@@thesmithersyIt‘s not rocket science. It was a nip-and-tuck race for everything back then. If not this guy someone else would have come up with a train in no time
To think that one man lived into his nineties having been hit by two nukes, and another man dies in his fifties just because he worked on building sites for a few years is poignant.
I live in Japan, Nagasaki in fact, and god, the fuss this caused! The mayor was demanding an apology, many of the people I work with were incensed, and the only thing I could get out of people as to why this was such a huge deal was because it was mentioned on a light entertainment programme. As far as I could see, the man himself was never made fun of or ridiculed, nor were the victims of the bombs, but wow, this was a nasty can of worms.
Dear sir, Please inform the mayor...and everyone else in Japan...that no one gives a damn about their feelings on this matter. They started a war that killed millions. They have no say in whether or not we choose to laugh at what they got.
@@kennedymcgovern5413 I must've forgotten the part in my history classes where Japan invaded Poland and started WW2, thanks for clarifying. More important than your obvious stupidity and big-headedness is your lack of empathy for the suffering of hundreds of thousands of innocent civillians who were killed in the most horrific way for absolutely no reason given that, by then, it was clear to all that the war was over. It was abundantly clear that the war was over to the US government who, according to the diaries and journals of the men who made the decisions (ie Truman, Stimson and their various colleagues, secretaries, aids and friends), were certain that not only could peace be reached without extending the bloodshed in the Pacific theatre but that it already had and an agreement for unconditional surrender was all but signed. Turns out Hiroshima and Nagasaki was more about preventing Stalin from having any part in America's victory/Japan's defeat and, even more importantly, the end of WW2. So it wasn't even the end of the war, it was the start of the next one. And it was a horrendous thing to do in either event. They did it because Truman wanted to be the big man who ended the war, as well as scare the Russians and make America the top dog in the world stage for whatever came next, and he needed the Japanese gone quickly before Stalin fulfilled his agreement to join the war in the Pacific. So they dropped the A-Bombs because it would be quick and scary. They killed over a hundred thousand people and ruined many more lives just to scare Stalin and prove a point, which became the first act of the Cold War and the arms race. The worst thing to ever happen to the Japanese people wasn't even really about them. And you believe they're the villains and they deserved it? You want to know who to blame for war and bloodshed? Buddy, no one has enough fingers to point to answer that one. You could start by taking your fingers out of your ear and actually learn a thing or two about what actually happened, and then learn some empathy. You dick.
Was it actually a direct train? If so, was it only stopping at Hiroshima and Nagasaki? And did everyone else on the train that took the same trip survive the second bombing?
A friend of my mother's MISSED the bomb TWICE their trains probably passed each other. Lol. She was from Hiroshima but was visiting her grandmother in Nagasaki the day the bomb fell on Hiroshima. She then got sent home to help her parents who had been far enough away from the epicentre to still be alive, and so missed the bomb in Nagasaki as well. She was in her 90s when l met her so must have been lucky not to suffer from any ill effects of the radiation as well.
@richardathome65 Quite right! Stephen Fry was praising the Japanese for running trains in spite of such a disaster when us Brits have to put up with a hopelessly useless rail service that goes wrong for the most trivial of reasons.
Well I can say this, QI has achieved one of its aims, through using comedy to interest people in Knowledge, more people know about Yamaguchi than Ever before. Every cloud has a silver lining
If he lived to 92 after two atom bombs, either Japan's medical system is light years ahead of the rest of the world, or he's the luckiest guy in the world
Hiroshima was picked as a bomb target in part because it was larger than the area that they thought would be (completely) destroyed by the bomb. That would allow accurate assessment of its destructive capabilities afterwards. The train station was likely in a part of the city that wasn't hit directly.
Well, I think it is clear that it was not directly in the path of the bomb. They amazing thing is that they were still able to coordinate train service right after such a huge devastating blow.
It's truly a shame we can't come to some agreement for the better for all. But not everyone can share the same ideals and even if we do we not always going to agree on the method of achieving the same objective.
Except for the fact that the Japanese government had already signaled its willingness to surrender provided the Americans allowed the Emperor to retain his throne. Truman ignored them, LeMay dropped the bombs, then Truman accepted the terms. Yeah, that was real necessary.
