It's hard to explain how funny this video is from an American perspective. The creator Bill Wurtz is famous for capturing the saccharine-sweet tone of 1980s television in the US, and uses that style to communicate topics that are especially unfiltered or raw. So the contrast between 1980s "fake happy" and grim reality of a war is really hilarious.
@@anubisd613 Saccharine as a noun is an artificial sweetener that is powerfully sweet, 200-500 times sweeter than regular table sugar. Saccharine as an adjective means “too sweet,” as a result of its noun relative. It’s a figure of speech used to describe something that is so kind, happy, or good that the observer finds it too much to handle or almost unbearable to look at or think about. Note: It isn’t used with a positive connotation. Something that is simply cute is not saccharine.
@@milktea4270 I just looked it up and the artificial sweetener is spelled "saccharin" (no e at the end) and is named after the word saccharine. So the word saccharine meaning "sugary" came before the artificial sweetener. The more you know!
This original video is not just funny and interesting. But also the history he tells is more or less correct. just 12 mins to learn the outline of Japanese history.
When Bill Wurtz added the bomb part, he left a few seconds of silence to take tribute to all the people who lost their lives at the bombing. I give my respect to him for doing that.
Thank you for pointing that out. I've watched a few people reacting to this video, and nobody seems to notice this fact. Such a horrible occurrence, one that should never happen again, for it would surely be the end of us all.
There's a tale about the typhoon that killed the mongols in both invasions at Tsushima. The Mongol General Wongjong ordered to burn a temple dedicated to Hachiman, the god of war. When the mongols invaded Tsushima, a typhoon sunk their fleet and they were not able to continue the invasion. The second time, the mongols won the island of Tsushima, killing almost all of samurai that defended the island and the farmers that were providing fire support with their Yumi bows. Then another typhoon hit the island, leaving thousands of drowned mongol soldiers at the beach.
@@jj-li1xo Wong Jong is the Chinese general Kublai Khan sent with the mission of conquering Japan. There are not many records on his previous victories, but he is remembered for this campaign.
You are the first person I've ever seen from Shikoku. It seems Shikoku is the forgotten island of Japan. No media ever really talks about it (like Kyushu, Honshu, or Hokkaido).
I dream of going to Shikoku one day. It looks amazing. I only recently got to go to Iriomote-jima this year. I think my next trip will likely be to explore Shikoku.
"Greeting from the Emperor, ruler of the land of the rising Sun, onto you're Emperor of the land of the setting Sun" - the first establishment of the Japanese Empire.
Every time I hear the history about whatever countries/empires, I always wonder how accurate it is to what actually happened. I'm sure who ever was writing the books/history were biased or ignorant to certain things.
There is not one absolute book about every historical subject. Historical information usually comes from research on multiple sources from different perspectives, which allows historians to eliminate bias and lack of information for the most part. It's not impossible to get the objective version of a lot of historical events (especially more recent ones) assuming that you're willing to look up multiple sources from different sides. It's just a shame that a lot of people are more than happy to immediately accept any uncited (mis)information thrown at them as long as it even slightly conforms to their personal views.
He left out the part when Japan invades and occupied Indonesia for 3 years and forced thousands of Indonesian people to do harsh menial labor (Romusha), and also killed a few millions of us. It only ends because of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I don't know if they teach this in history class in Japan or not though. I'm not starting a hate message, just adding a missed history. Cheers :)
very important to include this history, too. imperial japan did horrific things (not that other countries at this time weren't also doing horrific things) and it's best for it to be acknowledged. especially since a lot of this history is omitted in japanese schools
@@L16htW4rr10r Yes. Something similar took place in Malaysia and Singapore (back then, Malaya and Borneo since Singapore used to be part of British Malaya as one of the states) during the Japanese Imperial invasion. People being tortured and executed, there were cases where local women were raped by the Japanese military, the economy collapsed (much like what any war-torn country would have suffered from). There was also the Death March that took place in Borneo. I don't remember much of what I learnt in my own history classes but I remember our horrified reactions to what had happened in history. The Occupation period may have been quite short but basically, the colonies that were part of the Japanese Empire suffered greatly.
@@Shirley36 yes. But I only spoken in regards of my own country, Indonesia. I can imagine other Japan invaded countries back then suffers the same treatment. Cheers👍
I found your English language videos very recently and I have enjoyed watching them very much! Thank you for making some truly entertaining and insightful content!
I know of Kokeshi dolls but want to learn more about them, they look interesting and very different from what my fellow westerners think of as a doll, I like the craftsmanship on kokeshi dolls as it makes each one look unique
First of all... Congratulations, and severe kudos for making your first English video. You did a fantastic job! Second... Thank you for your highlights on the already entertaining and informative video by Bill Wurtz. I like what you had to say. Thank you for sharing with us.🥰
I read the biography of Fukuzawa Yukichi and it was one of the best books I’ve read. That man was so smart and wise, but also humble and explained a lot of what happened in the 1800s by his accounts of events. I want to visit Japan to see his old school, and other places where certain historical events happened. Hopefully one day before I die.
