot at US Army Airborne Jump School in Ft Benning, Georgia. He took it. He learned US Military history. He graduated and earned his Jump Wings. He went to a US Marine Corps recruiting office (in uniform) and asked how he could become a Marine. The Marines asked why he wanted to be one of us. He said he learned about what Japan did in WWII and that he didn't want to fight for them anymore. He would fight for us instead. He would redeem his family and his honor with his service to us. He was told he would lose his rank because he didn't have a High School Diploma and no college education, he barely spoke English. He would also have to graduate Marine Corps boot camp. Square One. He agreed. He went home to Japan. He resigned his commission. He sold everything he owned and brought a one way ticket to San Diego. He enlisted the next day. He graduated boot and went on to become an 0311. Infantryman. He served with me in First Battalion, Seventh Marines. Chesty's old outfit. (Look it up, It'll make more sense) A Japanese Soldier became a Son of Chesty. Life is funny sometimes.

I did a trip to Bataan a few years ago. They have a museum where the American-Filipino’s surrendered. In the museum they have pictures of what the Japanese’s did to the civilian population in Manila when it fell. One picture was of women with her cloths half ripped off and her breast cut off. We were told by the administer that a Japanese student broke down to tears when he saw that. He had know idea of the atrocity his country had done to the Filipino people.

This would be a good series. How do ---- teach about WW2. All the participants

I clearly remember what a Chinese exchange student told me about Japanese and American involvement in world war two, he said that while America is now a rival of china he is grateful to the US for them having avenged the atrocities committed on China by Japan when China was too weak to get it's own justice.

During the invasion, Japanese army dropped bacteria bombs in my hometown Quzhou (if you watched the movie Midway, it’s in there) and my grandmother as a kid was effected by it and since had a severe skin problem on her legs, which got passed down to my father and maybe me. It’s a symptom that makes your skins on the leg become fish scales like and very itchy. And I know that there are many many more people who are still living with the aftermath of their war crimes.

My wife is a Filipina. I have been to the Philippines four times. 400,000 of their civilians and soldiers were killed in 3 years. They will never forget.

I attended college with a large Asian population in the student body. A few of the Japanese students had no idea what happened leading up to the war. As far as they knew, Japan was minding its business and America attacked them. One Japanese guy I knew became obsessed with WWII because he was never taught much about it. He had never heard of Pearl Harbor. It really had a profound effect on him.

Japan: We did not participate in WWII. Everyone: You participated in WWII! Japan: Here, have a waifu. Everyone: You are completely innocent.

In 1990, I was teaching at a small school in CT that had Korean and Japanese students. In one class, I had a student on the Roster as Myung, which is a Korean name. I said hello in Korean and he looked at me like I was crazy. Very insulted, he said he was Japanese. I replied that I had made the mistake based on his Korean name, which he flat-out denied was anything but Japanese. I let it drop, but later heard that he had complained to his family. His grandmother confirmed she had been a comfort woman, and that he was part Korean, his father a child of Japanese rapists. That brought out that his mother was probably also the child of a comfort woman, though his maternal grandmother had passed away some time before. Myung later told me that all of his Japanese friends wound up shunning him over it. Occasionally, Asian kids would bring their textbooks to use as reference materials. The math and science books were pretty good, but the history books were exactly as you said - the Japanese very thin on WW2, and the Korean and Chinese ones full of stories from the time. The Japanese kids would be angry about the "false history" from the time, like the Bataan Death March mentioned in Zinn, but they quickly realized that ther was a lot missing from their history books.

I'm from Singapore, and we are conscripted to serve 2 years in the army. When telling that to a Japanese friend, he asked why bother who will attack Singapore? I told him Japan did and killed many civilians indiscriminately. He was in disbelief. I told him the whole world know it and knows that Japan is whitewashing it. Send him some articles. Unfortunately, he never spoke to me again

Germany: we have committed countless attrocities and shall now make laws to be better, as well as pay reperations. (Edit, was repititions as a typo) Italy and Russia: we joined the allies and were forgiven. Japan: there was no war is ba sing se

Japan: i dont remember anything from that night Nazi Germany: dude you were so drunk that you punched america and america beat the shit out of us

Living in Japan for the past ten years I can confirm the entirety of this video.

