AKB48′s Yuko Oshima: Japan Fought Against Italy in WW2
Back in August, Yuko Oshima of the idol group AKB48 appeared as a guest on an educational TV special marking the 65th anniversary of the end of World War 2. Oshima was meant to be a representative of the young generation of Japanese, all of whom have not experienced war.
At one point, Oshima was quizzed on her knowledge of the war. She was given a set of flags representing nations that participated in World War 2 and was asked to identify the Axis powers and the Allied powers:
She obviously knows that Japan fought against America, but has trouble figuring out the alignment of other countries. She seems pretty confident that Japan’s Axis partners were Germany and the United Kingdom (this produces some laughter from another guest, so she probably begins to doubt her choice). Italy is placed in the Allied column. Despite the fact that earlier parts of the program were discussing Japan’s war against China, she pauses in confusion for a few moments before she is able to correctly label China as one of the Allies. When she finishes by placing Australia in the Allied column, the presence of Union Jacks on opposing sides must look pretty odd. She finally corrects her mistake.
She explains her error by saying that she knew the Axis was known as the “Nichi-Doku-I“(日独伊) alliance in Japanese, and she mistakenly thought that he “I” stood for Italy ["Itaria"(伊太利亜) in Japanese, while the U.K. is "Igirisu"(英吉利)].
Update/Note to readers: I’ve already noticed that one twit is using this clip to back up the claim that “Japs aren’t taught about the war at school.” What an astounding stupid statement. If you judge the entire Japanese education system based on the comments of an air-headed pop star, you’re dumber than Ms. Oshima.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
