"for harry, though, his greatest regret was not having the courage to thank his japanese grand uncle who had taught him so much." honestly i shed a couple tears at this part
Mac'n CheeseTV There's a great movie from the 50's about a (mostly) Japanese US unit fighting in Europe and earning many honors. The name escapes me and I don't have the chance to google.
Wasn't too bad.. I feared it was gonna be something like one of the U.S sibling shooting a Japanese soldier and then identifying his brother or something..
He must had said something along the lines of "You both served for your respective countries like real men, and I couldn't be prouder. A war between two countries divided us, now that we're together let's not let it divide us any more." That, or he simply threw his shoe at them and it put them in line? I don't know.
Japanese immigrants in Brazil also had tough lives during and after the war. Because they were living in a foreign country, enemy of Japan, when news spread that war was over and Japan had lost it, Japanese immigrants denied it believing it was false propaganda, and fellow immigrants who acknoledged Japan's surrender were tagged as traitors and murdered. This went on for at least two years, so in 1947 there were still Japanese Brazilians who believed the war was still going on, or that Japan had won. This episode in Brazilian History is called Soiled Hearts, as Japanese loyalists accused the "traitors", and there's a film about it (in Japanese with Japanese actors).
There's also the story of hiro onoda, he was sent with a couple of guys during ww2 to the Philippines and gather information, they hid in a jungle for years until each one died and hiro was the only one waiting for an order from Japan for 29 years until a Japanese hiker went to look for him and found him, and hiro was disappointed that they lost the war
***** The video stated that he was part of the "home guard," civilians too old, disabled or young to join the military who organized evacuations to bomb shelters, scanned the skies for enemy aircraft, and served as a last ditch defense force. All of the combatant nations in the war had such an organization. Germany, of course, as the most extreme, issued guns to members of the Hitler Youth; the United Kingdom organized volunteer squads of teenage and college age girls to maintain military motor vehicles so the men could go to the front to fight (all of the King's daughters who were old enough joined in to set an example; being a princess did not give you a moral excuse not to help out!). There were other volunteer jobs in the US, notably collecting recyclables for the war effort. This is an inspiring story, especially since it turned out that none of the five were lost in action, and they reconciled after the war.
LeGunslinger Japanese imperial forces were objectively worse. I'll refer you to the violent rape of nanking and the mass sex-enslavement of Korean women.
@@aaronton2703 That would honestly be hilarious. It's one thing to cast Goku with a Caucasian since he's technically an alien, but it's another thing entirely to cast a Caucasian as an Asian, which is a real-world race.
Thank you for this story. As a yonsei Japanese American grown up in peace-- married a Japanese girl and living in Tokyo, hard to imagine this tragedy. Our freedoms do not come for free.
Same thing happened here in Estonia, we called it Vennatappu Sõda, what means Borther killing War. Families divided by force between Russian and German troops. even tho people also fought for Estonians liberty
Why can't they see there are no need for countries and the need for power? All humans are creations of God. No one is any different because of skin colour, race or religion
Vinneish Varmend I agree there shouldn't be judgement based solely upon race but without power the human race would not evolve. Bringing up religion, in my opinion, was not a necessary thing to do in your reply.
+Wolfgang Kenshin Acrimony between relatives can be far more intense than between combatants of opposing sides. With family, the hatred becomes very personal.
+VitalTrilogy What's wrong with me including religion? But ok then, I'll change it here, make it more general. All humans are equal, regardless of race, religion and gender. Peace is what is needed to evolve, not power.
They weren't the only ones. My grandmother's family went through the Same thing. Her two older brothers heard the call of the father land. Despite they were half apache and they're fathers explicit objections. They went to Germany to answer the call. The third bother joined the usa navy and became a medic. He survived pearl. Went on to join the first raids against the Japanese. He was awarded The medal of honor. His two older brothers did not survive The war. Later The third brother helped with writing the updated gi bill, helping ceaser Chavez and Hector Gonzales with The Hispanic rights movement. Also helping setting up a rights forum so medal of honor recipients of color have The option of being buried in arlington. The youngest was too young to join ww2. But he served in Korea.
My japanese grandmother was held in a internment camp even though she was the second generation in her family to be American born. She wasn't very old when her family was taken to the camp. They had their house, money, and everything else that they couldn't carry taken away from them. Almost at the same time my French grandfather, who was also young at the time, was taken into a japanese internment camp in the Philippines. His family also had almost everything taken away. Both of them were in internment camps at opposite ends of the war at the same time. Crazy right? They would later meet in the military, he was in the coast guard and she was in the navy. But the horrible things that they had to go through in those camps just boggles my mind. I can't even imagine what it was like to get out of the camps and have nothing to start from. I am glad that more people are learning about the injustices against American citizens, both in America and in the Philippines.
Brilliant quality material from TEDed, as usual. Little thing that caught my attention: The transition at 2:58 from the US flag to the old Japanese flag was very artistic.
You want to know a sadder story? Enter the five Sullivan Brothers. Place: Ironbottom Sound, Off the coast of Guadalcanal. Ship: USS Juneau, as all brothers wanted to serve on the same ship. During the fight for the island of Guadalcanal, sea battles rated off the coast at night. In one such instance, the USS Juneau was in a full scale naval battle. The USS Juneau was a Light Cruiser, armed with only destroyer sized cannons. While under fire from the Japanese, a miscommunication issue happened and the Juneau was a victim of friendly fire. Soon after, the Juneau was sunk, along with ever single Sullivan brother. When the military came to the family's house to state their sorrows, the rather asked, "Which one?" The Officer replied, "I'm sorry, all five."