I live a few minutes away from where the atomic bombs were made (Oak Ridge, TN), and thankfully the facilities used to make the atomic bombs have since been replaced by a massive laboratory (ORNL) which focuses on studying and preserving the Earth, fighting climate change/disease, developing clean energy, and bettering humanity in general. I also visited Japan a few years ago (it's so beautiful, I can't wait to go back again), as well as the peace park. It's a humbling experience.
I like learning about different histories and the relationships between different countries. Did you know that the Japanese words Kōhī and Bīru come from the Dutch koffie and bier?
I subscribed almost immediately, I really appreciate your thoughts and perspective on this, I'd always wondered how somebody from Japan might react to this Bill Wurtz video. I really agree with and value your assertion near the end that we should never resort to nuclear bombs. They are far too destructive not only to People but to the world, the Earth can't defend itself from us and such weapons kill everything. Our political matters shouldn't bring such mass damage or harm so much innocent life. Nobody wins when it comes to that. Greetings from Oklahoma, US 💖
Fun fact, so in the part he talks about the larger nation fighting the smaller nation to take over the capital, the smaller nation won, the main reason is the smaller nation military had Guns, and the larger nation didn't.
I watched your more recent video first and the improvement in your English and in your confidence is very noticible. Your English in this video is already really good, I can understand you perfectly, and I love when you add information and facts as a Japanese 😸. Arigatou gozaimasu!
your English is very good! I'm learning Japanese self study but its a way to try to better myself during this time of covid. plus its interesting to learn of how the prefectures came into being. Thank you for the reaction and all of your hard work!
I am so impressed and realise that this is your first english video, that's a great improvement of your speaking. I am Malaysian and i start learning english language when i was like 7 years old, because my brother play many good old games, and my parents also buy english learning toys for me and my brothers.
This video is really perfect for Japanese people, because they are already accustomed to fast flashing images and hyperactive narration on Japanese TV xD
I really enjoyed your input about the video. Much different than what I found from people living in the north and central China. I lived there for many years and found a very defensive culture, even among the youth. A denial and unwillingness to see any other way to look at world events. I would be very interested in your findings and thoughts and I know Japan is often the brunt of Chinese "attention"! Shanghai was one of the only "open" cities after the war and has a different outlook but you may have also seen a different aspect
That is true, in fact, our christian martyr in the Philippines Lorenzo Ruiz had died and beheaded there during Tokugawa era in their christian mission in Japan.
great video! did you record the videos audio through your microphone? I can hear a slight echo. you can record the videos audio separately to make it clearer
I do also seem to remember that during the Edo period the Shoguns didn't do to well trying to take Miyamoto Musashi's sword. Whether it was a wooden bokken or steel sword Kensei Musashi was amazing. I still have my first copy of "A Book of Five Rings" by Kensei Musashhi along with my copies of Tsun Tzu's "The Art of War, Bruce Lee's "Tao of Jeet Kune Do and Sifu Bruce Lee's Fighting Method, also Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching". Oh and Yuya your English is excellent and we understand you perfectly. I know people from Japan, China and Korea that have lived here in the States for over 60 years that don't speak it as well. We still love and adore them just like our other Puerto Rican, Cuban, Sicilian, Greek and Mexican extended family (my youngest daughter Vickie Terasita Maria Bartlett-DeJesus is Mexican. She was born South of Juarez in Chihuahua County about 1/2 way to Chihuahua City ). Thanks for all you do and share. Gracias mi Amigo !
Yes it is true that Chinese treated Japan as lower people in their early days. Japan only got developed from their Chinese neighbor. It is so sad Japan don’t admit to their culture being influenced off of China.
So back in High school we had a debate in my US History class about whether or not the atomic bomb was okay to be used - personally I think after they destroyed a good chunk of the ecosystem in the Mohave desert turning hundreds of miles of desert sand to glass that should’ve been an indicator that it wasn’t a good thing and highly excessive but lots of people thought the fastest way to end the Japanese-American conflicts (since we were taught that Japan was going to keep fighting for as long as possible) was to decimate the country with a bombing. Not saying it was okay but that’s the American education and sorta-justification on it.
