Chuuk Lagoon's Skull Problem
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2023
- Back in action after what feels like an eternity with many new seasons to share. Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Austria, Japan and Peru, plus a few others along the way. Enough for over a year and a half uninterrupted, I think.
Today's episode is the first in our Micronesian series (Chuuk/Pohnpei/Kosrae), which in my opinion will be one of our best yet. Crazy stories, crazy adventures, and mediocre footage. Classic Rare Earth.
Thanks for watching. I'm genuinely honoured you're here.
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Thanks for watching! You're clearly one of the good ones.
Genuine thanks to everyone who keeps this thing going. I think you're amazing:
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It's no problem man, you probably make the single best documentaries on this site and I've never seen I video you've made I didn't like! You may not be the most objective documentarian out there, but none of your work seems politically motivated either. You show us some sites, tell a story, say your opinion, and let the viewer decide how to feel from there. Simply put, you are a true story teller, and I'm grateful to see your just as good at it today as you've always been. Can't wait to see your next masterpiece!
Happy to see you upload! You're amazing!
No, You're amazing!
I didn't see my name at the end, and remembered that I'd had to draw down my commitment during COVID. Instead of that, I think I'll ask for a post card. Thank you for everything you two do, Kata and Evan.
Hi Evan, welcome back. ❤
It’s so wild being Micronesian and seeing anyone mention anything about us and our history. Always gives me whiplash.
Then buckle up because I'm about to drop 20
you never know if it's a blessing or an evil to stay unknown to the rest of the planet. however I have a few dozen Micronesian stories from my father that I love to share, one is hilarious, another one profound all the others are just super interesting. I would have loved to have a chance to sail out that way on my fathers steps
You're literally amazing~@@RareEarthSeries
What exactly does being Micronesian mean? I cannot imagine the horrors island people went through. My grandfather fought in the pacific theater in the navy. He passed before I could ask any questions or learn what he experienced.
@@mknewlan67It can mean two things: one is an ethnic background referencing one of three waves of people that populated the Pacific, and the other is a citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia (one of a number of countries in the region called Micronesia)
Its amazing how much WWII affected the Pacific. It must have been like the apocalypse for these small isolated islands only loosely connected to the wider world and still living traditional lifestyles.
Apocalypse after the apocalypse. The 1600s-1800s weren't a walk in the park either.
@@BrandanLee Yeah, but those were more of a slow burn of disease, slavery, minor conflicts and other typical colonial stuff and less of a singular event of utter hellfire. For a few places there were even some slight positives, like some places such as New Zealand finally regaining connection to the wider world after the voyaging stopped, some trade, and some new crops. Definitely a rough prelude to even rougher times though.
Very first thing we learned in Japanese History class is to call it the Pacific War, not the second World War, because for East and Southeast Asia, these conflicts were entirely removed from whatever the Europeans were up to, and much of it predated their war too.
But alas, Western history books are written from a Western perspective, so we call it the big World War while ignoring the hyper complex political history of anything east of Moscow.
@@Jon_East pretty sure no matter where you got your indoctrination, Hilter inviting the Japanese newly named Western Style God Emperor into the Axis as Honorary Arians made the whole situation a little bit of a Whole World kind of War.
@@Jon_East Western books written from a western perspective? What a shock. Who is stopping asians from writing books from their point of view anyway?
i mean the wrecks alone are impressive
Truly the most impressive dive spot on earth, bones aside
That's pretty much the answer right there. Let the bones be collected, this isn't ancient history.
I wounded how many of the visitors to the island are Japanese.
@@oldmech619 5% or so, I'd wager. But they tend to stay/dive from the Japanese speaking accommodation on Jeep Island.
@@RareEarthSeries Thanks. That’s about what I figured. Most Japanese like to travel in groups.
My mom was NAUI dive master and instructor in the 1970s, dove on probably nearly every accessible wreck in the south pacific. She has fastidious dive logs. Back in the 70s, these ships weren't considered war graves, and souvenir hunting was common. My mom particularly loved kwajalein and truk. She has so many stories of time spent inside these wrecks, running her hands through the silt, called "mucking". She recalls once realizing that she was mucking in a human ribcage, or dislodged a light bulb in a capsized wreck that imploded and sucked the lens out of her mask.
She also has a few small souvenirs. One was a fountain pen, that she found in the forecastle of the akibasan maru. It was a nice pen, with a gold nib, and would have been a very premium thing. 40 years underwater, it's urushi lacquer had actually saved the ebonite rubber body. It has a completely unique patina.
A few years ago, I actually reached out to a Japanese company, Wancher, about having it restored. They wouldn't even let me pay for shipping, and after a couple years of work, it's fully restored and functional again.
I wish it had been engraved with the owners name, it would have been so cool to return it to their family if possible. But alas, it was not, so it's just a well documented relic of the war.