+Dopski Lorica Fun fact, the loss of the Sullivan Brothers was what compelled the military to instate the Sole Survivor policy, which is also shown in Saving Private Ryan.
GamerGuy There’s actually a ship called the USS Sullivans in the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. It’s a museum ship, and I’ve been on it multiple times
The level of detail put into this video truly makes the story that much better. The M1 Garand and M1936 webbing at 2:44 adds so much historical accuracy.
This has to be one of the best stories I've ever heard. What a wonderful piece of American history. It's as captivating as an account that the ancient historians would have recorded. I have many Japanese acquaintances, and, through them, I've learned more and more about Japanese culture. It's a land that I would love to experience, body and soul.
You got so many things about this story except the one thing to get from it that i think truly matters: a story about the story of human conflict, viewed through the eyes of literal brothers.
This story is so sad. It harbors interesting curcumstances, however. I always thought of European wars with a brother on either side. It is interesting to see it from this point of view.
fun fact: saburo and shiro was the third and fourth son respectively. saburo in japanese is 三郎 which literally translates to "third son" shiro in japanese is 四郎 which literally translates to "fourth son"
Not the same. Vietnam war is not actual vietnam war. It about cambodian native war against vietnam and mislead by usa. And the local government in cambodia declare non party but in the secret support vietnam and kept supply to them to kill their own cambodian people who live in vietnam for decade. As result cambodia lose the war and lose the people. Vietnam regain power and land who borrow the land from cambodia a century agos withing cambodia native almost large population than vietnam live in that area. So as we see cambodia sign a secret deal for victory for vietnam in exchange for borrow land. That why tragedy mr leader in vietnam can't give that to cambodia but instead kill himself to delete all secret his sign.
@@kimkim-mh7bv - Not true. It was the Khmer Rouge, a communist group that held Phnom Penn at the time. They were not a fully-fledged government and only supported North Vietnam for mainly goods and military support to assist in their own efforts.
@@jeffo9401 noop where khmer Rouge came from before sihanouk out of his office? Khmer Rouge was create by mr king khmer and got support by his fellow pol pot. In vietname war there is no khmer Rouge.
The Akune brothers: Siblings on opposite sides of war (Transcrição) There are many stories that can be told about World War II, from the tragic to the inspiring. But perhaps one of the most heartrending experiences was that of the Akune family, divided by the war against each other and against their own identities. Ichiro Akune and his wife Yukiye immigrated to America from Japan in 1918 in search of opportunity, opening a small grocery store in central California and raising nine children. But when Mrs. Akune died in 1933, the children were sent to live with relatives in Japan, their father following soon after. Though the move was a difficult adjustment after having been born and raised in America, the oldest son, Harry, formed a close bond with his grand uncle, who taught him the Japanese language, culture and values. Nevertheless, as soon as Harry and his brother Ken were old enough to work, they returned to the country they considered home, settling near Los Angeles. But then, December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor. Now at war with Japan, the United States government did not trust the loyalty of those citizens who had family or ancestral ties to the enemy country. In 1942, about 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were stripped of their civil rights and forcibly relocated to internment camps, even though most of them, like Harry and Ken, were Nisei, American or dual citizens who had been born in the US to Japanese immigrant parents. The brothers not only had very limited contact with their family in Japan, but found themselves confined to a camp in a remote part of Colorado. But their story took another twist when recruiters from the US Army’s military intelligence service arrived at the camp looking for Japanese-speaking volunteers. Despite their treatment by the government, Harry and Ken jumped at the chance to leave the camp and prove their loyalty as American citizens. Having been schooled in Japan, they soon began their service, translating captured documents, interrogating Japanese soldiers, and producing Japanese language propaganda aimed at persuading enemy forces to surrender. The brothers’ work was invaluable to the war effort, providing vital strategic information about the size and location of Japanese forces. But they still faced discrimination and mistrust from their fellow soldiers. Harry recalled an instance where his combat gear was mysteriously misplaced just prior to parachuting into enemy territory, with the white officer reluctant to give him a weapon. Nevertheless, both brothers continued to serve loyally through the end of the war. But Harry and Ken were not the only Akune brothers fighting in the Pacific. Unbeknownst to them, two younger brothers, the third and fourth of the five Akune boys, were serving dutifully in the Imperial Japanese Navy, Saburo in the Naval Airforce, and 15-year-old Shiro as an orientation trainer for new recruits. When the war ended, Harry and Ken served in the allied occupational forces and were seen as traitors by the locals. When all the Akune brothers gathered at a family reunion in Kagoshima for the first time in a decade, it was revealed that the two pairs had fought on opposing sides. Tempers flared and a fight almost broke out until their father stepped in. The brothers managed to make peace and Saburo and Shiro joined Harry and Ken in California, and later fought for the US Army in Korea. It took until 1988 for the US government to acknowledge the injustice of its internment camps and approve reparations payments to survivors. For Harry, though, his greatest regret was not having the courage to thank his Japanese grand uncle who had taught him so much. The story of the Akune brothers is many things: a family divided by circumstance, the unjust treatment of Japanese Americans, and the personal struggle of reconciling two national identities. But it also reveals a larger story about American history: the oppression faced by immigrant groups and their perseverance in overcoming it.
Being a Japanese I'll say on my behalf that I have not done such terrible deed. and as Meme Mabon says, not all of us are bad, but I understand that you are upset and you have every right to be and I will not try to diminish the fact that what has happened was very terrible. But please do not be upset at all Japanese people.
+Jonathan D oh you ignorant fool, the Japanese that fought in the American army aided in the fight against the Nazis in Italy. The 442nd regiment was the most decorated in the entire war. What did your family contribute? Oh that's right, nothing.