Yeah, they offered top set the terms of their surrender...leaving in power the same people who started the war that killed millions in the first place. That was a reasonable offer...if only the allied leaders had been retarded.
"I do NOT see this was meant to insult or offend Mr. Yamaguchv AT ALL. In fact, Bill Bailey looked astonished when he knew the Japanese man had lived up to 93 years old. This is just all about English humour. They are joking about themselves and their bad train system compared to Japanese one. To be honest, I couldn't help laughing at Bill Bailey's joke myself. DON'T be so upset by this trivial joke.
@kennyk2007 - I think a lot has been misunderstood here. There isn't a single anti-Japanese or derogatory thing said in the entire clip. There is a slight joke about the definition of 'lucky'. After that, all the derogatory humour is directed at the UK - mainly the astonishment that Japan could keep trains running in a nuclear war whilst we can't keep them running in a mild leaf fall.
You see people only focus on the obvious , like how many people died. Spare a thought for the postmen trying deliver mail. First the house was gone, they couldn't leave it on the doorstep as that was gone too and the last resort of taking it back to the post office was also out of the question.
@englishjapan1 If he had died QI would never have thought about talking about him, but he survived not only once but twice the nuclear attack, which is quite frankly amazing.
The nuke drops on Japan are still the most extraordinary and unbelievable acts in history!! Absolutely mental!! Whatever evil Hitler did was miniscule compared to the absolutely deranged thing that evil America did!!!! 'Evil' could be a medieval term, but there are no modern words I can think of!
fuck their sensibilities. it was in good humor. and they were actually quite solemn about it. that bbc pulled it and issued an apology shows that the age of wokeness was already at the gates. hopefully it will be out of the gates soon enough.
"BING BONG. We regret to announce that the 8.30 to Nagasaki, leaving from Platform 2, will be slightly delayed, due to the wrong kind of atom bomb on the line. First class carriages will be found at the front of the train. The buffet car is in coach D."
It makes sense the trains were runnning the next day if you think that getting people the hell out of there was pretty high up on their list of priorities!
@Redheadfury from what I read in the British papers (not necessarily my opinion) there were some who found they light hearted approach to the death of so many from Nuclear bombs was offensive...
@sheepystar We know that BBC is making good proglam for anounced suvivers experience too .itis very happy for us. I hope make it the good occasion to know about Yamaguti's real expelience and his reale pray for Blitish people. thank you.
I understand it was uncomfortable from the Japanese point of view, but the government shouldn't have been involved in this kind of matters. From now on, BBC and other medias in the world can tell the fact of Japan through their news programs only. What the government did discouraged all the medias telling facts freely.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with this section of QI. Informative and funny. The only jokes revolve around the definition of 'lucky' and that Japan is so effective and efficient that they can keep trains running during a nuclear war, while we fail to keep them running when the wrong type of leaf of a thin coat of snow falls. There's also a slight joke about British food. If you find offense at this, you're seeking and injecting it where it patently doesn't exist.
@troublewithlove I agree with you about the different quality of jokes between the two nations. To me, laughing at somebody falling off or being kicked or punched is not a joke. It's just nasty and a bully. On the other hand, English joke is intelligent.
@IronRooRoo you didn't answer my question. and yes, japan has issued a ton of apologies. look up "List of war apology statements issued by Japan" on wikipedia.
I understood that the main reason they chose hiroshima and nagasaki was because they had been least destroyed in the war and that by dropping the bomb in those locations would best display the destructive power of the atomic bomb to the rest of the world and many months prior to the the bombing the US had issued orders to its armed forces to not attack Hiroshima and many other cities so that there could be greater devastation. If my understanding incorrect please enlighten me.
bloody ridiculous that the BBC bothered to apologize for this. Should have told the Japanese to get a grip or get stuffed! A bad sign that this once great institution is losing its integrity, as are many other once good institutions in the UK. QI is awesome, on a par with Attenborough's nature documentaries, learning facts in an amicable fashion.
coming into the debate late but I just want to say that it shows how hilariously thin the skin of some of the Japanese are when this manages to upset them but not a word is said of the literal shrines they have dedicated to war criminals
One would question if the train arrived if they would be anyone to ride it, if you somehow managed to survive a nuclear explosion I bet your first thought wouldn't be "lets catch the train".
