Japan: Our Far East Partner - The Big Picture 

I've been studying WWII quite a bit recently, and I find the post-war US-Japan relationship to be one of the most interesting subjects of that era. Sometimes I find myself thinking about how the world today would be vastly different if Japan turned out differently.

I remember watching The Big Picture on TV when I was a small boy in the 1950's + 1960's. It was my first opportunity to see real soldiers not in the movies.

I am now convinced that we are friends. Let's fight together next time.

The US-Japanese war is one of the most inhuman post-industrial war you could ever learn about. yet the occupation was so full of humanity… It really represents a miracle in a recent, global history so full of uncontrolled violence & deluded hatred. It’s just such a shame that the world could benefit from learning these essential, yet obscure moments in human history. I’m not really confident that many Americans know of the good deeds their country did with Japan, nor take it for granted.

"The communists here aren't strong, but they are noisy." Some things never change lol

We rebuilt them . not like Russia did with Germany . glad they became our friends. I have been there , they are good people . lets hope we stay that way

very informative video

This was an excellent presentation. This presentation is right about Russia had some type of plan to control Japan as they had planned to take over Hokkaido as well as to advance down the Honshu island, but then the Supreme Commander of the Pacific, Gen. Douglas MacArthur did not tolerate such take over by Russian and that put stop to Russian advancement. My father landed in Wakayama area, in September of 1945, believed to be with 6th Army, then assigned to 398 Infantry to be MP in Osaka area. He loved Japan so much because of the people being honest and dedicated to perform their duties to the best of their ability, as well as excellent food Japan offers. He loved so much he lived his rest of his life in Japan. Now these days Japan is so important to the security of the entire Asia as China is flexing her military muscle against Taiwan as well as within South China Sea as China might be planing to invade Taiwan in the near future and one of the Japan's top government official Mr. Aso Taro recently indicated that if Taiwan falls to China, Japan will act with force, not just defensively otherwise, he said, Japan will be the next target. So the relationship between Japan and the U.S. has never been important these days in order to keep China, North Korean and Russia in check.

Japan, one of the great mega tribes of the humanity.

The Korean war benefitted Japan greatly. It kickstarted the Japanese industry again, gave ordinary Japanese jobs due to demand, and cash infusion for their battered economy.

Thank you! My Dad was a CPO WW2. Ron PTL USA

We the USA, we might say Japan, our great ally and asset...! Japan, they might say , the USA our great friend and ally!... We need each other!!

Love USA JAPAN!

God bless Macarthur, the big boss, " Gaijin Shogun"!! God bless Hirohito, truly a great man!

Hi Nuclear Vault and thank you for sharing this fantastic collection of reports. I am wondering if it is possible to find them collected in dvd's. Can you help me with that? I would like to share them with my students. Thank You!

God Bless America! 🇯🇵❤🇺🇸

I would like to complain about some things about America, but in the end, Japan improved under MacArthur's rule.

Wonder if they started the KFC Christmas tradition at this time.

18:03 when you open a pack of gum in class

Lincoln said it best..."With Malice Toward None"

Bro imagine someone having one of the cars still to this days

When I was small, there was little devastation left in the cities, but wounded ex-soldiers were still a frequent sight. Our town still had its air raid shelters intact.

Sorry I didn't mean that as a serious comment. I'm just kind of hooked on watching these videos. History interests me :) LOL yes the same goes from North Korea when their dear leader died. Everyone was 'crying' on camera.

Japan be like : Yey, No Soviets!

Propaganda, politically motivated goodwill or whatever, the fact remains that revival of Japan owes much to the U.S. assistance. Imagine what the outcome would've been if it was Russia that occupied Japan.

Japan has a lot of Buddhist history ...which possibly is why I find them very gentle/kind/polite 😊

The UN is not what it used to be, that's for sure, Lucky America is. ❤️great documentary

The world owes you so much, long live the USA..

I'm guessing it was several years later. I wasn't looking for clues while watching, but it sounds like Korea was done or winding down, they refer to the occupation only in the past tense, and an earlier episode of the big picture is titled "Christmas in Korea - 1953" (10 episodes earlier, to be exact (TV 244). Odd how no air dates are listed, here or anywhere else.

good for Japan they were assisted by the US, unlike the Philippines although liberated by the US (because it was under the US when the Spaniards were kicked out) were left to fend for themselves by giving them their independence in 1947.

I'm no expert in the matter, but I thing the promotion of small businesses at the beginning of the occupation probably did a lot of good at jump starting the Japanese economy. Unfortunately, the occupational government allowed the communists to spread for a time to help remove some of the imperialism and authority of the government. I'm all for the promotion of small business and allowing the workers to own their own capital, but the communist used it as leverage to grow in Japan. This eventually force the occupational government to later begin promoting big businesses heavily which may have been good at first, but now in modern Japan, Big businesses have a great deal of power and many peoples lives revolve around those businesses. So much so that it is not uncommon for Japanese workers to work themselves to death from the social expectations and pressure. There is nothing wrong with diligence and dedication, But I think there is a line were the individual should be able to I need a break. And as far as I am aware, That is socially frowned upon in Japan. I think if the occupational government had promoted small business more in the later years and ensured that larger companies and corporations could not gain to much economic and political control, the quality of life for the average Japanese citizen would probably be noticeably higher. Not to say that I think Japan is a bad place, quite the opposite. But I think the corporations there have too much control and power over social pressure in Japan. Again, I am no expert by any means, that's just my opinion.