I wonder if that's a Pilot. They pride their use of Urushi over Ebonite, before the plastics
@Shiruvan it was in a transport ship in the forecastle, so I doubt that. No reason for a pilot to be in that part of a ship. Ebonite was pretty ubiquitous then, the thing that was different was (I collect and restore antique fountain pens) the quality of the urushi lacquer and the nib material. Gold was a limited material, so it was either prewar or very expensive (most used "shiro" spring steel nibs)
He means the pen might have been a Pilot, not that it was a pilot's pen.
@carlrusso3338 oh no, that makes less sense. Sailor made predominantly more gold nibs in that era, but the big three of sailor, pilot and platinum were less established at the time and many of the fountain pens in the 1910's thru the 1940's were made in small artisan shops, this is one of those (remember Japan didn't heavily industrialize until after the war, even during the war they still had a large base of rural and agricultural folks, which hurt their damage control compared to Americans, who by then almost universally had some exposure to machinery)
@@colinmartin9797 I got what you mean the first time, arguably those brands were indeed not yet big names, its just that Pilot/Dunhill-Namiki is proud of the urushi-coated ebonite since even behind those times, including 1920s duofold flattop lookalikes they made. Platinum got a bunch of Celluloid torpedo models with eyedropper/vac system but their production time in war time was cut for war effort. Gold nibs probably weren't as much revered either, more than they were practical for handling acidic inks, as we see that even post war Japanese pen models has been staying more gold nibbed than say Parker, Sheaffer or Waterman in the 60s.
The Chuukese are wise enough to know that assistance from all sides will evaporate if they alter the _status quo._ After what they've endured, and in the present circumstances, you can't fault them for using the only leverage they have. Thank you for another amazing upload, Evan!
Agreed. Without those bones who would pay the $$ to travel to and stay in that remote location? There's really no other reason to go there that I can see as dive sites are common enough there's no need to travel there.
The people of Guam can fault the USA and Chuuk.
The USA cut a deal giving every Chuukese citizen a kind of quasi-US citizenship in exchange for the promise of not allowing China or Russia to build military bases there.
So thousands of Chuukese got in a plane for the USA. As in Guam, USA.
Because USA = free welfare, Food Stamps, Medicaid, Section 8 housing.
So now Guam is drowning in Chuukese who see no point in getting jobs, stay drunk day and night, have exploded the drug and burglary crime rates. So now the largest employer in Guam is a company that provides security guards to provide protection on an island that once had virtually no crime. Guam is mostly ruined now.
Guess it's ok to be an asshole if you've got a good enough reason?
I'm both impressed and concerned at the ability to find a story and frame it in a way that turns playing with actual human corpses into somewhat of a moral grey area, well done
It also begs the question, how long ago does a person have to have died for it to become archeology? If there is nobody left alive who remembers them are they fair game as an educational/historical site? Nobody sees an archeological dig and asks "Is this morally Ok?:
@@skeetsmcgrew3282I'd like to think that modern archaeology employs some amount of decorum. Certainly to the point that there's a world of difference between an archaeological dig and taking admissions for tourists to play with corpses.
@@konayasai Ok but if someone dug up your grandfather's grave and was like "Its for science bro, we will be cool about it," would that make it significantly better than a common graverobber?
@@skeetsmcgrew3282 Yes. It would. I wouldn't mind one bit. Heck, I wouldn't mind if the same happened to me. If I'm dead, I can't mind, because I'm dead. The only people who have any business minding are my living descendants, and I'd like to think that I'd raise my kids better than to be upset over something so silly as their old man's bones being useful to science instead of rotting away in a ditch.
@@konayasai Yeah, same honestly. But I have a genuine respect for all the different ways people choose to honor their dead. The craziest one I ever saw was this village that smoked their dead like a giant brisket. It takes like two weeks and the person looks just as bad as you'd imagine, it's horrifying. But to them it's just... what you do.
When we are talking about theoretical ancestors though, like the person shares your general racial background... man idk. I think that's where the line blurs for how much respect I can feel for a bunch of old bones. I have to wonder how many specific bodies are being sought after. Like how many Japanese grandmas out there are asking for their war criminal father's remains back? And anyway, did they just gather the bones up and huck them in a mass grave? Like that's so much better?
I guess of all the fates, tourist trap is probably one of the worst imaginable lol
I run across skulls and bones on a regular basis. Two of them are in places that normal divers can get to, and I’m constantly asking them to leave them alone. It’s just a respect thing.
I’m so glad that you’ve all done another video. Rare Earth is a go-to for me whenever I want to learn some esoteric and yet somehow wildly relatable bit of knowledge
Thanks for calling it esoteric, you made me look it up. lol I do like that word now and esoteric topics is where I wander regularly.
