[Premium Access] The Pacific - 1x9 Okinawa - Group Reaction + Uncut

First response was in the Pacific war wise. Guadalcanal and other battles they actually fought with WW1 weapons .

Zach James

I was spent 2 years in okinawa at the kadena air force base. Okinawans riot all the time around the gates. Then there are the people who just let it go. But the okinawan language isn't wven the common language anymore. Most who speak ir now are the elders. Overall, beautiful island and people with a ton of culture. I loved it there.

Lyric Laude

The Ryukyu islands (of which Okinawa is the largest) were a semi-independent kingdom (nominally a vassal of China, but they basically just paid tribute and did their own thing otherwise). The Ryukyu Kingdom was conquered by the Japanese in 1609 and kept as a Japanese vassal instead, until it was outright annexed by Japan in 1879 and became the Okinawa Prefecture. The Okinawan people are genetically related but distinct from the Japanese, in addition their language is different. Since the annexation however there was a concerted effort to Japanize the Okinawans, and now very very few people speak the Okinawan language, and interbreeding has reduced the genetic differences. Okinawa is now basically Japan's Hawaii. A tropical island part of a larger country with a distinct culture and history that since annexation has become closer to the mainland culture, but is still differentiated. Chichijima of the Ogasawara islands is another interesting "Japanese Hawaii" in that it was an American colony that the Japanese annexed in the 1800's. Japan got to keep it and there are actually descendants of Americans that still live there today. Initially after it was taken by the US in 1945 it looked like the US might keep it , and they only let American descendants stay, but in the end they decided to give it back to Japan and let the Japanese settlers return. Since then there's been a lot of interbreeding and now Chichijima has a very interesting culture.

J S

I think the atomic bombs were justified. Seeing this type of defense for Okinawa... it would've been this for every inch of Japan. The atomic bomb was something the Japanese couldn't fight against, there was no way to resist it. A land invasion they could resist and fight to the bitter end. Atomic bombs presented no way to fight back, surrender was the only option then. No glorious last stand was available. Maybe the Japanese would've surrendered with a land invasion and there would be fewer deaths or damage than with the bombs... but everything I've seen and read makes me doubt that. I think more Japanese people would've died and more cities would've been destroyed if we gave them the chance to fight to the death.

GenAntilles

Got off easy, Wtf You mean, Nothing Happened the Emperor died of old age, fuck we reinstated him as leader after the war , Even the Japanese version Mengle didnt serve anytime i forget his name but the he was literally exposing entire Chinese Villages to the plauge for experiments, The same doctor you fpund sickening also Died of old age, In his Mansion, funny how we killed like 100,000 citzens yet didnt bother to punish the actual people pushing it out, Funny how our Goverment delivers punishment

Lomino

R.V.Burgin was a guest speaker at my high school. I was a cadet in ROTC and my instructor was a Lt.Col in the marines, so his words remain permanent to this day. Of the things Mr.Burgin told us that day, I remember these words the most vividly. “ Nobody can take away your honor from you; you can only give it away.” I’ve held those words close to my heart ever since, and grateful to Mr.Burgin for instilling such unwavering loyalty and honor in the hearts of both me and my peers. Never surrendering, a proud standing marine.

A lot of the citizens who died committed suicide due to the propaganda from Japanese soldiers.

Chaos T

This episode should drive home the point there was a clear good and bad side in this conflict. There isn't much nuance like in a lot of wars. The Japanese were very Nazi like in their atrocities and the millions they killed (heard figures anywhere from 3-9 million) in China in part due to a viewpoint of racial superiority should never be forgotten. Japan got off way easier than the Germans did in terms of post-war criminal trials. If you want to get a sense of how brutal the Japanese were in WWII, I recommend reading about Unit 731. Over 250,000 people died from human experimentation; everything from biological weapons experimentation to vivisection (without anesthesia). The stuff that took place at that facility made my stomach turn when I first learned about it. Absolutely sickening.

Chaos T

President Franklin Roosevelt died while this battle was taking place April 12th, 1945 in Georgia. He died of natural causes. Here's some quick info on casualties and deaths by both sides. The battle for Okinawa resulted in 20,000 US dead, and over 75,000 wounded from Army, Navy, and Marine personal. Japanese dead were estimated at around 110,000 soldiers, plus perhaps 100,000 dead Okinawan civilians. That's about a third of the civilian population on the island. About 7,000 Japanese soldiers surrendered or were captured alive which was a higher amount than previous battles. The people of Okinawa are still angry about how they were treated by the mainland Japanese. Also there has been an American military base on Okinawa for the last 75 years. The people of Okinawa aren't very happy about that either.

Frankie H

Yes! For some reason I always consider BOB/The Pacific and GK as a weird trilogy of sorts.

UndertheBrokenSky

Once you finish the show, I'd love to see you watch Generation Kill in the future, if possible. Although, if you do please remember that the author of the book the show is based on doesn't want the readers or watchers to hate any of the characters in the show, and instead try to understand them. Because being a soldier is a blue collar job that sometimes needs white collar knowledge.

Andy C