+Garnetthekelpiehorse you and the other great people of Japan don't need to apologize. These are just ignorant fools that seriously need to get over shit that happened 70 years ago.
The Legend 566 I know some horrible events do anger/saddened me, but so far this story is by far on of the stories that is an inspiration and one of the emotional ones...
+Richard Lew Because the Japanese were a special case. After Pearl Harbor, one of the Japanese pilots crash landed on another Hawaiian island. A Japanese American family took him in, unaware that an attack even happened. Then a bunch of crap happened where the pilot was arrested after trying to steal an American plane to get back to Japan, and the family was arrested for helping him. Americans, who are still frothing over the attack on Pearl Harbor, jumped to the conclusion that no Japanese can be trusted and had Japanese-Americans moved to prison camps.
+Richard Lew i'm currently taking an east asian american experience class and we just talked about the camps. some italians and germans were interned but not as many as the japanese americans as they were harder to tell who was italian and german (names and clear ethnic physical appearances)
+Lightscribe225 maybe but its also the intense loyalty to Japan and the emperor. Its just a cultural thing, many Japanese Americans didn't feel this way, but some did.
They weren't as big of a threat to America as the Japanese were and weren't treated as such, plus there were literally tens of millions of people with ancestry going back to Germany or Italy.
I'm a Filipina Japanese with a Spanish bloodlines in Arágon in Spain. I'm really happy in the Philippines but. My family here. Just keep fighting over land disputes. They already got huge ones and yet they want more. There are times they would meet armed with machetes and revolvers and exchange death threats. It's really terrifying.
animation is fantastic as well as the phrasing of the story :D but as a white american, this makes my soul ache. pretty hard to be proud of being an american with messed up bs like this in our history
I feel the Akuna brother. It must’ve been very hard to live as a citizen of the United State who’s background were the native country that’s at war with the US.
Of course, all the America hating people in the comments immediately focus on the 48 seconds of the video about the internment camps instead of discussing the story...
Ima Gunna Di So just because someone identifies the bad things America does, that makes the person America hating? I haven't read all the comments, but from those I did read I see people saying "hey we did a lot of terrible things, but we can move forward". I believe in America, it's because I believe in America that I'm not afraid to admit we have, we do and we will mess things up horribly.
Pascal Smit, you seriously think religion is a disease of mankind? Really? After the Renaissance, the theistic Greek philosophers, the incalculable contribution of both pagan and Christian religion to European culture, the influence of religions like Hinduism on India, the fact that two atheist regimes, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, were at times just as bad as a medieval kingdom, and the fact that even in a world without religion EVERYONE will still be divided, you seriously think religion is mankind's cancer? Wow.
2:24 the helmet is backwards. The chin strap goes over the front visor. Nit-picking aside, excellent story and production, thank you for sharing! Very awe-inspiring story.
Check out the Korean film by the name of Taegukgi if anyone is interested. It's similar in the sense that two brothers were on opposing sides during the Korean War
Honestly ik Ted has some problems. But Ted Ed comes from such a pure knowledge POV I can't complain at all. Good piece per usual. From the graphics, to the tone of voice all the way to the actual story
I only made that comment because many of these videos seem to assume an American audience. I checked the TED-Ed website and found this on their about page: "TED believes passionately that ideas have the power to change attitudes, lives, and ultimately, the world. This underlying philosophy is the driving force behind all of TED’s endeavors, including the TED Conferences, TEDx, TED Books, the TED Fellows Program, and the TED Open Translation Project. With this philosophy in mind, and with the intention of supporting teachers and sparking the curiosity of learners around the world, TED-Ed is the newest of TED’s initiatives." It may be a US based channel, but I think it's within my purview to criticise them on a bias which plays against their own stated aim. Also, why should I stick to videos from my own country, that pretty much defeats half the point of having internet.
I think this clip is good however it portrays America as being the greater evil concerning detainment camps. America since then has alleviated this wrong as shown in the video. However, let us not forget the treatment of Commonwealth soldiers in Japanes POW camps.
sather58 i agree, if i'm reading you correctly. while it was an injustice, it was hardly what the germans did to the jews. life expectancy actually increased in internment camps. an injustice, and definitely evil, but hardly the greater evil. the japanese were downright inhuman in their treatment of anyone they captured. and it wasn't even about race to them: filipinos, malaysians, chinese and koreans were arguably treated worse than white captives. to the victors go the spoils of war, one of which is how history depicts the actions of those involved in the war. the US has undoubtedly covered up horrid stuff that they did to their enemies in order to make a more shining example of themselves, but that was the rule across the board during that war, not the exception; it was a terrible conflict for all involved. but even with revisionist history, people need to: A) look at the actions of those participating in the war through the lens of the times, ie the 1940s and not through their own current lenses, ie the 21st century. racism was still rampant for every person on earth back then, the US had only abolished slavery 80 years prior, white people in america weren't even all treated with the same respect as other white people (russians or irish compared to english; not to mention the ill treatment of german communities during both world wars), imperialism was still strong, and various methods of torture that we now deem despicable were commonplace back then; amongst many other things. while we should obviously deem most/all of those things as horrible and should work to never see them again, if we do a straight across comparison of both sides by today's standards, they both come across as evil, and that's an incorrect way of looking at it. you have to take it into the scope of the era. we should vilify the way that the US treated asian immigrants and african americans, but that should not put them on the same level as the nazis or japanese in our eyes and it should not stop us from being proud of what the US did during world war 2. similar to how we should be able to celebrate the founding fathers and the revolutionary war while still being ashamed of the fact that they owned slaves. and B) even if we acknowledge the various negative things done by allied soldiers during that war, the only sane, logical conclusion is that they were done for the greater good and were still not even as bad as those perpetrated by the axis powers. we look at war movies portraying the racism that americans had for the japanese and we squirm when they yell out "jap" or "slant" because that's how we've been programmed (and it is wrong by our current standards), yet we don't cry out in agony when we find out that the japanese would regularly cut the penis and testicles off of american/english soldiers and shove them in their decapitated mouths in order to kill allied moral. idk about anyone else, but yelling out a racial slur and rounding up people into internment camps where their life expectancy increases (albeit illegally and against their wills) pales in comparison to the aforementioned atrocities, or the comfort women of the dutch indies that japan still refuses to apologize for, or the rape of nanking, or the bataan death march (and subsequent internment of filipino and american soldiers), or the treatment of the conquered koreans, etc. american injustices (as well as those perpetrated by other allied powers) were nowhere near the scope and horror as those committed by the axis powers. the greater evil was, and always will/should be the axis powers. sorry for my long-winded speech lol
Ever herd of Unit 731 and the rape of Nanking? The internment camps (bad but still nothing like German camps) would have never happened if Imperial Japan never attacked The US. WW2 was all about fighting prejudice within and outside a countries borders.
