00:02 John Daub: Hello everybody, welcome to Tokyo. This is Yokoamicho Park. This is where they remember the Tokyo firebombing and the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. This is sort of where people come during anniversaries of these disasters.

00:23 John Daub: I thought, I'm here filming an episode, so I would share with you just maybe 15 minutes walking around this park and getting a better understanding of what this day means, especially since it's the 80th memorial ceremony for about 100,000 people that lost their lives in the Tokyo air raids on March 10th, 1945. It's crazy to think so much time has passed. During the corona period, they had the 75th memorial service. I couldn't go to that because of the pandemic and everybody was much older then. Over the last five years, a lot of the people that were alive during that time to share the stories have passed away. So it's getting to a point where there's just a handful of people here. I'm making an episode trying to share some of the history that we study in the history books from the Japan side, a point of view, so that we get a better understanding of what it was like on that day.

01:29 John Daub: The episode I'm making for the main channel should come up this month in March. I also took a guided tour of some of the burned areas, the relics from World War II. From that bombing, there's still a lot of burn marks and things that you can see people walk past every day, not realizing some of them are quite significant. But Tokyo's past is in plain sight in some places.

02:02 John Daub: So where exactly am I? Let me give you a really quick overview of this location in Sumida-ku. This temple was set up last century, so it's not a very old place. It's set up to remember the people who lost their lives. This whole site of Tokyo that you see where Route 7 is going through there, that's almost all intact, entirely new buildings. This is the part that suffered the heaviest damage. It was basically just completely flattened, all ashes. So you don't find much history in this side between the Arakawa River and the Sumida River right here. On the top there that you can see, this is where Sumida-ku is. This is where the sumo wrestlers also wrestle. It's quite famous for that. And this temple in particular. That's the big Apa Hotel as well. It's actually a very pretty place to walk around with a garden. There's some cherry blossoms here, some early bloomers as well.

03:03 John Daub: Yokoamicho Park is what it's called. I saw some foreigners come here by rent-a-bicycle. They're walking around. Not a lot of other people here. But you can see the news media is finding people who share their firsthand stories, stories of their fathers. A lot of the people now that are alive were under the age of 16. So they were quite young when it happened. Those that were adults, most of them have left us sadly. But I was able to interview someone who is now 95 years old. The interview, and he was very graphic in his description of things. Very good memory. So this main channel episode that's going to come out this month is going to be very good. Very revealing, I think.

04:00 John Daub: History always teaches us valuable lessons. I think the point of this episode, and I know there's going to be a lot of people that always write in about Pearl Harbor, about December 7th. And I also visited Pearl Harbor as well. That's really important to understand because the Pacific Front of this war started with that act, which was a dumb move. But I want to be real with you. One of the things that I discovered making this episode is that there's a lot of controversy here. Every year, the international community remembers Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And they should because this is the only place that atomic weapons have been used. But this event here in Tokyo where there were over 100,000 people lost their lives here, more than in Hiroshima. But the effects of the atomic bomb go well beyond just that act, which is why it's such an awful thing. It doesn't just impact after it hits. It's something that sticks around for a very long time.

05:17 John Daub: Let me just go through what Wikipedia has to say because it's a good overview. The bombings of Tokyo were a series of air raids on Japan by the United States Air Force primarily launched during the closing campaigns of the Pacific theater, World War II. It was pretty much over when this happened prior to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Once they took Saipan and they could do bombing raids from really close, it was over. The strikes conducted by the Air Force on the night of the 9th and 10th of March 1945, code name Operation Meetinghouse for those history buffs, constitutes the single most destructive aerial bombing raid in human history. Some people in Germany disagree with this, but this was much worse because the buildings were made of wood and the napalm, the gasoline gel that was in these bombs, was meant to destroy a lot of stuff. Germany had a lot of stone buildings. Tokyo had a lot of wooden buildings and it was apparent in the aftermath. It was very destructive.

06:25 John Daub: 10,000 acres of central Tokyo was destroyed, leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead and over 1,000,000 homeless. A lot of people went out to relatives out in the countryside if they could. Other people were stuck here in the city, which is awful. By comparison, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima resulted in the immediate death of an estimated 70,000 to 150,000 people. The U.S. mounted the Doolittle raids. But it was more symbolic to try to show them that the mainland can be gotten to. Over half of Tokyo's industry was spread out among residential and commercial neighborhoods. So that's another thing that's also debated. There's two sides to all the stories. The reason why Tokyo was bombed was because a lot of the factories and the industrial stuff was inside of the residential areas. And whether or not it was because it was a strategic thing, because no one's going to bomb a civilian area, or not. World War II was just a brutal, brutal war. The battles on the islands, the Pacific Theater in particular. We've seen a lot of the movies. The more I study about it, the more I can't imagine going through something like this in this generation.

