The Traitor Who Accidentally Saved His Nation 

Rare Earth sooo... you are not gonna mention how american warships forced japan to open to the outsideworld?

The portugese didn`t steal any people the local warlords were selling their captured enemy for money. Similar in Africa, there were no bands of white people roaming the continent and hunting for slaves.

I'm just imagining how awkward it must be to make these documentaries, going to historical sites with people walking around, just walking through a street talking to a camera about the history of where he is.

please dont ever stop till you simply cant anymore!!! im in love with your channel!!!

Hey I have no clue about my culture in the Philippines it would be pretty cool if u made a lil series in that 7,000+ island chain

sometimes a compromise for one is the treachery of another

filthy trader.

I do not understand pls explain.

trader and traitor share similarities... i would elaborate but... im not going to...

Another classic illustration of how the end justifies the means....

Confuzzled Tomato If you like these, just wait for Cambodia. I cringe now at the Japan videos after seeing what we've been able to fix in the new season.

are you fucking kidding me im loving these japanese videos

Chris Hadfield's Rare Earth yea u got that right lol I was wondering y Japan

All this guy talks about on his channel is corruption and power. And you guys propose he'd partner up with a multimillion dollar media company? No thanks. Stay independent.

@@ascoria980 why don't you use a vpn?

This is filmed in Dejima, which is really pretty, though much smaller than I had expected. It's right around the corner from where I live in Togitsu :) 32 seconds into the video, I perked right up, "omg, he's 10 minutes away from my house!"

In many ways, Japan was unaware of Western achievements until Perry forced them to open up. For instance, industrialization did not (and would likely never) arrive through a trading post, at least not at a pace that would be fast enough to enable Japan to catch up with the West. It would also be interesting if he talked more about the Japanese persecution of Christianity during the Edo period. It is a bit outside the scope of the video, but it would be an interesting thing to talk about when discussing slavery. It would also have been a good idea to mention the more or less caste-based nature of the Japanese society to add some contrast/context to European-style slavery.

I can imagine him being seen as nothing but a traitor in the eyes of a lot of his people, he essentially sold them out Sure it saved them long term but those at the time if told to “change or die” would’ve certainly seen that as traitorous But I have very little knowledge of Japanese history, just going off how I imagine a community would react

Couldnt agree more.

Yes cinnamon roll YES

Yeah, I think he uses a very Marxist view on "traitors" and the who slave trade. But sadly that seems to be the norm with "academics" and "research".

Anthony Rodriguez wow, that’s some incredible unheard history, I always thought the Japanese were naturally godless, and that Christians being persecuted like described in the Bible doesn’t really happen

@@evanw2195 Christians are the most persecuted people in the world, not knowing that only shows a deep ignorance of history

Thanks! I read every comment. As long as it is phrased constructively, chances are we'll discuss and make the changes as needed.

Well he might not have been a traitor by todays standards but back then by the standards of the time period he certainly was branded as such by the rest of the country.

+ savioblanc you have no understanding of honor, gaijin. very shameful to continue living with out honor. death is better choice - (or so what the movies told me)

He was definitely seen as a traitor in the eyes of his followers.

One man's patriot is another man's traitor, I suppose. There was no organised central Japanese state at the time due to the constant civil wars and upheaval so he's not "traitor" in a way we'd understand. But it's important to note that the Japanese well understood that Christianity would be used as a tool by colonial powers to infiltrate and subjugate the population in a context that was beside its spiritual aspects. In that sense his conversion to Christianity presented a grave threat to a Japan that wished to remain free from colonial domination in the future. And bear in mind this was not a case of the lord "letting Jesus into his heart", it was a cynical trade of his soul for European gold, this is quite clear. And his court was also compelled to convert, they did not come to Jesus freely. If you convert to Christianity to survive you are still a convert "by the sword", no matter who holds the weapon. The timing is a little enlightening as well. At the time he decided to increase his wealth by dealing with the metaphorical devil he was threatened but not under attack. It wasn't until after he crossed the political and social line of a full alliance with the Portuguese his enemies tried to destroy him in earnest. I guess becoming Christian to gain wealth is no longer seen as a sin? In fact, there is a popular American Christian doctrine ("Prosperity Gospel") that advocates finding Christ and knowing God's love through accumulating wealth.

@@helbent4 It wasn't organized, and everyone knew that it was a joke, but on paper an emperor still existed and there was (very, very technically) an overstate of Japan. It would be like if the United States had a civil war and all 50 states were fighting each other, and then all of a sudden one of them said "Peace out - we're with Mexico now". It would be a change in the dynamic.

Same here man. For me my country(India) is a filth too.

Japan is a truly beautiful country

hear hear

Things will improve as people begin to see and desire change.

I mean this definitely glossed over a lot of things that are not beautiful and had some parts cherry-picked

Unfortunately, it didn't save Japan from Commodore Perry in 1853.