Next time anyone visits Japan, try visiting history museums. I encourage you to do a Google translate on the alot of the Japanese descriptions. You will notice that there's a difference in what's written in Japanese vs what's written in English

20 years ago my new Japanese wife and I were watching the movie “Pearl Harbor.” She honestly thought it was totally fictional and was shocked to learn that the Japanese had actually attacked the US. She said the Japanese schools never taught anything about the war that portrayed them as aggressors.

as a german, im very proud of the german education system and that in school they teach what genuinely happened because i think you should always remember what your ancestors did wrong to learn out of those mistakes because our generation has the responsibility to not let history repeat itself

My grandpa was a pow at the hands of the Japanese for 4 years. His memoirs speak of the horrors he witnessed. He watched his best friend die in front of him because a sadistic guard jump on his friends head.

While serving in the US Air Force my wife and I hosted Japanese foreign exchange students. One day, while exploring a nearby Discovery Store, one teenage girl we were hosting asked me why a framed picture on the wall for sale was of any importance. I looked at the picture and it was of the aircrew standing in front of the Enola Gay. I had to tell her why, from our perspective, the mission of the Enola Gay was so wonderful and saved American AND Japanese lives. It was hard to see the look on her face. She went on to explain that it was a horrific attack but she understood it. She also told us that the Americans had actually dropped leaflets over the cities warning people to leave but the Japanese government downplayed it and reassured everyone they were safe. Interesting side note: the fire bombing of Tokyo in June had a higher death toll and was more horrific than the Atom bombs. It just didn’t have the shock value.

Japan’s denial of their war atrocities is straight up shameful. Knowing Better (another RU-vid channel) has another very good video on the subject.

My parents are Korean and I asked them why they hated Japan so much. They spent like 30 mins naming atrocities and told me not to watch anime because the Japanese would put subliminal messaging in it to make it seem like they were victims.

My cousin was captured in Bataan. He survived the death march and the prison camp. I never knew him because he had to live in Florida. Physically, he couldn't handle the New England winters. My dad told me how thin he was when he came home. His experience probably shortened his life. I'm surprised how many young people in America never heard of Bataan. They heard of the atomic, though..

I was teaching in Japan when Hirohito died. All but the elderly, celebrated his death. University students rebelled by refusing to take a break from their classes. I was shocked to find out Hirohito was hated by the modern population.

Axis Lost: Hitler: Shot him self Mussolini: hanged to death Hirohito: Vacation in US and Went to Disney Land

I asked a Japanese friend what he thought about the war in the Pacific. He only replied "Victors write the history of war". That's all I really needed to know. It really sounds like Japan continues to downplay what happened during the war while Germany has fully owned what happened and moved on. Japan likewise could be a fully rehabilitated nation but it simply refuses to do so.

I'm 63. My father fought the Japanese in WW2. My uncle was killed in Guadalcanal by the Japanese. I do feel some resentment over imperial Japan as it was a conflict dealing directly with my country and family. The Japanese imperial army, unit 731, various actors at that time acted savagely as seen with catching Chinese babies on bayonets for fun. Truly evil at anytime in history these acts were. At the same time I'm sure there was many an honorable soldier amongst them. We are all ppl after all. Some good and bad amidst all groups of ppl. But once something is done and over to hold grudges only serves to darken ones own soul to continue bitterness and division. I visited Japan in 2002 and found many ppl very kind and it was a lovely place to visit. War and sadism are just evil things in the dark soul of humanity and it's not specific to a race . The hope is for a kinder future for us all.

