Japan-US pre WWII /History Channel "Samurai"

Did anyone watch the History Channel "Samurai" show hosted by Mark Dacascos, the guy that also hosts Iron Chef America?

He says after the Japanese Samurai fought each with their Civil War they closed off Japan to outside people and executed all foreigners. He said the US Navy rolled in and said Japan needs to open itself to foreign trade or the Navy would bomb them.

Then Japan had to open up and became modern. But prior to WWII WE stop trading with Japan and quit selling them Crude Oil......so THEY bombed us.

Mark Dacascos grand parents were Japanese and were killed when the nukes went off. He sounded like he was mad at what we did in the show. Anyone wonder if Japan as well still holds a grudge against America for what we did?? I find it ironic we threatened them to open up to trade or be bombed...so they did. But when WE quit trading with them...they bombed us....and technically was justified.

With the military officers in the Japanese military writing papers saying WE were the bad ones...and now even Mark Dacascos saying Japan was in the right.....

Why weren't we taught any of this in school?

I believe I had read a lot of this in history books. Maybe you don't recall. They edit and update the school text books. So I wouldn't worry about it. Seek truth from facts.

reply to post by Pervius

Why weren't we taught any of this in school?

More important question: if you were not taught about these things in school, these things that happened 70 years ago...what else are they not teaching you about in school, that might be happening today?

right...i wasn't taught all the facts in school either. that's what made research even more fulfilling... being able to come back the next day and teach what wasn't in the textbooks. no country wants to admit they did something wrong to their citizens, and worse would be to teach them that government makes mistakes. they will always blame it on the decision of a president or a general, or of course the enemy in question. you dont get loyal supporters by admitting you cant always be trusted.

The funny thing in England is that when history is taught it generally has an inclusion of how propaganda is used (at least in modern history).Teachers will generally try to get the idea that history is is written by the victors across as they are concearned with the study of history and the method rather than just comprehension of subject matter. If pupils fail or succeed in taking such things into account it does not mean they wont get good marks when it comes to government examination.

Hmmmmm, indeed most academic institutions are of course created to lead to dead ends and for sure there is as much disinformation in the sciences as there is the conspiracy route it is simply more respected, alarmingly this is despite the fact that it hardly ever provides good answers and because of compartmentalisation of knowledge, also notice how we make the mistakes of the past in repetition.

It is not like there is any particularly guilty or innocent party in this instance though, all those goverments are as bad as each other.

Example:

US refrains from telling people about the massacre of the red man.
Japan wont admit to atrocities in China.
UK plays down the fact it created modern concentration camps.

What use is all of history if we cant learn that we should care about all people and avoid wars where the innocents die for polytics.

I have some websites I have found and read in the past.
Pre WW2
Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany relations before WW2
Japan Before WW2
Japan Prewar date by date facts
Another Great Link

reply to post by Majestic23

in England is that when history is taught it
generally has an inclusion of how propaganda is used

On a humorous note, I once had the pleasure of doing some contract work for a British couple visiting the states. Without stopping to think about it, I asked them if they had any holiday plans for the fourth of July. They gave me a most peculiar look, then said roughly... "Fourth of July...that sounds familiar, but I don't quite...oh! Now I remember. That's the day you Americans decided you preferred drinking coffee rather than tea. No, we have no plans."

Heh, the nail if the coffin was when you infiltrated our shores with your (mary)STAR(ofthesea)BUCKS.

reply to post by Pervius


all i know is that america needs to get it's military out of japanese country!

Army: 2,541
Navy: 3,740
Air Force: 12,398
Marines: 17,009
Total: 35,688[2]

en.wikipedia.org...

i know, that might sound somewhat offtopic to this thread, but i'd like to point out that the past is the past and what matters is we learn from it and make amends, however, it seems america is currently using japan as a stepping stone for global military dominance, i have lived in these bases in the past and seen the japanese marches and political struggles to try to get americans out, and in my opinion what matters is that in our lifetime japan is in the right mind to be pissed at us for having no concern for their territory

i could go on, but it's a bit offtopic, i'm sorry, i just wanted to point out the current situation with american disrespect towards japanese!

double post