TheSatomonkey lol, you won because you endeavoured to assimilate the superior western technology. The Gurkha were excellent warriors, still are in fact. Hell, they may be among the best warriors humanity has ever produced to this day. But you know why they lost do humiliatingly to the British? Because they didn't have guns is why. They also didn't have heavy artillery nor train mounted Howitzers, which the British did. Being proud of your heritage is all well and good, but to choke it all up to innate brilliance is preposterous

+Charles Damery Sorry to ruin your impression but in long run, you don't need Omura to have Dejima. Do you think Japan really closed the sea without any thoughts? Or, do you really think man can close the sea in the first place? You aren't god, you can't stop ships to get wrecked and washed up in the beach. And Daimyos would try smuggling anyway and there's also trade with China. It was essential to leave a few ports remained. What Tokugawa tried was to restrict it to one place so they can keep it all inspected.

Edward Snowden says hi. :)

The Zulu, The Maori, The Moro, all of them are some of the finest warriors in the world. but all fell before the might of European technology.

He's talking about an entirely different time period than you are, friend

Yes, and no: The video is also talking about exactly that entirely different time period when mentioning the Russo-Japanese wars.

Christopher Allen *knock knock, its the united states*

There is a whole history to Commodore Perry, the Japanese Emperor and the Mitsubishi family that is really cool to learn about. Basically the shogunate had to go and the Emperor had his own allies to get things done, one who was the Mitsubishi family and the excuse of an American gun boat to kick the shogun out. Or that is how the Japanese tell it.

Would the technology brought by Perry have found a home if the land wasn't primed by previous trading opportunities, though? I don't think it would have.

LagiNaLangAko23 slavery is inherent to all cultures and societies. And every human alive has ancestors that were slaves and slave owners.

A lot of things are wrong. Is it wrong that when a Japanese peasant looks at his lord without the lord's consent he could get his head chopped off? Which is where Ninjas came from.

F. OPE It was treason, he betrayed the culture and tradition of his country for foreign protection. Even his samurai that were loyal to him had no choice but to revolt in face of his betrayal.

Except for technological differences of course.

Actually, one of the main reasons that Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu banned Christianity in Japan is because of this very idea that Christianity was a pretext for colonization. Buddhist Monks were particularly convinced that this was the motivation or so they made it seem to Toyotomi, but he rejected the argument until a Spanish ship from the Philippines was blown off course and landed in Japan. The ship captain had the audacity to demand that the Japanese repair his ship and if they didn't, well, they could colonize "this group of barbarians" just as they had colonized the Philippines and the New World before. This appeeared to suggest what the Buddhist Monks were claiming, e.g. that the Catholic conversions in Kyushu (which are estimated to be 30% of the island by that point) were designed to be part of a colonization or invasion yet to come.

@@oremfrien Yeah. As a Filipino, the Spaniards did hurt our Asian side of heritage a lot. And its the negative aspects of it that survived to this day. A fucking lot. Too bad my people were also very stubborn when the Japanese tried liberating us in 1942 to repair and undo the cultural damage Spain did for 300 years, all because of vague American promises. The Vietnamese obeyed and listened to the Japanese, and it benefited them on the long run. So did Indonesia. Japan helped the oppressed Asian peoples under European colonialism to create a strong national identity in the event the Europeans retake their colonial territories.

MalJannie Pay for the plane tickets and we'll move countries faster. I promise. :) Cambodia is coming out soon.

Not complaining, the videos are awesome. Just noticing a trend :)

"Trend"? That implies there's some variation but this is the common path. This is not that lol. But I love it! :D Having just come back 3 days ago from over a month in Japan, this has made my travels so much more fun. Even, if you're reading this, where can we get more behind the scene details of where you guys visited as I would like to do a similar "top to bottom" trip in Japan in places such as the ones you went to!!

MalJannie Because they're in Japan, and will travel to other places later.

I would totally pay your plane tickets, but I'm a broke ass student. Still enjoying your videos, nothing wrong with Japan.

Sankis yeah there was a ton more text in there I cut out, and it ruined the equivalency, but I couldn't reshoot.

Fair enough.

KungKras Murder is ok is everyone else is doing it, unless it's the christians, they can't murder it's wrong. It's all ok or none of it is

Sankis. the part with "Japanese women sold into slavery across Europe" sounds like propaganda to me, there was simple no such thing in the late 16th century...

it's old news. Japanese women have been traded as sex slave long before Portuguese came. East Asian slave women have been sold as far west as Turkey. In fact, slaves is one of the main commodities traded along the Silk Road and Indian Ocean Trade Route.

Because it tends to lead to arguing 90% of the time.

More like because some people are afraid of the counter-argument. Or not interested in learning something new. ;p

arguments are necesary

Because we live in a society where all opinions should be tolerated and expressed, so everything you say is wrong and unacceptable in this society because it might offend other people.....yes, intentional irony. Real answer is people really should talk about it so that you can hear other people's opinions and see different sides of things, but people nowadays say no to that

arguing is fun.

fiery shendu A traitor not in the personal sense (betraying your friends or family). He gave up trying to be loyal to customs and tradition. However selling your country's women is pretty treacherous to your flesh and blood. Denouncing your religion and doing business with foreigners, not so much. The human trafficking is unforgivable.

selling women, who otherwise would have been slaughtered by your neighbours?