Japanese citizens: ''So when do we get to learn about the stuff we did in the war?'' Japanese educational system and government: ''That's the neat part, you don't : D''

Back in 1990 I was a 20 year old on my first overseas trip. Went to Honolulu and to see the Pearl Harbour memorial. The coach we went on was chock full of Japanese tourists. I had a bit of downtime with the driver after the visit and asked him how does it feel to him to take Japanese people to this place? He said, long story short this is the first time they learn about what happened, what Japan was involved in and its a real eye opener for them. They just don't learn it at home.

a friend of mine spent a couple of years as an exchange teacher in Japan, she said the school she taught at they teach this: "Japan was backed into a corner by western colonialism and unreasonable trade restrictions and the only course was to fight, despite Japan's superior culture, superior technology and superior warriors Japan could not match the US's superior manufacturing capability and eventually the war did not go favourably" that's it, that's all they taught, no mention of the invasion of China, no mention of their imperialism and conquering of other nations, no mention of atrocities or war crimes

You earned a sub sir. Amazingly comprehensive, yet easy to digest information. Look forward to browsing your back-catalogue.

When I was in Japan, we toured Japanese bunkers. In the bunkers they showed pictures of Japanese officers digging out holes and insinuate that they built them themselves. They don’t tell you that Okinawan slave labor built the other 1000. The also had a bunker where you could see shrapnel from a grenade and it read that the Japanese committed suicide honorably. They didn’t have the picture of American GIs walking around with a literal bucket of grenades tossing them into holes and bunkers. And yes, they still have statues with swastikas erected.

My grandmother's uncle was a P.O.W. captive in a Japanese camp. He never talked about the war but my grandma relayed to me one story. His fellow prisoner was starving to death so my great great uncle swiped a melon rind (like a cantaloupe rind) that the soldiers had discarded from under a fence to give his starving friend to eat. Soldiers caught him and knocked his teeth out with a rifle butt and beat him. He was eventually rescued, weighed 90 pounds, looked like a crippled old man in his 20s, and never talked about the war except a small handful of times. Died in his early 40s.

I visited Pearl Harbor while in Hawaii on our honeymoon. Before the tour, there was a short historical film about what lead to the attack and the consequences. There were many Japanese tourists there, and they were literally horrified. They had no idea of the history of the war, and looked literally sick at what they were seeing.

I went to college in upstate NY, my Japanese friends (whom are exchange students from japan) know nothing about the WW2 and what Japanese soldiers did in China, Korea and Philippine. My friend showed a book “Rape of Naking” with graphic pictures gave her Japanese girlfriend and she shocked and was cried.

The dangers of forgetting history is we are bound to repeat it.

As an American I know we don’t love to admit fault. But as a resident of Japan and former school teacher, I got in trouble for talking about “pearl harbor” which didn’t happen.... and I recently talked to my partner about Unit 731 and then she had nightmares because she never heard about it. At least her grandfather said “we were not good to China” without detail.

Germany: We are so sorry, please forgive our past and we will pay more reparations.. Italy: wdym we and the allies won Japan: What war?

It was surprising to learn this because I had been very impressed with Peace Park in Hiroshima in 2008. It included a memorial for the Korean workers who were incredibly badly treated during WWII. It's unfortunate that this is not the norm in most of Japan.

Something interesting, in 2007 Success Corporation released Operation Darkness on Xbox 360 in Japan. It was a WWII game that took place on the European front, which, as you can imagine was rather rare. It was also ally sided. In 2008, the game was localized and published by Atlus. I haven’t beaten the game yet, only just over 2/3rds in, but even with some localization changes you can still somewhat see what you’re talking about. The main villains are the Germans, and the game avoids even mentioning Japan’s involvement, from their attacks to their occupied territories, unless they have to. They also avoid showing the Americans, and when they do, they portray the American soldiers as enjoying the killing of the Nazis, and the protagonist and his best friend are shown to have a lot of prejudice against the Axis, which is criticized by the other characters. Of course, I played the localized version, so I’m not sure how much Atlus changed the script for the western release, I’d love to hear if anyone’s played the Japanese version and saw differences. Even then, however, the game’s an interesting looking glass into how the Japanese portray WWII.