"for harry, though, his greatest regret was not having the courage to thank his japanese grand uncle who had taught him so much."
honestly i shed a couple tears at this part
If you cried that's cringe and pathetic
HelloTheTerrarian It made me pretty sad too.
lol
T
Reminded me of Zuko and uncle Hiro
That flag transition at 3:00 gave me the chills.
OKAY
ditto
lol yes the 50 stars is not 50 states, it's really 50 countries the US has conquered
Thalamus good eye
Literally Night and Day...but everyone agrees a sunset is beautiful.
I think this would be a good movie for some reson
Yeah if they add some stuff in (like all historical movies do) then I think it could be a great film.
Mac'n CheeseTV I was thinking that too.
There is a movie similar to this but it's about 2 brothers in the Korean war fighting against each other /: don't rememeber the name but it's sad
Mac'n CheeseTV There's a great movie from the 50's about a (mostly) Japanese US unit fighting in Europe and earning many honors. The name escapes me and I don't have the chance to google.
There is a movie. It's called Tae Guk Gi The Brotherhood of War
1:00 that day (Japan's sun) to night (US stars) transition is just perfect.
3:00
Wasn't too bad.. I feared it was gonna be something like one of the U.S sibling shooting a Japanese soldier and then identifying his brother or something..
That would be the hollywood version
Steven Spielberg's version
It wasn't too uncommon in civil wars
agreed.
?
That must have been father of the year.
True that
Speech 100
Charisma: 20
He must had said something along the lines of "You both served for your respective countries like real men, and I couldn't be prouder. A war between two countries divided us, now that we're together let's not let it divide us any more."
That, or he simply threw his shoe at them and it put them in line? I don't know.
Do japanese households do the shoe thing too? I thought it was just arabs
When they saw each other, there must have been a lot of problems.
You could say, Akune Matata.
fizz113 amazing
fizz113 Ha!
It means no worries for the rest of your days!
FUCK. Thats good.
As a Japanese American
Japanese immigrants in Brazil also had tough lives during and after the war. Because they were living in a foreign country, enemy of Japan, when news spread that war was over and Japan had lost it, Japanese immigrants denied it believing it was false propaganda, and fellow immigrants who acknoledged Japan's surrender were tagged as traitors and murdered. This went on for at least two years, so in 1947 there were still Japanese Brazilians who believed the war was still going on, or that Japan had won. This episode in Brazilian History is called Soiled Hearts, as Japanese loyalists accused the "traitors", and there's a film about it (in Japanese with Japanese actors).
+Eric William Rosa Gracias.
Eric William Rosa you know a lot about war
Eita.
in brazil the government took radios from germans and italians
not just transmitters but receivers too
There's also the story of hiro onoda, he was sent with a couple of guys during ww2 to the Philippines and gather information, they hid in a jungle for years until each one died and hiro was the only one waiting for an order from Japan for 29 years until a Japanese hiker went to look for him and found him, and hiro was disappointed that they lost the war
Inspiring story! I was expecting some tragic ending where the brothers had to kill each other in battle, but I'm not saying that's an ending I wanted.
I was also happy to learn that the brothers all survived and were able to reconcile.
+The stig's internety cousin He was probably too young, as the 4th brother was approximately 15.
***** The video stated that he was part of the "home guard," civilians too old, disabled or young to join the military who organized evacuations to bomb shelters, scanned the skies for enemy aircraft, and served as a last ditch defense force. All of the combatant nations in the war had such an organization. Germany, of course, as the most extreme, issued guns to members of the Hitler Youth; the United Kingdom organized volunteer squads of teenage and college age girls to maintain military motor vehicles so the men could go to the front to fight (all of the King's daughters who were old enough joined in to set an example; being a princess did not give you a moral excuse not to help out!). There were other volunteer jobs in the US, notably collecting recyclables for the war effort.
This is an inspiring story, especially since it turned out that none of the five were lost in action, and they reconciled after the war.
+The stig's internety cousin
He served in the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion on the homefront.
+Nick T. how did you know?
Someone tell Hollywood to get on this shit!
Zoink foo But sure they will change the story to show that the US side is better than the Japanese side.
LeGunslinger That is the most accurate description of what Hollywood is gonna do.
Ezra Grant
They tend to do that too, An alien director that what hollywood needs
(ⵙ_*)
LeGunslinger
Japanese imperial forces were objectively worse.