Oh! Shikoku seems really beatiful, it's the part of Japane in which the nature is still wilde and preserved, right? I saw some picture in books, and in the internet... now, I hope I can visit soon your prefecture! :)
I've seen this same thing in all these reaction videos from Japanese RU-vidrs, this moment when Atomic bombing comes, all of them acts weird or make cuts, and i get it, i've never talked to a Japanese about this, but it must be like Germans, somehow y it kicks some sort of shame or guilt, when this kind of "country shame" things happened with a lot of countries, but this was such a huge change in our modern history and actually well recorded, yes lots of people died in both sides, but we must remember that this kind of things are not the collective mindset of its country, just insane decision from people in power, this have been happening forever and any nation should't be embarrassed about its past but what it does in the present thinking about the future, and how they saying, history avoid us to repeat the mistakes from the past.
i really love japan. the culture, the scenery ever since and the most i love in japan is the anime and the professionals ? wow your in time when meeting others. really love and work in japan..
I am a native American, specifically an Algonquin. We always believed that my ancestors always lived in America in contrary of the Bering Strait crossing immigration. But I read somewhere that from this Bering Strait crossing, was that the Japanese crossed the ice bridge to end up populating the Americas which I find it pretty awesome.
Yuya, I enjoyed it very much and I learned a lot. It was extremely succinct and humorous. Thank you for sharing this and what came across so profoundly, is that you are very proud to be a Japanese man......and that’s good! I myself am mixed race so I always feel a little lost in my heritage. Many thanks again! 👍🏼😊
When i learned about the history specially WW2, where the philippines suffered so much with the hands of japan (we became a battleground)... i always wondered how japanese people today view their own history of the WW2. (And even other people who distroyed thousands of lands and killed millions of people for power and selfish gains) Though i love japan and most of their culture (still at my top list of countries to visit), i just get curious on how they are educated with such history.
The Portuguese who got to Japan in 1543, did much more than what is mentioned. The weapons brought by the Portuguese was the beginning of the end of the numerous wars in Japan. They gave the Japanese, Tempura. 😉 They gave the Japanese bolo de castella (Kasutera). And a lot of words. 😉
i've been to the national peace park. We are truly sorry for what happened, a lot of us only wish to make peace and continue having good relations and genuinely care for Japan. You truly have our deepest apologies, and we acknowledge no amount of apologizing can ever make up for what happened.
While the nukes on Japan were just another crime (and mainly a sign to the world by US imperialism that they got such weapons now and no problem to use them - well, until others had them as well), 2.WW Japan WAS the Asian Nazi regime. Better not look up what the did in Korea and China at this time...
I found the video reviewed too simplistic. Fun for sure, but too simple. I was waiting for you to jump in and provide some nuanced commentaries, clarifications, maybe even corrections.
On one hand, I certainly can't disagree that atomic weapons are a nightmare. On the other hand... total casualties listed on wikipedia for the struggle for Okinawa were about a quarter million, roughly half of which were civilian. This was not much better than the battle for Normandy, which is still famous today for the extent of the sacrifice it required. From the American perspective, the "typhoon of steel" set the tone of the final chapter of the Japanese conflict - the planned amphibious invasion would be resisted tooth and nail no matter the human cost. That was not hard to imagine. Total deaths in WW2 are in the area of 70-80 million, about half of which were in the absolute meat grinder of a land war on the eastern front (mostly between nazi germany and soviet russia). Anyone other than Stalin would have considered surrender. In the paranoia of the fighting, the comparison would have made itself. With stakes so high, it would have been easy to rationalize the use of atomic weapons. It's debatable how much influence they had on the imperial surrender, but with a death count also around a quarter million, it's not hard to think of the Manhattan project as a footnote in the war, nor to argue that this particular crime against humanity could have been a lesser evil. War is hell.
I'm disappointed that the alliance with the Portuguese pirates is not mentioned. When 23 and Me came up with the result that I was part Japanese from probably 1550-1650, on my mother's side, there were few choices as to how this happened. The most likely opportunity would be the Portuguese tea and spice pirates were short a few tars to make the journey back to Portugal. By one means or another a part Japanese pirate became part of the crew. Unless Japanese are found with Khemer, Chinese, and maybe Punjabi and Bengali DNA, this new crew member probably came from Danang of mixed parentage. Once in Portuguese waters, this crew member was either offered an adventure to the Newfoundland Grand Bank with the Portuguese fishing fleet, or was pressed to make the journey to Acadia (Nova Scotia) with Spanish Basque whalers known to use pirate tactics to complete their crews. It would seem likely that he was paired with a (Metis) woman somewhere in the Maritime Provinces, except that CRI Genetics believe that my Native American DNA most closely matches that from Colombia and Peru. LOL. The image of the women of Tortuga from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" is brought to mind. The Spanish Basques were on good terms with just about everybody and most DNA tests showed I have about 9 %. These French speaking ancestors came through Nova Scotia and later Quebec before entering the US through upstate New York. They became separated from their Louisiana cousins, the Cajuns around 1758.
Love the video! Btw Japanese art is some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen! I’m jealous of my friend Charles because he lives there. He is the boxer Charlie Ota.