Diving in that history was mind blowing and heart wrenching. I was there 15 or so years ago and I wish I could have spent more time on land after a week out on a boat. We were pretty much ushered to and from the airport and boat, I’m sure as a precaution of liability with the company we traveled with. I did spend as much time as I could chatting with the locals that worked on the boat, and will say that you did a great job here with the brief explanation of life on the island.
Truuk Lagoon was one of the largest Japanese naval bases of the war. It’s so surprising to see how it’s impoverished with skeletal remains of a mighty empire, like a post apocalyptic landscape.
I was fortunate to dive 4 wrecks there in the mid-80s, and it was an unforgettable experience. Both for the historic underwater monument, and and the incredible garden of soft corals and fans now covering these wrecks
Yet at no time did I see skulls or bones on those wrecks we toured. Nor was there talk about that between dives. Other than an acknowledgement that some deepwater wreck sites were off limits (such as a sunken submarine) in part out of respect for the unrecovered remains sealed within them. The founder of the original dive shop there, at what was tnen called I think Truk Island Resort, hosted us all for a social dinner each night, and during that time meeting other divers I never had the sense that anyone was coming for or expecting to view the bones of Japanese sailors during our dive tours. It was incredible enough without that.
I have to wonder if something has changed in the last 40 years then, if a different experience is being catered to by dive operators today to the supposed tastes of bucket list tourist divers who come all the way out to Chuuk. Even then, it was obvious that the dive resort was the area's biggest economy and only tourist desitination. And it was a very small resort!
It just seems odd to me that this one attention-getting point worthy of note, about the historic Japanese wrecks including human remains there seems to be the main takeaway in Evan's reporting, almost implying it's what some divers come to the lagoon to experience. They are the preservation of a moment in history that should be known and remembered, but also an incredible array of underwater life that's grown from a tragedy. I guess/assume Evan also dove to some wrecks while there, to really experience firsthand the whole panorama of what people come there to experience on Truk wreck dives. But I must have missed that underwater footage or something.
The gift shop at the Eagle's Nest/Kehlsteinhaus sells a selection of US police force badges alongside mugs and fridge magnets - some tourists go for the wildest things
As an avid diver myself and very much involved in the international dive community. I have never heard of a diver that wanted to go to Chuuk to see the bones. I’m sure there are people out there that go there for that reason but I dare to say 95% of the divers that want to go there just want to go there for the world class wreck diving and flora and fauna.
@@StanHetHart-uc7us It could be that Rare Earth over emphasized that part in order to ratchet up the drama a bit.
I remember as a kid watching a Cousteau documentary filmed here in the 70s, I believe, and seeing the skulls and other bones lying in heaps in the inner rooms of sunken ships while the narrator dispassionately spoke of how they had all been 'snuffed out' in a heartbeat. I had nightmares for weeks.
Wow! What a fascinatingly disturbing story. One has to question the nature of evil and its consequences. Does time heal all wounds? My take is that even after nearly 80 years, the answer is no in this instance.
Wounds heal but scars remain.
@@wolfbyte3171 "russia has begrudingly accepted"
its literally illegal in russia to talk poorly of the "great patriotic war" or the actions by the soviet union. Putin has effectively re-stalinified.
@@wolfbyte3171Japan has deeply apologized for what it did in Micronesia, which it has acknowledged, and in turn spent decades working with their governments and people to make what they did right. I'm confused what you mean by saying they never apologized or accepted what they did. Perhaps you're overstating the case due to their poor actions elsewhere.
@@RareEarthSeries My apologies, I was thinking of their actions in China and some of their other wartime actions, such as Unit 731.
I don't think it heals, I just think we eventually forget. Like go back far enough and it's all lost in the folk lore and tales of generations retelling those stories.
I got literal chills when you said that maybe they earned their place as a toy graveyard for tourists. Such a good video
If it where the skulls of baby-faced G.I.'s he wouldn't think like that. Just treat them with respect. In russian territories there are wehrmacht forces found to this day, and guess what? They are send back. Identified or not. Warcriminals or not.
Agreed, this line of thinking is very bizarre and belongs in the dark ages not the 21st century.
@@Commander23c
You realize how cruel the Japanese were to American pows? You realize how even worse they treated the people they came across during their land grabs? It’s horrific.
This reminds me of the story of Nobuo Fujita, and how hard he tried to make up for his sins of fire bombing the mainland US. Nobody died in the town he bombed, he just damaged a field but he spent a good part of the rest of his life trying to make amends to people there.
The Japanese regime did awful things back then, and judging by how so many acted after the war I think many under them knew it.
His sword is located at a public library in Brookings Oregon.
Of course they knew it, the Japanese government and military of the time didn't exactly try to hide it.
It's not the Japanese regime itself who did those things but the Japanese themselves, boots on the field. It is silly to remark that they "knew", as THE DID IT themselves. They took pictures of themselves happily beheading people and playing with their skulls... No amount of Hello Kitty can whitewash that...