I'll refer you to the violent rape of nanking and the mass sex-enslavement of Korean women.
Azitock Ignoring all the war crimes of the USA to conclude that the Japanese forces were worse is not "objective" at all.
Someone needs to make a movie about this
But please for once don't glorify the americans.
Sadly they will cast white actors not Asian-Americans
@@aaronton2703 That would honestly be hilarious. It's one thing to cast Goku with a Caucasian since he's technically an alien, but it's another thing entirely to cast a Caucasian as an Asian, which is a real-world race.
I think they did for a Japanese channel.
I want to see Studio Ghibli adapt their story.
Proud to call these two men my great uncles. Great telling of their amazing journey.
Melissa Taguchi Really??:) 😭😭😭what a story. Are they still alive?
Melissa Taguchi thats so cool tell the story
Melissa Taguchi prove it
You bring dishonor to the Air Force!!!
Anders Lodin lady's not replying probably it's a fake !
Thank you for this story. As a yonsei Japanese American grown up in peace-- married a Japanese girl and living in Tokyo, hard to imagine this tragedy. Our freedoms do not come for free.
Same thing happened here in Estonia, we called it Vennatappu Sõda, what means Borther killing War. Families divided by force between Russian and German troops. even tho people also fought for Estonians liberty
+Disko H I'd pick Vennatappu Sõda over Mr. Pibb any day.
+Sander Eerik Sandrak That's what happened to my family.
This was the story of the Baltic states ;)
+Jasmin Awany #karjalatakasin ;P
We had something very similar here in Latvia.
Made me cry watching this. Just the compassion and merit that went into this family as they served both sides!
Hell, this sounds like a movie! I can't believe this is true!
All people are relatives. The fact that people continue to fight wars instead of working out their differences beings me immense pain.
Why can't they see there are no need for countries and the need for power? All humans are creations of God. No one is any different because of skin colour, race or religion
Vinneish Varmend I agree there shouldn't be judgement based solely upon race but without power the human race would not evolve. Bringing up religion, in my opinion, was not a necessary thing to do in your reply.
+Wolfgang Kenshin Acrimony between relatives can be far more intense than between combatants of opposing sides. With family, the hatred becomes very personal.
+VitalTrilogy What's wrong with me including religion? But ok then, I'll change it here, make it more general. All humans are equal, regardless of race, religion and gender. Peace is what is needed to evolve, not power.
I just noticed a typo. Brings, not beings...
i could just watch ted all day and not get bored
They weren't the only ones. My grandmother's family went through the Same thing. Her two older brothers heard the call of the father land. Despite they were half apache and they're fathers explicit objections. They went to Germany to answer the call. The third bother joined the usa navy and became a medic. He survived pearl. Went on to join the first raids against the Japanese. He was awarded The medal of honor. His two older brothers did not survive The war. Later The third brother helped with writing the updated gi bill, helping ceaser Chavez and Hector Gonzales with The Hispanic rights movement. Also helping setting up a rights forum so medal of honor recipients of color have The option of being buried in arlington. The youngest was too young to join ww2. But he served in Korea.
My japanese grandmother was held in a internment camp even though she was the second generation in her family to be American born. She wasn't very old when her family was taken to the camp. They had their house, money, and everything else that they couldn't carry taken away from them. Almost at the same time my French grandfather, who was also young at the time, was taken into a japanese internment camp in the Philippines. His family also had almost everything taken away. Both of them were in internment camps at opposite ends of the war at the same time. Crazy right? They would later meet in the military, he was in the coast guard and she was in the navy. But the horrible things that they had to go through in those camps just boggles my mind. I can't even imagine what it was like to get out of the camps and have nothing to start from. I am glad that more people are learning about the injustices against American citizens, both in America and in the Philippines.
Brilliant quality material from TEDed, as usual.
Little thing that caught my attention: The transition at 2:58 from the US flag to the old Japanese flag was very artistic.
This is why I followed this channel. To find stories like this that I wasn’t previously aware of.
I see what you did there 3:00
Rashad lol, i was impressed too * __ *
Yep
Rashad I knew it was gonna come :D
Rashad Impressive artwork. Love the transition from US flag to Imperial Japanese.
I see what you did there at 1:00
"War will make corpses of us all" ~ Faramir LOTR TTO (M)
You want to know a sadder story?
Enter the five Sullivan Brothers.
Place: Ironbottom Sound, Off the coast of Guadalcanal.
Ship: USS Juneau, as all brothers wanted to serve on the same ship.
During the fight for the island of Guadalcanal, sea battles rated off the coast at night. In one such instance, the USS Juneau was in a full scale naval battle. The USS Juneau was a Light Cruiser, armed with only destroyer sized cannons. While under fire from the Japanese, a miscommunication issue happened and the Juneau was a victim of friendly fire. Soon after, the Juneau was sunk, along with ever single Sullivan brother. When the military came to the family's house to state their sorrows, the rather asked, "Which one?"
The Officer replied, "I'm sorry, all five."
+GamerGuy Oh lord... Even though I can have a sick sense of humor sometimes, even I won't/can't take away from how fucked up that is.
Just like saving private ryan but with a brother that survived.
+Dopski Lorica Fun fact, the loss of the Sullivan Brothers was what compelled the military to instate the Sole Survivor policy, which is also shown in Saving Private Ryan.
GamerGuy there is a movie about them. Think it's called the USS Sullivan...
GamerGuy There’s actually a ship called the USS Sullivans in the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. It’s a museum ship, and I’ve been on it multiple times
This one made me cry, can't imagine being in their place and feel torned like that
Oh my goodness... I have no words 0.0
7searchful Goes to show how much of a scourge war is.