As a rare, English speaking Japanese teenager, I can say this video is very accurate.

* Opens up japanese history book * 1. Prehistory 2. Edo Period 3. End of Isolationism 4. 1900s-1930s 5. 1950s-1990s 6. Recent Years

Very informative and interesting video. I love studying history definitely subscribing

when even the nazis where saying to the japanese about their human experiments "wtf, chill bro", you know that the atrocities were something else and on a different level altogether during WWII

Married for 37 years to a Japanese wife and we were watching band of brothers the episode when they found the camps, I said you think this is bad what the Japanese did was worst, she freaked out had no idea what I was talking about. I showed her a documentary about the actives the Japanese had done to the Chinese, Philippines and others, never seen her cry like that in my life ugh. I couldn't believe she never heard of any of these things, but after going to Japan several times I realize most people no matter how educated they are, they have never heard of a lot of this stuff.

As one of the country heavily affected by the Japanese occupation, we still learn at school about all the atrocities that their army did in our countries. The kidnapping of innocent locals, the massacre, mostly those with Chinese descent, the rapes and the enslavement of men, usually the Malay and British army that they caught to build train railways etc etc. someone should make a documentary about their war crime in Japanese language and spread it to the people.

My wife is Chinese and members of her family were murdered by the japanese during the war and Her opinion on the dropping of nuclear bombs on japan is “GOOD BUT NOT ENOUGH” and I totally agree with that. They should be forced to educate their people about what they did and the fact that they don’t is a disgrace and an insult to the people they tortured and murdered.

I had a friend that moved to the states from Japan. I brought up Pearl Harbor one day and he never heard of it until that moment I was shocked

You need to get Japanese subtitles put on this.

Germany: our doctor mengele is very sadistic. Japan: ok, but have you tried inhumanely dissecting a man alive?

Si, great content as always!

I was flying to Japan and a young Japanese lady talked to me along the way. When she learned that I was in the military she asked if I could answer a question she had. Her question: why are you here in our country? She had never heard of WW2 and had no idea why there were American military bases in her country. We had an interesting conversation about history after that.

To be fair even American schools don’t teach about the Japanese atrocities during the war. Most schools focus on Germany too.

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, my grandmother told me she would often see people being beheaded besides the docks and thrown into the seas. She recalled that the water around the docks were blood red most of the time.

In fairness, I took history in school until I was 18 here in the UK, and I can't say I remember ever learning about any atrocities committed by any side during the war. It was really just about learning the timeline of events that led up to WW2.

I was lucky enough to go to Japan multiple times on business for weeks at a time. A few trips took me to the region of Hiroshima, where I went to the Peace Memorial Museum a few times. I was surprised at how truthful they were in their culpability for their part in the war. They talked about the use of Korean women as concubines and men as slaves and how brutal their pre WWII history was. There's a Memorial to the Koreans who died during the bombing as well. I once met met an older gentleman, and he owned a restaurant that I frequented. He remembers the bombing raids when he was about 10. His dad, who played the accordion at the restaurant, fought in WWII. The owner once told me, "That was our father's and grandfather's war." His dad, who I'd always buy a short beer for (they don't accept tips), would come to my table and play something like Yankee Doodle Dandy for me with a smile. His kids were in US universities at that time, BTW. I experienced zero negativity during any of my stays in Japan. The Koreans do still hold a bit of a grudge on their Japanese neighbors. I've been there and learned very quickly, not to mention my like of Japan and its culture.

I lived in Japan for 5 years from 2008 - 2013 and many to this day don't even realize how bad imperial japan treated other countries during wartime. Very eye opening.

