Japan in 1960 was insane.

Spectacles
Spectacles
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Published 2024-04-11
Seriously, it was a really wild (and dark) year.
What would omnipotence feel like? Probably something like AnyDesk. Get it now for free: anydesk.com/spectacles

The research for this video video relied extensively on the book Japan at the Crossroads, by Nick Kapur.
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Spectacles is a love letter to democracy, its values, its caretakers, and its ideas. Around the world, individual rights and representative government are facing unprecedented attacks from the forces of reaction and revisionism. But despite liberal democracy’s real shortcomings and today’s all-too-fashionable cynicism, we remain committed to its preservation and improvement. Join us as we explore just what liberal democracy is, how it comes about, and how it can best be maintained in a changing world.
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SOURCES
A = Nick Kapur, Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo (Harvard University Press, 2018)
B = Constitution of Japan
C = William Manchester, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880–1964 (Little, Brown, and Co. 1978)
D = “The Miraculous Deliverance From a Titanic Tragedy,” for the National World War II Museum, 25 August 2020
E = Robert Fahey, “Japan Explained: The House of Councilors,” in TokyoReview, 18 July 2019.
F = Wikipedia, “1960 Japanese general election.”
G = Michelle Toh, “Living standards are still falling in Japan. That’s a recipe for more stagnation,” CNN 12 April 2023
H = Naoki Abe, “Japan’s Shrinking Economy,” for the Brookings Institute, 12 February 2010.
I = Modern Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism, ed. James L. Huffman (Routledge, 2013)

CITATIONS (footnotes in English CC)
1. D.
2. I, 16; A, 14.
3. C, 472.
4. A, 8-9.
5. A, 9.
6. B.
7. A, 9-10.
8. A, 9-10.
9. A, 19.
10. A, 11.
11. A, 10.
12. A, 10.
13. A, 12.
14. A, 11-13.
15. A, 17-18.
16. A, 25.
17. A, 2.
18. A, 25.
19. A, 18.
20. A, 17-18.
21. A, 20-21.
22. A, 22-23. CORRECTION: The Diet session was scheduled to end on May 26. All succeeding event dates are correct.
23. A, 23.
24. A, 23.
25. E.
26. A, 23.
27. A, 26.
28. A, 27-29.
29. A, 29-30.
30. A, 31.
31. A, 32.
32. A, 50.
33. A, 34.
34. A, 169.
35. A, 34.
36. I, 16.
37. A, 74, 84.
38. A, 75-76.
39. A, 76.
40. A, 254.
41. A, 254.
42. A, 85-86.
43. A, 84.
44. A, 77-78.
45. A, 84-85, 98.
46. F.
47. A, 84.
48. A, 105.
49. A, 80-81.
50. A, 82.
51. A, 265.
52. A, 267; G; H.
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00:00 - Intro
02:19 - Occupation
06:33 - I. The Treaty
10:50 - II. The Protest
15:24 - III. The Murder
22:17 - Conclusion
All Comments (21)
  • @ElectrostatiCrow
    Fun fact Nobusuke Kishi was also the grandfather of Shinzo Abe.
  • @edie9158
    My grandparents grew up in the 60s in Japan. And I never understood why they were so… solemn and felt very isolated. The more I look into the historical development of post-war Japan, the more I realize what my family had to endure up until this point.
  • @USBearForce
    23:15 This segment about unavoidable tradeoffs reminded me of a quote from a famous Japanese sci-fi series: "A good autocracy might be better than even a good democracy, but a bad democracy is far better than a bad autocracy." -Yang Wen-li, from 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' by Yoshiki Tanaka.
  • @gypsy547
    Remember when Kellogg’s CEO said poor Americans could eat cereal for dinner.
  • @thephelddagrif2907
    Interesting how that assassination and the assassination of shinzo abe both ended with less support for the one assassinated
  • @u-mos8820
    Being able to explain very complex things in such a concise and simple way while also sneaking in a Warhammer reference has got to be a new intellectual milestone.
  • @gagamba9198
    Though he was arrested and jailed, Kishi was not charged, tried, or convicted of anything .
  • @johnnyharris
    Such good concise writing. Thanks for this vid.
  • @historysuit9418
    This was so interesting! I always thought Japan was a perfect democracy after WW2 and then started an economic miracle. But what really happened is wild.
  • @kingdm8315
    crazy how the school cirriculum is allergic to teaching anything actually intresting
  • @dr.woozie7500
    The US allowed war criminals to stay in power to the point many of them are still revered today. Ironically, this is why Japan still believes they are the victim in WWII.
  • @Nossieuk
    But is this Japans JFK mystery?
  • @user-fu1yt7vb8h
    I’ve always wanted to see a video in the post war Japan. Like the student revolutions, the assasinations, and just… SO MANY REVOLUTION ATTEMPTS it’s such an overlooked but interesting aspect of Japan