@kennyk2007 He is not making fun, he was trying -poorly- to do a Japanese accent, if you watched this show you would know that they OFTEN put on accents, the UK is very diverse in accents and so we like to play with them Theres many people in North of England I couldnt understand It was the H episode and one part of it was Holidays, ie Hawaii What is sick is your twisting the conditions to make yourself a victim and then say "sick in their heads"
I am honestly astonished that anyone could be even slightly offended by this. Seriously, I have watched this episode loads of times on the TV, but this is the first time I've ever seen it on RU-vid and I was actually taken aback by some of the comments. I can only think that some people either do not properly understand English or have something personal against the BBC, the British or one of the people on the video and have searched for the clip with the sole intention of being offended.
I thought Alan Davies joke about the bomb bouncing off of him was in bad taste tbh. It didn't offend me enough that I would have written to the BBC about it
I mean, the person who complained was Yamaguchi's daughter, who had just lost her father earlier that year, so given that, the language gap, and a... different understanding of WW2 history... she was probably more primed to be offended than most
I see you wrote this 11 years ago. Little did we know, then, how deeply pussified the world would become. Here in the future, I am not surprised at all. Someone, somewhere is offended by something every second of the day, here in 2023.
Sorry: anyone who knows anything about the atomic bomb explosions knows it is not for laughing about - and the audience is giggling all the way through; superficial is not the word for these people...
...yeah, except for the german u-boats, you couldn't see them coming and they go like a fucking seamine, it's why we spent most of the war in planes or on the ground. in fact the only two major britain-germany sea battles where at the beginning and the end. and one of those was more of a retreat. and that was us.
@yongyao can you reread what i wrote please I never said noone knew him, i said thanks to QI thousands MORE people know him Ive spoken to atleast 10 Japanese people who didnt know him, so its even help spread his story here in Japan and i do understand i live here, however i also understand that the BBC said sorry and the Japanese media made this even worse by making the video look worse
@Redheadfury like I said, I only know what I read, and they wrote it was culturally insensitive to the Japanese, but I don't have all the answers, I was just reading about it online myself.
The trains are fucked because of private companies running them for maximum profit, rather than public interest. We can't blame them though, we have set up a system in which they are free to use and abuse us. It all needs restructuring.
I hate that this got deleted for being offensive on bbc this is the type of thing that as humans we need to pay attention too and also good people deal with tragedy with comedy. If it had happened to me i would've still laughed at my own disfortune in irony. -Foxi D'elegance
@superguizi The thing is, that's not actually funny. It would not surprise me if at some point there is a joke on this show about the Rape of Nanking. There have been plenty of jokes about concentration camps. In fact, when this bit began, I was expecting it to be about the couple who managed to be in New York, London, and Bombay all on the days of the terrorist strikes.
@saimaru1111 Japanese people can laugh when people on TV shows get physically hurt or humiliated? And nearly all the laughter was at the british trains...
@englishjapan1 Mr Yamaguchi did not die, hence QI thought it would be ok to share his story with the UK. Talking about that English teacher so is just plain disrespectful, you are clearly saying it in contempt. She was brutally murdered Yamaguchi san was not.
My point is, we didn't get INVADED because the Nazis knew the most efficient way to do that would be to come over by sea, which would have been suicide. ^^
@richardathome65 Clash of cultures I suppose. Probably something to do with how the japanese show respect, and this I assume was viewed as highly disrespectful.
Because the radiation exposure from nuclear bombs (the actual initial exposure) is not a bad as you likely think. Well, at least not if you are far enough away to survive the blast. And radiation only increases your chances of cancers while you are actually exposed to the radiation. So if he didn't get the cancer there and then from the initial radiation at the events, and didn't live the rest of his days in Hiroshima or Nagasaki (which of course had increased background radiation), there's no reason for him not to grow old.
@centerrightpunk Depend on the people, really. If its like norwiegians, of course not! But if its, like, Manchester City fans, I'd say yeah thats a fair assessment.