My great grandfather was chosen to be executed by the Nippon soldiers during the SookChing operation. But while being transported to the execution location (most likely Changi beach) he took the opportunity to jump out of the truck that he was being transported on and hid in the forest before sneaking back home after the operation ended. He was soooo proud of his escape that he constantly bragged about it to my mother and my uncle and aunts

Thank you for exploring this in such detail for both Germany and Japan; but now, of course, I hope you cover Italy :)

Sat on a plane to Narita with a young school girl doing an exchange tour in US. She said her folks were ok with her doing it, but her grandparents didn’t due to..”You know, the bomb.” When I probed her knowledge of WWII, I realized she had none. That began my 30min history of Japan in WWII. She was shocked. Even discussed topic with a senior Japanese Naval Officer who had no idea we had plans to invade home island but deemed too costly in civilian and military losses. In fact, good thing we didn’t invade, initial estimate 500,000 mil and 1mil civ losses was probably off by a factor of 2 due to forces there we didn’t know of at the time.

More people need to know about this. This is SERIOUSLY scary. p.s can't believe I'm writing this, but to the ones with reading disabilities: no, I don't mean what the Japanese did in WWII, but their alternative history.

Germany really be the only country to own up to there mistakes.

I'm a History lover. Particularly the time period from the Crimean war to today wit an emphasis on WWII. WWII is what really influenced my decision to join the United States Marine Corps. Because all of it shaped the world we live in today. Realistically, all history has. But the massive changes we live with today are from events that took place the years 1853 to present (to include our own Civil War 1861-1865). I include Crimea in there because it was the beginning of the end of the wars started and dictated by and between the old monarchies. This is 100% accurate. Just forgot to mention the Flying Tigers in WWII. My wife is Japanese. She knew next to nothing about WWII before we met. She actually views Pearl Harbor as Japan's first direct strike on us after the United States starting attacking Japan before formally declaring war. Japan teaches about the U.S.A. allying with China and organizing the "Flying Tigers" to bomb Japan and attack their aircraft and ships under the Chinese insignia. That's true, Roosevelt knew what Japan was doing was wrong and wanted to formally declare war on them but congress wouldn't allow it. So, he did what Biden is doing now in Ukraine as a matter of fact, and that's disconcerting. It actually is, for real, what lead to Japan and the U.S. in all out war. We may not view ourselves as being at war with Russia. But I am pretty sure Russia does. Anyhow, Japan teaches that the United States chose to be deceitful and cowardly by attacking them while hidden under a different flag. So they decided to attack us as they were certain we would be in open war soon and they wanted to land the first blow. A decisive one that would force the U.S. to negotiate. Well, we stopped making refrigerators, cars and designer clothing that very day and started making bombs, tanks, fighter planes, ships and everything else we needed to kick their ass. For the first time since the war of 1812, we were actually one and there was no nation on the planet who stood a chance against us. Japanese students know nothing of the Battles, they know nothing of the treatment and torture Japan's military inflicted upon POWs and civilians. They don't acknowledge the fact that Japans Imperialist ideals to rule over all of Asia as criminal behavior, in fact some even view Japan as the savior of Asia as they meant to liberate Asia from the oppressions European and U.S. Colonialism. One could still make an argument for that, because The UK, the US the French and several other countries in Europe taking land and colonizing it was a crime as well. We are guilty of that in the Philippines and the Banana Republic. in fact we were headed to full scale war with the Philippines because after we chased Spain out, we never gave it back and PI mounted a military force and did fight us. But Japan invaded PI and they and the U.S. had a common enemy and a far more cruel and brutal one to fight off together. They make relations between PI and the U.S. appear as though they were so tight, like brothers. But the truth is, it was a case of mutual benefit. Japan was ruthless. We were greedy and way out of line by occupying them after liberating them from Spain, but we weren't raping, killing and enslaving their people. We were stealing however, but at least we acknowledge it and have apologized for it. Japan has not and likely will not, ever. The Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Well, what else can I saw except, that was unfortunate and could've been avoided if Japan had accepted our terms of surrender. Of course they were to be gilded. The Warrior