08:10 John Daub: News that came back was often filtered to the public. One thing that I take away from this experience of talking with the residents of Tokyo, the older residents, about their history—you can take a look at the temple here while I talk—is that the people of Japan really had no idea what was going on. Everything that was happening outside in the world in the 1940s, '41, '42, during the war, was so filtered. A lot of people didn't want to be in war. A lot of the men going off to war didn't understand what they were doing. The civilians in Japan had no clue what was happening in Okinawa and some of the other areas. It was very much filtered. To them, when the bombs started coming, a lot of people were just surprised.

09:04 John Daub: This was not the only one. If you look at the Wikipedia at the end of it, there's a significant area here. There's a lot of controversy politically still to this day within Tokyo about this. There were a lot of other bombings of Tokyo. Once Saipan and closer islands to Japan were taken by the American Air Force, they were able to get those B-29s really close into the area, including on July 20, 1945, when a pumpkin bomb—the same ballistics as the Fat Man nuclear bomb—was dropped and overcast but missed the Imperial Palace. Imagine. If they had hit, the war would have probably been over. It's just a brutal, brutal thing. And even after the bombing of Hiroshima, the B-29s were in Tokyo. All the way, even after Nagasaki, 70 B-29s hit Tokyo even after Nagasaki. So this is the kind of history that we can sometimes forget about.

10:41 John Daub: You can see there's some B-29s dropping their payload. And then what was left over was not a lot of much of anything. A lot of smoke and rubble. No place that you could live. No place that you could eat. No food. And 100,000 people. 100,000 bodies. This is after it's been cleaned up. But there were 100,000 people who were in the Sumida River and were discovered months later. Many of them burned beyond recognition, of course. And the ashes of them were put in the cenotaph, which is right here. This one is Asakusa. Not a lot remained, but these two buildings are still there. Yeah, the firebombing was just devastating. Again, you could see in the background, everything was made of wood in Japan. Whenever they had an earthquake, especially during the daytime when people were awake, people were using fire to cook. And it would always lead to more fires within the city and lots of loss of life. Because of not the earthquake, but what happens as a result of the earthquake.

12:15 John Daub: I came here about two hours ago. And the Imperial family comes. Of course, you know, the Emperor of Japan probably—I don't know how much power he had to do anything with regards to the war. It seemed like the military industrial complex had taken over things here in Japan. The citizens, the residents of Tokyo really were powerless. And a lot of people said that the Emperor was powerless as well. There's a lot of debate on this. It's still going to go on for historians to talk about. But I can tell you with the residents and some of the old timers that I talked to, there's still a lot of resentment in the way this shouldn't have happened. It could have been avoided. I hear the same things over and over again from people. And not enough has been done in the years following to make up for the massive loss that happened here. And this is maybe my fourth time coming to this event over the years. I couldn't come to the 75th one, but the 80th one I'm here.

13:33 John Daub: The people that I interviewed for the episode are just too old to make it out now. Family members can come here and make an appointment to go inside of the cenotaph, which is where the ashes are. And they're now waiting to go into there. There's the media interviewing people. You can see people going in and coming out as they go inside to pay their respects to family members. The whole reason to make this is because my feeling is I live here in Tokyo. And I know a lot of people that, especially my wife's grandfather who passed away, he had stories of World War II. And it just opened my eyes. Because we read things in the history books, but we don't really get the other side of things. It was maybe the first time I experienced the other side was going to the Vietnam War Museum. They called it the American War in Vietnam. That blew me away. And then to see the images that they had in their museum about it. War is so easily preventable. But somebody told me that every three generations, people forget about the past. And they do stupid stuff like this again. And hopefully by making these kinds of episodes, we can remember what we lost from war. And that will make it easier to lean on peace and try to find a better way to do things.

15:29 John Daub: The people that we see here that are quite old, that were just kids when this happened, they grew up in the rubble of Tokyo. And they're the ones who know the most about this topic because they lived through it. They know what can happen from it. It's hard not to get really emotional. I remember listening for three hours of interviews with the witnesses of the Tokyo firebombing, like what they saw and stuff. But one of the greatest fears that they have is that the younger generation, when they're gone, won't be able to remember what they went through, what their experiences were like. Because that generation certainly didn't want war after what they went through. But the younger generation hasn't lived through it. They don't know what it's like. So it's really important to do these kinds of episodes. At least I think so. And it's not exactly the easiest content. Emi, who's my assistant, translated the interviews. And she was in tears the whole time she did it. I think I should probably double up her payment for doing that. It was really hard stuff. It's very graphic. And it's really good to hear this firsthand from people who were there.

