How Do the Japanese Teach About WWII?

In the video today, we're looking at how WWII is taught in Japan.

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[rxhawk]

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.

[kevinwebster]

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.

[WorldTravelA]

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

[riversong]

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.

[YeahButCanISniffUrPantsFist]

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

[mistahcow]

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

[duitk]

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.

[David-nsym]

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.

[ibuprofenPill]

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.

[stevewondering]

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

[lea]

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.

[jeffreywhittle]

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.

[brashair]

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.

[CatsMeowPaw]

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.

[davidewhite]

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

[davidyoung]

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. 🤨?!

[zacharyswygart]

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

[ronniefnd]

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

[richarddoig]

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.

[dbail]

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.