ethos for Japan at the time was about as fucked up as it could get! That shit needed to be stomped out it's entirety and most Japanese today agree. The Brutality was barbaric. Sinister, lacking compassion of any kind for civilians or soldiers alike. No surrender, fight to the death. Damn near literally to the last fucking man and that's just ridiculous. They behaved like savages, straight up prehistoric sociopathic psychopaths, but with modern weapons. Of course they needed to be stripped down completely. It would have maintained an existence today if we had not. To sum up the mentality of the Japanese army, they were pretty much Nazis. The regular German soldier, was just a soldier. A man of duty and honor. Brutal, as a soldier needs to be if you expect any chance of living and emerging victoriously, but they weren't necessarily sinister, or psychopaths, or murderers. the Nazis were those things, the Nazis were murderers, mass murderers and as such, that organization was not allowed to exist. The Japanese, Imperial army was like the Nazis. It was one of the biggest cult indoctrinations ever assembled, they worshiped the Emperor as a living God. It was madness and that's why Unconditional Surrender was the only way we could accept it. That madness had helped create possibly the worst time in human history. That mentality could not be allowed to live on after Japan was defeated. There were 3 options: 1: Japan admits defeat after losing Okinawa and surrenders. -this is what everyone was hoping for because it was obviously the best possible option. 2: Japan refuses to surrender and the United states invades the mainland. -The worst option -As bloody and awful as Okinawa was, it would have been nothing in comparison to invading Japans mainland. Our projected losses were in the area of 500,000-1,000,000 soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines. That's a loss that is unfathomable with a huge margin of guessing. That's more losses than we lost in the entire war between fighting Germany, Italy and Japan. And it was actually a lie. The military suspected over 1,000,000 wounded and KIA. The Public heard 500,000. Over a million was just too much for the people in America to process so they downplayed it to half that. And imagine being a Soldier or a Marine knowing you'll be on thee ground, and that you'll basically have to kill everyone on the mainland with your own hands if you have too, and the likelihood you'll live to see the end is almost non-existent. You have like, no chance of making it off that island and all you want to do is go home. 3. Japan refuses to surrender and we use our New Atom Bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy to persuade them. -The 2nd worst option -And if they still don't surrender, I guess we invade because those were the only 2 A-bombs we had and Japan's standing orders to all the Emperors subjects were to fight to the death. Never surrender. Now put that into perspective when passing judgement on Truman for approving the use of the Atomic bombs. Japan had given us no reason to suspect they were bluffing when they said they would fight to the death. Every single battle had ended that way with maybe a hand full of prisoners who were still deemed as cowards when they returned home after the war. Even the soldiers who didn't surrender, were looked at as having no honor. i could talk about WWII all day. I started reading WWII history when I was 18 years old, a Marine Private first Class on Camp Lejeune, NC. in the base library, there was a WWII veteran, a Marine who fought on Tarawa with 3/2 (3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division). which just happened to be the Battalion and Regiment I was assigned to. I mostly ready about the war in the Pacific. I have read quite a bit more than your average Joe about the war in Europe but the Pacific always had my interest just a little bit more. in Europe, it was war. it's all bad. Bad bad bad. Africa, Italy, Anzio, the Hurtgen Forest, Bastogne, the Battle of the Bulge, etc. So many, it was all bad. But the Pacific was so different. It was a different battle field entirely. Your battlefield always included the sea which in and of itself is more than awful. Then you get to shore and start actually being able to fight back. Tarawa...fuck an A.... Peleliu! New Britain, Guadalcanal, The Philippines, OKINAWA. And the enemy was different. Far worse than your average German soldier. Fuckin Fanatics! I mean fuck! One Japanese soldier held out until 1972! How fucking crazy do you have to be to do something like that? Like I said, it was like fighting an entire army of Nazi SS. Just fucking insane. But unlike the SS, the Japanese soldier will NOT surrender. You're going to have to kill all of them. Great presentation. Japan needs to teach it accurately. It's not right that they just pretend it really wasn't a big deal because it was. The world has never been the same. It thrusted us into the age of weapons of mass destruction and that alone warrants teaching with 100% accuracy what lead us here.