17:02 John Daub: The man was 92 that I interviewed. And he took a bus to get there. It took him an hour and a half from the area of Tokyo that he was from. So I made a request with the Tokyo Firebombing and Raids Museum, which is a place that everybody should go to. I think it was Yale University that came in and translated all the things inside of the museum recently. I got a chance to talk with a couple of nice people from Yale University. They were there helping the museum. So it should be translated in English now, which was a big problem for why international tourists wouldn't go in there. You just see the images and you didn't know, couldn't put it all together. But now with English language there, I think it's really good. The thing is, the city is not providing for the museum at all. And that is another sore point of it. I do hope that you guys can manage to find some time to go there because look at this tree. It's so beautiful. This is Yokoamicho Park, yeah. I do hope that you guys can find some time to make it to the Air Raid and Firebombing Museum and go take a look at the other side of the fire.

18:27 John Daub: I think this is the biggest firebombing. It was the biggest air raid in world history, if not world, you know, there ever will be. I don't think anything is going to be done like that ever again. It was done to inflict maximum damage. And it's war. A lot of Americans were losing their lives. The Americans were doing everything that they could, my country, to try to end the war. There's no way to do things diplomatically either. A lot of this could have been prevented. And it all goes down on the Japanese military for not recognizing that they had lost. They just put citizens in line. They weren't easy decisions. I've seen the old videos of Truman speaking as well. And he wore this hard. Roosevelt wore this hard. This was not easy stuff that they did. Which is why that war was so awful and why it shouldn't happen again and why I think it's important to talk about it.

19:37 John Daub: I'm starting to hear the voices of the people from the past. So it's a really hard thing. This is the look from Yokoamicho on the 80th anniversary memorial ceremony of the Tokyo firebombings. There's always people who are going to be talking about Pearl Harbor from the American side. And going to Pearl Harbor was extremely emotional because they do an amazing job of the memorials there. Showing the servicemen, sharing the stories, making sure that they're not forgotten as well. And that's war. You have to look at both sides. And as I'm a resident of Tokyo, I very much can see the Japanese side. And this is how they worship. They brought all these flowers here. People have bought to share with the temple here in remembrance. And I'm going to go to another memorial before I go home today.

21:17 John Daub: The thing that I think is a head scratcher is, like, Hiroshima and Nagasaki are, in particular, Hiroshima—a lot of people don't remember the firebombing of Tokyo. I mean, 100,000 people, I can't even imagine, lost their lives in that air raid. And it's not something that's talked about much outside. But when we talk about Hiroshima, that is remembered. Similar amount of people's lives were lost. But that's one is very remembered because of the impact and the type of weaponry that was used and the fact that they're still around. And if you do talk to the people who lived through this, it changes your perspective on a lot of things. It changes your perspective of life. Yeah. I mean, Ukraine is going through it too. And I absolutely hope that they can find a way to just stop it. Whatever it takes. It's such a hard thing. But these lessons that are often forgotten about generations that are lost. Too many people were lost. And talking about what happened here in Tokyo, it's impacted every country in the world. It's at war, I believe. Probably even Switzerland, for all I know.

23:00 John Daub: What I've been told is that for three generations, you remember it, and then once that generation is gone, it's forgotten, and we repeat the same history because such things were forgotten. It's a brutal thing. The rules of engagement of war, just a brutal, brutal thing. And I was listening to what Nixon had to say in his archive videos on YouTube. It's a fascinating thing. Nixon was no saint, alright? But he was a pretty good president. He saw a lot of history going back to when he got into Congress in the 1940s. He lived through it all. And he gave an amazing talk on Yalta, which is where FDR, Winston Churchill, and Stalin were all together. And he gave his feedback on this and how he dealt with the Russians back then. Of course, Nixon's not here, but it was interesting to see how such things are relevant even today, on how Nixon, a great Republican president, leader—he, of course, was no saint. No president is. But how he dealt with the Russians and how he dealt with international policy and how he dealt with the Chinese. Just these lessons, they're very relevant to today. It's like he's predicting the future. So if you get a chance, do take a look at the Nixon Library of interviews that he did in hindsight after his presidency. It's fascinating, because he left a disgraced president being impeached. Probably should have maybe even been convicted for the stuff that he did. But it pales in comparison to the way politics goes today, as far as we know.