The level of detail put into this video truly makes the story that much better. The M1 Garand and M1936 webbing at 2:44 adds so much historical accuracy.
One of few JPN-America stories with a positive ending. I'm crying tears of joy too!!! X...(
the man speaking in this video and many others,most of them are my favourite,has for some reason a great voice for this work
Amazing video! I didn't know about the Akune brothers until now. Definitely awe inspiring. Thank you, TED-ED!
This has to be one of the best stories I've ever heard. What a wonderful piece of American history. It's as captivating as an account that the ancient historians would have recorded.
I have many Japanese acquaintances, and, through them, I've learned more and more about Japanese culture. It's a land that I would love to experience, body and soul.
why no one make movie from this story yet? I thought it will be really interesting
Has anyone else been watching these videos because this mans voice is just soothing??
You got so many things about this story except the one thing to get from it that i think truly matters: a story about the story of human conflict, viewed through the eyes of literal brothers.
悲しい話ですね。
日本人としてこの話を知ることができて良かったです
Talk about sibling rivalry!
This story is so sad. It harbors interesting curcumstances, however. I always thought of European wars with a brother on either side. It is interesting to see it from this point of view.
What an incredible story… thank you for sharing
1:00 3:00 The transition is amazing af
I can only imagine how many stories are similar to this one, not just in WW2 but more so during the American civil war.
Hey, at least they all survived and they managed to meet together as family after the war. That's a win XD
"United by blood, divided by war."
*Feudal Japan 2 Electric Boogaloo*
Beautiful story it made me shed a couple tears 😢
And shout out to Ted-Ed for reminding me of my many backgrounds and to proud of where my family came from.
fun fact: saburo and shiro was the third and fourth son respectively.
saburo in japanese is 三郎 which literally translates to "third son"
shiro in japanese is 四郎 which literally translates to "fourth son"
Very sad but inspirational....!! Wars really devide eachother from their love once...
takes sibling rivalry to a new level
Dude this would make such a good movie I think
The same in Vietnam War.
True dat
A lot of wars, the American Civil War had a lot of split families that's how you got the I famous Hatfield & Mccoy feud.
Not the same. Vietnam war is not actual vietnam war. It about cambodian native war against vietnam and mislead by usa. And the local government in cambodia declare non party but in the secret support vietnam and kept supply to them to kill their own cambodian people who live in vietnam for decade. As result cambodia lose the war and lose the people. Vietnam regain power and land who borrow the land from cambodia a century agos withing cambodia native almost large population than vietnam live in that area. So as we see cambodia sign a secret deal for victory for vietnam in exchange for borrow land. That why tragedy mr leader in vietnam can't give that to cambodia but instead kill himself to delete all secret his sign.
@@kimkim-mh7bv - Not true. It was the Khmer Rouge, a communist group that held Phnom Penn at the time. They were not a fully-fledged government and only supported North Vietnam for mainly goods and military support to assist in their own efforts.
@@jeffo9401 noop where khmer Rouge came from before sihanouk out of his office? Khmer Rouge was create by mr king khmer and got support by his fellow pol pot. In vietname war there is no khmer Rouge.
The Akune brothers: Siblings on opposite sides of war (Transcrição)
There are many stories that can be told about World War II, from the tragic to the inspiring. But perhaps one of the most heartrending experiences was that of the Akune family, divided by the war against each other and against their own identities.
Ichiro Akune and his wife Yukiye immigrated to America from Japan in 1918 in search of opportunity, opening a small grocery store in central California and raising nine children. But when Mrs. Akune died in 1933, the children were sent to live with relatives in Japan, their father following soon after.
Though the move was a difficult adjustment after having been born and raised in America, the oldest son, Harry, formed a close bond with his grand uncle, who taught him the Japanese language, culture and values. Nevertheless, as soon as Harry and his brother Ken were old enough to work, they returned to the country they considered home, settling near Los Angeles.
But then, December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor. Now at war with Japan, the United States government did not trust the loyalty of those citizens who had family or ancestral ties to the enemy country.
In 1942, about 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were stripped of their civil rights and forcibly relocated to internment camps, even though most of them, like Harry and Ken, were Nisei, American or dual citizens who had been born in the US to Japanese immigrant parents.
The brothers not only had very limited contact with their family in Japan, but found themselves confined to a camp in a remote part of Colorado. But their story took another twist when recruiters from the US Army’s military intelligence service arrived at the camp looking for Japanese-speaking volunteers.
Despite their treatment by the government, Harry and Ken jumped at the chance to leave the camp and prove their loyalty as American citizens. Having been schooled in Japan, they soon began their service, translating captured documents, interrogating Japanese soldiers, and producing Japanese language propaganda aimed at persuading enemy forces to surrender.
The brothers’ work was invaluable to the war effort, providing vital strategic information about the size and location of Japanese forces. But they still faced discrimination and mistrust from their fellow soldiers.
Harry recalled an instance where his combat gear was mysteriously misplaced just prior to parachuting into enemy territory, with the white officer reluctant to give him a weapon. Nevertheless, both brothers continued to serve loyally through the end of the war.
But Harry and Ken were not the only Akune brothers fighting in the Pacific. Unbeknownst to them, two younger brothers, the third and fourth of the five Akune boys, were serving dutifully in the Imperial Japanese Navy, Saburo in the Naval Airforce, and 15-year-old Shiro as an orientation trainer for new recruits.
When the war ended, Harry and Ken served in the allied occupational forces and were seen as traitors by the locals. When all the Akune brothers gathered at a family reunion in Kagoshima for the first time in a decade, it was revealed that the two pairs had fought on opposing sides.