It's still cheap in terms of a holiday destination. Yes prices have gone up but look at places like Bali... the increase there is crazy. I traveled to Thailand a bit in my younger days and recently took my young family there for 3 weeks which cost the same as a 1 week pacific island getaway.

And Japanese are surprise to see even docile Vietnamese often react badly when hearing Japanese Empire was the victim of WWII, they’re not.

As an American who has visited Japan several times, I found it particularly interesting the way their museums presented the war. For example, while the atomic bomb museum in Hiroshima presents events in a relatively straightforward and factual way (the goal being to prevent similar events in future,) the national war museum in Tokyo presents it as “we just wanted some oil for our beautiful nation and the colonial powers weren’t sharing; we HAD to attack them! They gave us no choice!” Said museum also punches up prestious Japanese projects, like the battleship Yamato. They don’t mention that the Yamato barely left port and was quickly sunk by aircraft…

Thank you!

And here I though I knew a lot about ww2 and Japan... Both subjects which I love... Guess u have a new follower

Germany: Ok ok, we did something wrong, let's move on Japan: Huh, we were just having a walk in our neighborhood and we got bombed, wonder why...

Unfortunately, my education, 45 to 30 years ago, neglected the war crimes of Japan. Thanks for this video, as it makes people of all nations consider what has and has not been taught to them.

I am 15 rn and I took 3 years of Japanese middle school which we learnt about ww2 but my teacher in Japan was very blunt about what we did. Like he wanted us to know what our country did. Maybe it depends on the teacher not the educational system.

A comparative study begun in 2006 by the Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University on Japanese, Chinese, Korean and US textbooks describes 99% of Japanese textbooks as having a "muted, neutral, and almost bland" tone and "by no means avoid some of the most controversial wartime moments" like the Nanjing massacre or to a lesser degree the issue of comfort women. The project, led by Stanford scholars Gi-Wook Shin and Daniel Sneider, found that less than one percent of Japanese textbooks used provocative and inflammatory language and imagery, but that these few books, printed by just one publisher, received greater media attention. Moreover, the minority viewpoint of nationalism and revisionism gets more media coverage than the prevailing majority narrative of pacifism in Japan. Chinese and South Korean textbooks were found to be often nationalistic, with Chinese textbooks often blatantly nationalistic and South Korean textbooks focusing on oppressive Japanese colonial rule. US history textbooks were found to be nationalistic, although they invite debate about major issues.

Yeah... Combining lack of understanding with a massive victim complex over the atomic bombs, means that a lotta people in Japan act like acknowledging Korean or Chinese suffering somehow discounts Japan's suffering. And it also normalizes all the atrocities committed with the broad brush excuse of "it was wartime." Add that Yasukuni nonsense as the garnish on top, and you get a country full of people who cannot understand why their neighbors are still mad. I've lived in Japan for a number of years now, and it still makes me facepalm.

On my honeymoon I visited Pearl Harbor with my wife. While there we sat though a video presentation that showed actual footage of the Japanese attack. As we were leaving the presentation a Japanese couple approached us and commented on the movie. My wife is Chinese and was often mistaken as Japanese. I advised them it was not a movie but real footage of the actual Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, their face went white with shock. They had no idea.

Where did you get the $2B compensation? I don't think it was any where close to that.

Every country has it's dark past and it's important to learn from those mistakes, not to embarrass, but to make sure it doesn't happen again. Everyone should know the truth.