28:13 Yes the recruiter

Irattsa imasu?? Welcome is Irasshaimase or Okaerinasai, oh well it's okay. LOL

I think what the narrator says for “welcome home” is a little… off to put it lightly, but I can’t blame him. This video wasn’t for people who intended to go there. Lol

Back when US is trustee of humanity. But now

Narrator: 'Hello fellow Americans. Forget about what we said in our films of the 1940s. You can stop hating the Japanese now.'

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

😎 🇺🇸 🤝 🇯🇵 😎

I assume this aired in 1952? That's when American troops stopped occupying Japan.

Beacause of Korean War, it makes Japan Rich😤

It's hard to believe out troops at Okinawa and Iwo Jima were giving their own lives to kill these people. Now a few years later they're learning their customs and sitting down and eating and laughing and having a good time together. This is really good to see after all of that horror; they got us at Pearl Harbor and we got them at Hiroshima. All is fair in the world of war.

Propaganda or not, there was some truth underneath it. Unlike in Soviet propaganda materials where you had to smile always in camera, otherwise - big trouble.

God bless Uncle Sam😁

Japan was our friend and ally long before WW2 and once again after WW2. We have fought more wars against Britain than Japan. Friendship is a more natural state of affairs than being enemies. BTW Japan was a better friend to the US before WW2 than we were to them.

"Okaerinasai" is welcome back in Japanese.

Todays youth no longer interested about the past...

Definitely the U.S. military's occupation of post-WW II Japan turned out a lot better than many Japanese folks thought and feared it might. But as much as U.S. aid initially kick-started Japan's economic recovery, the _real_ driving force that resulted in Japan eventually ascending to the world's second most powerful economy by the mid 1980's was the Bank of Japan's decades-long planned credit allocation scheme called "window guidance". The following documentary, based upon a book of the same name by economist Richard Werner who was a visiting Fellow at the Bank of Japan during the 'bubble years', explains the fascinating story of how this worked--at least until the usual suspects (the IMF, the World Bank, vulture hedge funds and shockingly, the BoJ itself) kneecapped Japan's economy and those of the other regional 'Asian Tiger' economies in the 1990's: 1:32:39 Nov 4, 2014 Independent POV Princes of the Yen: Central Bank Truth Documentary - RU-vid "There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know." - Harry Truman

O que duas bombas atômicas não fazem a uma nação, saiu de um país feudal atrasado e fechado para uma das nações mais rica e moderna do mundo.

I salute to America 🇵🇭

America is a nation that although is never perfect,is noble in it's people's wishes to make things better for all.of course the left would dissmis this as false propaganda,show me another nation that has done better.

Yeah this footage doesn't seem choreographed at all.

So, shame that my son in group home..! Even born in USA..! I been with bad Igroup..!

At wars end in New Guinea The Native NG Compatriots were asked who were their greatest combatants in the NG Jungles The Australians or The Americans , They replied Australians Army. We’re upon you without the enemy knowing The Japanese were terrified of the Australians. However The USA were the greatest Army with all their Heavy Machinery Aircraft & Bombs in a very short time ‘ No more Jungle’ Which caused the Japanese to withdraw from NG never to return.

Looks like we should follow our own advice in restoring Democracy to the US.

........

And now Anime in USA is influenced from JAPAN

CORRECTION Iratsusseimatsu ✕ We say I-RA-(tsu)-ssha-i-ma-se

Its fun to think about that... we in eastern europe do absolutly nothing to provoke war , we was oppresed by nazies and then trown to Stalin big mounths. Germany and Japan was responsible for all atrocities and then saved by USA to be prosperius and live like we never be able after 40 years of new ocupation. Fair enough our goverment send all germans away from our country after war and they live way better lifes in germany :-D

Do you think this could have been the first chance for a lot of Japanese citizens to see an African American?

7:50 - Lol... "land reform", sounds pretty communist... >;-)

Build or used Japan and it's people for your own benefits?.....big question asked by one of American analyst

I like America just before this 21st century. American now is quite like a deranged one, so many unnecessary fights like gender equality, lgbtq, gender definition, free loan, free healthcare etc. It's becoming more and more in need of help from countries like Japan, Singapore, south Korea to teach them how good administration should work.

Yeah, some of the older Japanese standing in the video sure look happy to see foreign troops on their soil....if nothing else, they are likely happy the US is there over another country...

Japan also owes Restitution to Change na fir it's atrocities and merciless war crimes fir it's invasion on China in 1937.

I love girls in Japan

Exactly... like, er, the Soviets?

after Japan surrender American help japanese😊

70 odd years ago: "Some day the Japanese will be strong enough to defend their own country." *70 years later:* Japan _still_ occupied by American soldiers and _still_ can't defend itself mostly due to a terribly low enlistment rate. Seems that we may have over succeeded in both winning the Pacific War as well as our efforts to turn Japan in to a peaceful country shortly thereafter.

America to Hirohito: I need your help, we rebuild Japan Soviet Union to Hirohito: Execute this shit with firing squad

No, you can't. After occupation (getting off easy considering the atrocities the Imperial Japanese Forces committed on just about every other nation in the Pacific), Japan reverted to domestic rule and sovereignty. Just because Hong Kong is now an open-air park for formerly free people instead of a democracy doesn't mean you have to project your own insecurities on everyone else.

I

america should be palpatined.

It’s no longer Japan; in 2020 it’s China.

“And how are these soldiers received by the people whose land they occupy? Not as overlords. Not as antagonists. Not as men who are distrusted and feared and presented, but as friends...” Hahahaha, just you wait. Soon enough you’ll be treated like shit.

Propaganda and lies

Jepang terpengaruh budaya pornografi sangat parah...orang malas menikah dan tidak ingin punya anak

America never did anything to any other country without expecting more in return.