Tempers flared and a fight almost broke out until their father stepped in. The brothers managed to make peace and Saburo and Shiro joined Harry and Ken in California, and later fought for the US Army in Korea.
It took until 1988 for the US government to acknowledge the injustice of its internment camps and approve reparations payments to survivors. For Harry, though, his greatest regret was not having the courage to thank his Japanese grand uncle who had taught him so much.
The story of the Akune brothers is many things: a family divided by circumstance, the unjust treatment of Japanese Americans, and the personal struggle of reconciling two national identities. But it also reveals a larger story about American history: the oppression faced by immigrant groups and their perseverance in overcoming it.
Amazing story!
This feels like a documentary but over 9000 times better.
great story but another sad example of americas mistreatment of minority groups
Being a Japanese I'll say on my behalf that I have not done such terrible deed. and as Meme Mabon says, not all of us are bad, but I understand that you are upset and you have every right to be and I will not try to diminish the fact that what has happened was very terrible. But please do not be upset at all Japanese people.
Jonathan D all of the Japanese? Even the ones horned today
You do realise they were treated badly due to war right? It's different from racism towards minorities while being in peace!
+Jonathan D oh you ignorant fool, the Japanese that fought in the American army aided in the fight against the Nazis in Italy. The 442nd regiment was the most decorated in the entire war. What did your family contribute? Oh that's right, nothing.
+Garnetthekelpiehorse you and the other great people of Japan don't need to apologize. These are just ignorant fools that seriously need to get over shit that happened 70 years ago.
1:00 that sunset animation is genius
who got chills a bunch of times while watching this
There were similar stories in Europe too.
dasdasdus And yet no one brings up German or Italian Internment.
Presidente What internment?
bob potato Well as far I know Volga germans were sent into the siberian mainland, since they were a risk factor.
bob potato Well I was thinking about American interment. +dasdasdus But that also was an injustice doe to innocent people.
Presidente In the US people from or descendants of Germany or Italy weren't interned.The Japanese were the exception, because racism, not the rule.
Beautifuly narrated and researched, as always
this should be a movie
Goodness... this really made me cry
Slender Man Sr. if that made you cry, then you're sheltered. much more horrible things happen in real life.
The Legend 566 I know some horrible events do anger/saddened me, but so far this story is by far on of the stories that is an inspiration and one of the emotional ones...
that's a great american to japanese flag transition!
This needs to have more views
I wonder why the U.S. didn't also intern German and Italian citizens?
+Richard Lew Because someone had to go and fight, and WASPs only wasn't gonna be enough, ha ha ha... Also, a racist element is to be expected...
+Richard Lew Because the Japanese were a special case. After Pearl Harbor, one of the Japanese pilots crash landed on another Hawaiian island. A Japanese American family took him in, unaware that an attack even happened. Then a bunch of crap happened where the pilot was arrested after trying to steal an American plane to get back to Japan, and the family was arrested for helping him. Americans, who are still frothing over the attack on Pearl Harbor, jumped to the conclusion that no Japanese can be trusted and had Japanese-Americans moved to prison camps.
+Richard Lew i'm currently taking an east asian american experience class and we just talked about the camps. some italians and germans were interned but not as many as the japanese americans as they were harder to tell who was italian and german (names and clear ethnic physical appearances)
+Lightscribe225 maybe but its also the intense loyalty to Japan and the emperor. Its just a cultural thing, many Japanese Americans didn't feel this way, but some did.
They weren't as big of a threat to America as the Japanese were and weren't treated as such, plus there were literally tens of millions of people with ancestry going back to Germany or Italy.
I'm a Filipina Japanese with a Spanish bloodlines in Arágon in Spain. I'm really happy in the Philippines but. My family here. Just keep fighting over land disputes. They already got huge ones and yet they want more. There are times they would meet armed with machetes and revolvers and exchange death threats. It's really terrifying.
why isn't this a movie?!?!?!?!?!
This story is worthy of Hollywood.
2:46 Maybe his fellow soldiers attempt to discriminate him by hiding his combat gear anywhere
That transition at 3:09, was like really great!
Interesting story.
this would be a beautiful movie
0:53 Japanese people live so long they have "Great Uncle"
Thanks to TED Ed for making this video.
animation is fantastic as well as the phrasing of the story :D but as a white american, this makes my soul ache. pretty hard to be proud of being an american with messed up bs like this in our history
This would make an oscar winning movie
Reminds me of Kenji by Fort Minor ..
When it was said that he couldn't thank his grand-uncle... I felt that ...
"Two younger brothers, the third and fourth Akune brothers..."
So, what happened to the 5th?
Nason Li the fourth one was only 15.
Such an insoiring story!! Loved this video
It's sad to see even a soldier could be discriminated in the US only 70 so years ago.
I am very happy that they were all alive in the end of the war.
I feel the Akuna brother. It must’ve been very hard to live as a citizen of the United State who’s background were the native country that’s at war with the US.
Wow such a great piece of history.
Of course, all the America hating people in the comments immediately focus on the 48 seconds of the video about the internment camps instead of discussing the story...
Ima Gunna Di So just because someone identifies the bad things America does, that makes the person America hating? I haven't read all the comments, but from those I did read I see people saying "hey we did a lot of terrible things, but we can move forward".
I believe in America, it's because I believe in America that I'm not afraid to admit we have, we do and we will mess things up horribly.
Ikr they don't even mention the prisoner of war camps of Japan
Which are far worse.
amazing story and amazing illustrations!
We're all siblings on opposite sides of war -- religion, nationalism, and patriotism - those diseases of mankind - make us forget this.