True story.. I had to educate my Japanese gf on her on nation's history

As a Marine, I spent 1977 in Okinawa, Japan. One weekend, I and a bunch of fellow Marines watch an old WW2 movie on a local TV station, staring John Wyane(sp?). The whole way though, it was the US winning acrost the pacific, but at the end, it was dubbed in that the war was over and Japan had won as the American were jumping for joy. We just all broke into laughter, almost rolling on the floor.

How many channels does this bloke have? And how many videos does he upload a week? Great work ethic

Learned more about Japanese during WWII from history channel than school. How brutal they were and details about occupied land wasn’t spoke of when I was in school.. (1998)

As a Japanese, I would like to sincerely apologize for our government's behavior and our ignorance. What we have been doing to other countries is beyond cruel, heartbreaking, and embarrassing. I would like you to know that there are many people here who believe these things(historical education, apology, discrimination, hate, etc.....) must be changed. We never forget what happened, and we believe in making wrong things right for our beautiful and loving future. Sadly, I have to admit this is going to take a long time to fix, and I might be gone before I see these improvements because of our political situation, and hate around us(Perhaps you will see what I mean in this comment section....I'm so sick of it), and current society(I'm 21 years old now. I don't want to live the rest of my life without seeing bright future on these things). We still can't talk about Japan's past openly without getting hate, and losing friends or even family, and this is heartbreaking and fearful for us. Many history teachers know these things happened, but they are afraid of being attacked so they don't teach them(I have seen this a lot). We will work to get things right even if it is going to take a long time, we promise. Everybody wants love and peace not hate or ignorance that tears us apart, we have already learned that so many times. If you are Japanese reading this, WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS! Sorry for my bad English. I love you all! Take care!

I've watched a ton of videos asking Japanese in their 20's and 30's and they know NOTHING about WW II, and in particular their part in it. They've done the opposite, as in example, the Germans. The Germans have owned up to their behavior in the War, while Japan has not only never apologized, but has taken an attitude of acting like it never happened.

I was recently at Pearl Harbor, and I wondered at the large amounts of Japanese tourists in Hawaii. I wondered what they thought of the whole presentation.

this is important to talk about but I urge you to consider that America does the same thing. as someone who was partially raised in America I remember being horrified when my teachers would talk about how great the atom bomb was, when they were dropped over civilian cities. I asked people what socialism was, and I got blank stares. they'd never heard of it. not once did anyone bother to mention Vietnam, or Chile, or Laos, or Hawaii, or Cuba, or Korea, and I could go on. american history, as far as schools are concerned, stops at victory over the Japanese and then nothing else happens for seventy or so years. this is not unique to Japan.

I had dinner with Japanese student in the UK some years ago, he asked what the English thought of Japan and its people, So i said the young will think about Japanese horror films (popular at the time), technology, cars etc. The old will think about WWII and what happened to the troops who surrendered at Singapore. He had no idea what i was talking about and as i explained bits of WWII history he had the look on his face that i was lying. Being a Brit, my history is pointed out to me on occasion so i cant blame him to much for not knowing.

I remember reading a novel series(in chinese) that was set during the occupation of Japan in Malaysia and focused on the atrocities commited towards the chinese population there, my great grandparents generations. Bone chilling stories that make me question even if they were human. The audacity to play victim and say "American just randomly bombed us lol" pisses me off.

Simon it just occurred to me to wonder, how do /allies/ portray each other's conduct? For example how does Germany portray Japan and Italy? How does Japan teach about Germany and Italy? How does Italy describe Germany (particularly after September 1943) and Japan?

As a italian, our educational system is strongly focussed on the wrongdoing of the fascist government. And not only the world war, but the colonialist attack to ethiopia too is a very dark page of our history that we need to learn and remember.

This is actually what the Void Century in the manga One Piece references. The Government pretending their crimes didn't happen.

Those who are obsessed with honor often lack it the most.

Lovely video