Questions we explore:

• Oppenheimer: how will the film be perceived in Japan
• What did the bomb mean for Japan and for Asia
• Should we look at history in a continuous flow?

Summary of the Podcast:

Intro and we discuss Oppenheimer, the movie (Min 2-13)

• “We shall see” how a Japanese audience responds to this; Japan sees itself as the last victim of the war

• The movie is biographical; it takes a neutral stance - let the audience decide for themselves

• The period that ensued in Asia after the bomb wasn’t a Cold War - there were many hot wars

Learning about Takuma and what made him interested in the topic- (Min 13-22)

• He has Japanese - German roots and was amazed that the Pacific War wasn’t taught in his German textbooks growing up, this inspired a natural curiosity

• He wanted to explore his roots having grandparents as a veteran of the war 

• We discuss war then in now - that war was essentially a characteristic of civilization, and that now, until very recently we forgot about the threat of it

Let’s start with Pearl Harbor - (Min 23-32)

• The linguistic perspective is part of his academia, and he wants to introduce the Japanese perspective

• Studying the lead up to Pearl Harbor, he sees that Tokyo intentionally mislead their diplomats in Washington

• We should look at history as both a by-product of the individual humans who influence outcomes and decisions, as well as considering it as a continuous flow of social values, norms, and ideas

To understand the Pacific War, we should take a broader look at Asia (Min 33-45)

• It might not have been just the bombs, but rather the USSR invading Japan that really accelerated the surrender

• And we have to take the War in the Pacific had been going on much longer in 1941 - Japan had been fighting China going back to 1931.

• Japan’s military history was one of victories, and they consider themselves a great power; the dreams and vision weren’t static, they grew over time

This is the first part of our conversation, stay tuned for the second part of it - which we will release next week.

For further learnings:

And check out Qwoll’s course on the Manhattan Project: iOS or Android

Check out Melber’s book on Pearl Harbor: Link to Amazon in German or English