25:03 John Daub: All right, everybody. That's all I wanted to share with you today. These are just my takes and my opinions. And I could be wrong. I'm sure I'm going to get feedback on it. But the more I research this, the more I learn about it, the more I can share these stories with you after confirming them, verifying them. And I'm working with the Museum of Air Raids and Firebombing Damage to make sure that the facts are right in the episode that I'll be uploading. So it's something that we can learn from for many, many years to come, hopefully. You can see there's some people bringing flowers. There's a cameraman tracking him. Trying very hard to protect the memory of those that lived through that firebombing here in Japan. He looks like he's in his 90s as well. So probably was a kid when it all happened 80 years ago. It's crazy, 80 years ago. This place was just Tokyo was a mess. And now we got like 20, 30 million tourists coming to Tokyo. This city was completely different 80 years ago. And I think those that are coming to visit, just like with Germany and other places that I visited in my own travels to understand the past, the history, when you do know that, you do study it, it really does make a difference in your experience traveling there.

26:54 John Daub: Inside here, the last thing I wanted to say here is the memorial for the 1923 Kanto Earthquake. And this is also a place where they brought the ashes and the bodies following that. There were a lot of people who died in the 1923 Kanto Earthquake. And this is where they're remembered inside of here. A lot of victims from that. Earthquakes scare the crap out of me. I've been in some really powerful ones. You are not in control when they hit. You don't know what's going to happen. Your world is just like collapsing in on you when that does happen. And I can't imagine 1923, the buildings not up to standard for what we have today. So that's all I have for you. The 80th memorial is pretty much completed. A lot of people have gone in there. And anybody can go in and you can give your prayers for the victims, for those that lost their lives inside of this temple here.

28:00 Peter von Gomm: I'm a little older than John, a World War II grandchild of European immigrants. Yeah, my grandfather fought in World War II in the European front. He died when I was 10 years old. I don't remember, I know he didn't really talk about it, but when I think back upon it, and he still had his military buzz cut till the end, I don't think he wanted to talk about this stuff. I think he wanted to talk about the stuff that he saw and happened down there. I know he got a Purple Heart. He was injured in battle, but it's not something that they talked about. They came home, went to work, started families. All you want, if you go through a war, all you want is peace. All you want is a solution that doesn't kill innocent people. All those lives, all those mothers who lost their sons, and sons who lost their moms, and daughters who lost their dads, and people who still had a lot more to say and do. My uncle died in World War II, flying in the U.S. Air Force over what is now Indonesia. Gosh, that was such a brutal front, the Pacific Front. Family members, and they shared stories, and my gosh, I heard a lot of stories.

29:31 John Daub: It's a quiet park today. There's the cenotaph, where family members can reserve a time to go in and pay their respects to the ashes in there. All right, everybody. It's a tough day. This is a tough episode to work on. I've been editing it for quite a while. I'm getting closer to the end, so I think by the end of March, it'll be up. I also got a couple of episodes on technology, finally. And maybe I'll get back to some food on the main channel. But I'm focusing more on the main channel than I am on the live streams. But one big thing to note is that I will be taking you to Nagasaki with me next week. So get ready to go down to Kyushu. Thanks for subscribing and following the channel. And thanks so much for all the really kind words and the support. In particular, this day is a really tough one. Tomorrow is the anniversary, and I might talk a little bit about earthquakes tomorrow. It's just a time where you should remember. Remember what happened in the past so it doesn't repeat itself.

30:37 John Daub: Here's a group of guys who've come here to remember family members, I think. It's almost impossible for me not to hear the voices that I've heard from this episode and so many. I'm going to Nagasaki, of course, to film on the atomic bombing and the hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors). I'll be meeting, I think, three of them. We've set up appointments through the museum there to talk with them and get their stories. For the same reason I'm making this episode, there's just not any more time to talk with people and get their stories on a place that I've called home for more than half my life. I've got to do it. So I'm looking forward to it, and I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm looking forward to it. You know what I mean? It's a hard one. Right now I'm suffering big time with pollen in my eyes. The hay fever is off the charts. I can't sleep well at night right now, and usually about two weeks of torture. And right now my eyes are burning from the pollen. So that's not helping on a day like this.

31:47 John Daub: There's some things here I didn't know about this. This is burned relics and things from the firebombing here on display. Massive melted nails. Wow. Burnt electromotor. Wow. It's a lot of relics here as well from the firebombing. Remains of a burnt car. Again, history, you should be able to feel it. Kids need to see this. Kids need to see this and kind of understand about their great-grandparents. I hope Leo gets a chance to understand this as well, because the city that we walk around every day on March 10, 1945, was nothing like it is today. All right, everybody. Thanks for watching. Sorry if the audio was bad. I'm not sure what's going on with this mic. Take care. I'll see you tomorrow. Mata ne.