FlashStorm Selling your women to foreign sexual slavery or having your women taken as booty by hostile countrymen is not the same thing. One is being intentionally evil, the other is being powerless to evil.

Don't judge his actions by your morals, judge him by the common Japanese morals of the time and you can see why he was such a traitor. Most things don't make sense in history if you apply your own culture or modern morality on historical events.

A N I M E N I M E

Sadly many ignorant called the film "Christian propaganda" without knowing the historical location of the film.

The Japanese can't say the letter L, they pronounce it as eru

It isn't that your point is wrong, but you're also dismissing out of hand the value of Nagasaki. Dejima introduced Japan to all sorts of Western ideas, even during a time when Japan was otherwise relatively closed. It wasn't nearly as fast or strong as the industrialization after gunships arrived, but it allowed Japan to keep an eye on Western inventions and changes in policy that in turn gave them a leg up when industrialization came. Saying that there were other things that allowed them to catch up after opening is not the same as Dejima having provided no Western technology to Japan or given them a leg up on other colonized nations. A spreading of non-internal ideas and technologies among the Japanese elite is one of the crowning features of the Dutch and Portuguese trade with the nation.

No, you guys really fucked up on that one, own it, Rare Earth. They were shocked by the arrival of the Americans in 1854, and by all accounts, they really didn't know what they were up against. They were no more ready to industrialize than any other nation, they just embraced it, unlike others. Commodore Perry had only 10 ships, dudes. 10. Fuckin. Ships. That's not much. And then that part about saving them from the Russians. You act as if the Russian Empire was in the process of invading Japan... it was about territories in east Asia that the Russians took to counter the British, which the Japanese perceived as a threat, and they lost not because Japan was so much more industrialized, but because the trans-siberian railway wasn't finished and the Russians couldn't resupply by land, so had to send in their shitty navy. You guys lost a lot of respect in this video, and this bullshit response is even worse. Incredible levels of retardation imho

@@0hn0haha It is entirely possible that Nagasaki did play a key role in something, which is their point. I haven't read the full story of Japan, but I know enough about history to know that a war isn't won in a single battle and that it doesn't matter if you lose the battle, if you win the war. As such, it is impossible that history can only be made out of major events as all major events are the birth of many smaller. Nagasaki is such a smaller event.

ahaaa! i got that

1 minute in, I see you're talking about Nagasaki. Omg, you're right by where I live! Since you're in the area, check out Unzen! It's the most amazing place in all of Nagasaki prefecture. Assuming you like Ryoukan. I live in Togitsu ^_^

4:27 Yep, you're def in Dejima!

it literally opens the video with "dejima island, nagasaki" in the corner god damn weebs

fkin weebs

Pretty sure you can't be a weeb if you aren't japanese, but idk

Erik Lindelöf We like ports, it's in our name : "PORTugal"

João Loureiro hello European overlord, greetings from your humble colony in Brazil.

Portugal was named after a Celtic sea town in Northern Portugal (present day Porto/Oporto) named Gal/Cale ('Port' in Celtic) which was conquered by the Romans and renamed Portus Cale ('Port of Cale' in Latin), so Portugal actually means 'port port' or 'port of port'.

Lol, nice

The Portuguese WERE looking for a port you guys. HEIL GRAMMAR

I don't mean direct cause and effect. It allowed them to continue being able to access the outside world and its changes. Without that, I highly doubt that the 1860's industrialization would have happened with the same speed and gusto. Certainly, it was a tiny drop compared to the flood that came after Perry arrived, but the ruling class were more ready due to already having (limited) access to outside ideas. That access came through Dejima. The cause and effect were long-term.

Interesting perspective I have to admit. Truth be told you are partly correct on that statement, one have to remember how Nabunaga united Japan after all. Portugese technology was crucial to his sucess. In any case thanks for answering my comment, even if it was on an older video. Always appreciate when content makers discuss their ideas with viewers. Keep up the good work

I think that Yayoi Kusama broke that rule, she made people talk about the great pumpkin.

MrAntieMatter I've been in Cambodia for about 2 weeks now. Just prepping to swap to the next 'season'. A lot of good changes, I think.

It has been interesting to see your window into Japan's culture and formative history. Good luck with Cambodia's weather for shooting.

Nah. He was a traitor. Just like those who fought in the American revolution. They were all traitors.

jsut those that cam eafter are quite happy with the descison revlunaries by some traitors by others

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War

Some Japanese learned Dutch and things like the laws of Newton and certain medicines were known in Japan via the Dutch traders in Nagasaki. Japan was behind but not heavily behind.

Mgraemem If you aren't Christian, Christians are heathens.

Ah.