Pascal Smit, you seriously think religion is a disease of mankind? Really? After the Renaissance, the theistic Greek philosophers, the incalculable contribution of both pagan and Christian religion to European culture, the influence of religions like Hinduism on India, the fact that two atheist regimes, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, were at times just as bad as a medieval kingdom, and the fact that even in a world without religion EVERYONE will still be divided, you seriously think religion is mankind's cancer? Wow.
2:24 the helmet is backwards. The chin strap goes over the front visor.
Nit-picking aside, excellent story and production, thank you for sharing! Very awe-inspiring story.
Check out the Korean film by the name of Taegukgi if anyone is interested. It's similar in the sense that two brothers were on opposing sides during the Korean War
I seen that one. Its sad that his brother ended up dying and realizing his mistake. For what? Just for the kim family to stay in power.
Honestly ik Ted has some problems. But Ted Ed comes from such a pure knowledge POV I can't complain at all. Good piece per usual. From the graphics, to the tone of voice all the way to the actual story
If these TED talks could be less US centric that'd be great.
Stop coming to US based channels, maybe? Or find UA-cam channels that are in your own country.
I only made that comment because many of these videos seem to assume an American audience. I checked the TED-Ed website and found this on their about page: "TED believes passionately that ideas have the power to change attitudes, lives, and ultimately, the world. This underlying philosophy is the driving force behind all of TED’s endeavors, including the TED Conferences, TEDx, TED Books, the TED Fellows Program, and the TED Open Translation Project. With this philosophy in mind, and with the intention of supporting teachers and sparking the curiosity of learners around the world, TED-Ed is the newest of TED’s initiatives." It may be a US based channel, but I think it's within my purview to criticise them on a bias which plays against their own stated aim. Also, why should I stick to videos from my own country, that pretty much defeats half the point of having internet.
spacedoubt15 I'm not American either, but I think they've told this story quite objectively.
This is just the whole plot of Attack on Titan, but has an happy ending.
Atleast there got something for there injustice. Not like Guatemalan's how the US government gave syphilis to and al they got was a sorry yrs later.
Wow . This episode is awesome .
In greek language akune means listen
wow what a great fascinating story and wonderful lesson
I think this clip is good however it portrays America as being the greater evil concerning detainment camps. America since then has alleviated this wrong as shown in the video. However, let us not forget the treatment of Commonwealth soldiers in Japanes POW camps.
sather58 i agree, if i'm reading you correctly. while it was an injustice, it was hardly what the germans did to the jews. life expectancy actually increased in internment camps. an injustice, and definitely evil, but hardly the greater evil. the japanese were downright inhuman in their treatment of anyone they captured. and it wasn't even about race to them: filipinos, malaysians, chinese and koreans were arguably treated worse than white captives.
to the victors go the spoils of war, one of which is how history depicts the actions of those involved in the war. the US has undoubtedly covered up horrid stuff that they did to their enemies in order to make a more shining example of themselves, but that was the rule across the board during that war, not the exception; it was a terrible conflict for all involved. but even with revisionist history, people need to:
A) look at the actions of those participating in the war through the lens of the times, ie the 1940s and not through their own current lenses, ie the 21st century. racism was still rampant for every person on earth back then, the US had only abolished slavery 80 years prior, white people in america weren't even all treated with the same respect as other white people (russians or irish compared to english; not to mention the ill treatment of german communities during both world wars), imperialism was still strong, and various methods of torture that we now deem despicable were commonplace back then; amongst many other things. while we should obviously deem most/all of those things as horrible and should work to never see them again, if we do a straight across comparison of both sides by today's standards, they both come across as evil, and that's an incorrect way of looking at it. you have to take it into the scope of the era. we should vilify the way that the US treated asian immigrants and african americans, but that should not put them on the same level as the nazis or japanese in our eyes and it should not stop us from being proud of what the US did during world war 2. similar to how we should be able to celebrate the founding fathers and the revolutionary war while still being ashamed of the fact that they owned slaves. and
B) even if we acknowledge the various negative things done by allied soldiers during that war, the only sane, logical conclusion is that they were done for the greater good and were still not even as bad as those perpetrated by the axis powers. we look at war movies portraying the racism that americans had for the japanese and we squirm when they yell out "jap" or "slant" because that's how we've been programmed (and it is wrong by our current standards), yet we don't cry out in agony when we find out that the japanese would regularly cut the penis and testicles off of american/english soldiers and shove them in their decapitated mouths in order to kill allied moral. idk about anyone else, but yelling out a racial slur and rounding up people into internment camps where their life expectancy increases (albeit illegally and against their wills) pales in comparison to the aforementioned atrocities, or the comfort women of the dutch indies that japan still refuses to apologize for, or the rape of nanking, or the bataan death march (and subsequent internment of filipino and american soldiers), or the treatment of the conquered koreans, etc.
american injustices (as well as those perpetrated by other allied powers) were nowhere near the scope and horror as those committed by the axis powers. the greater evil was, and always will/should be the axis powers. sorry for my long-winded speech lol
Ever herd of Unit 731 and the rape of Nanking? The internment camps (bad but still nothing like German camps) would have never happened if Imperial Japan never attacked The US. WW2 was all about fighting prejudice within and outside a countries borders.
War is terrible things. From both sides there's going to be atrocities.
My family was also rip apart by the war, some faught in the pacific for the USA, some, fought in African for the germans.
Its funny because american with japanese ancestry is distrusted,while american with german ancestry is treated normally.
this needs to be a movie.
1:34 "Internment camps". Nice choice of words. Haha
I love your videos! I think they are all very educational and the animations are amazing! Love your work!! 😁😀😁🎥