The leader of the first attack wave on Pearl Harbor, Mitsuo Fuchida, later became a Christian and an evangelist.
@@TubeRadiosRule is that supposed to be some kind of accountability? lmao
A somewhat interesting dimension to this is that, with sea level rise from climate change, one day maybe a couple centuries from now, Chuuk State will be one of the only remaining islands in what's currently Micronesia. Nowadays, the island group has easily dozens of different atolls, but with 10m of sea level rise, only Pohnpei and Chuuk will remain. I wonder how its status as one of the few remaining pacific islands, surrounded by a dilapidated multi-century-old graveyard, surrounded by another larger graveyard of lost pacific islands, will affect its long term future.
Kosrae as well. All the main islands would survive. Comparably to other Micronesian nations, the FSM are arguably the best off for surviving the current predictions of climate change.
lol, we'll see!
Probably not well. Aside from increasing sea level, the storms in the region are getting more powerful. Super hurricane and such. There will be a lot more storm surges and likely higher one too.
@@nickl5658 How many years of records do we have? How far has the sea level risen so far in this area? Based on that how long before that 120' dive is say 140'?
In theory 20 feet is achieved in 2100 or later. But chances are that won't be the case, as 80 years has a way of changing things, and the main islands of FSM are well above that height. Compared to the many other atolls of the region, the FSM would be comparably well-off.
Truly a difficult situation. As you mentioned if there were American dead soldiers there they would either have been recovered or the whole area would be a designated war grave. But honestly I don't think the bones mind and as for their relatives - once Japan has undertaken significant efforts to own up their war crimes (and in a clear worded way, not the stuff you hear so far) this is something that can and should be discussed but until then I think the bones keeping an island alive isn't a bad outcome.
Umm..I suggest that you google Japans apologies for WW2. Wikipedia has a short list of several HUNDRED official apologies. Seriously, do some research on this. I have heard no apologies for the Allied atrocities throughout the first half of the last cantury, the same time frame. I think Japan has exceeded its obligations post WW2.
@@rowbearly6128you’re not mentally all there huh
@@jtorola Google it kiddo.
@@rowbearly6128 Hmmm lets browse the same article oh dear. The paragraph after details the controveries of the insincere apolgies. Oh whats that the NHK director says the Nanjing Massacre was fake.
@@rowbearly6128Japan did apologized. Many times. And then reverted back to worshipping their war criminals who are equivalent of hitler, himmler and heydrich. In Japan, history is taught that their colonies were made affluent thanks to their involvement, and their expansion was to ensure peace in Asia. To this day, majority of those who are in the leading political party are grandsons of war criminals designated by the far east trial.
In short, it is hard to take an apology when the assailant immediately turns back and claim to the world 'it was all in good faith, and they are playing the victim'
I think you meant "pressganged" instead of "chain ganged". You're mixing up two different kinds of brutal and inhuman abuse; it's a sad thing that we require multiple distinct terms for forms of evil.
Maybe he meant chain ganged
Could be they were press ganged into a chain gang.
@@bryceanderson4864 yes indeed !
I really wouldnt call prisoners on a voluntary chain gang abused but whatever.
@@jamesbaker3153 What part of prisons is voluntary to you?
Always entertaining, always engaging, always thought-provoking. Thank you, Evan, as always.
These videos always make you think. Always challenging.
I was so confused as to how I've never heard about such a significant Pacific war location, then I realized its more well known as Truk Atoll. The central headquarters for the Japanese in the Pacific during WW2.
edit: Japanese Navy, very important qualifier.
so many youtubers doing trash content and then there is Rare Earth traveling the world and showing emphatic and deeply complex stories in just 10 minutes
As always bringing us the little human dilemmas from around the globe.
Slightly disturbing video but the way you present a place on earth is like no other. Thank you
the internet is starving for civil conversations. its almost like the world has forgotten its ok to discuss things which have no answers. the sneaking dread that maybe we can't afford to these days. good to see you're back 👍
This channel is one of the prime examples of top tier youtube content. That it hasn't gotten wider reach yet is crazy (1 million subscribers is nothing to scoff at but it deserves way more). This channel, and Lemmino are my go to recommendations to friends and family. Unique, well produced and always very interesting. Most channels just re-tell the same story as everyone else, this one finds stories most people have never heard of.
Keep up the good work
yeah, every time I come back to watch a video the sub count always surprises me. He's been making these things for years, and the quality was always top notch. I guess it just goes to show how saturated CZcams is nowadays, its hard to even find the good content amidst all of the garbage
I’m coming to dive there in January on a liveaboard and will be tech diving so probably a bit deeper than 100ft. But having dived quite a few war graves, and even more recent sites with bodies still inside (such as Salem Express) at the end of the day, I feel respect for the souls lost, and wouldn’t touch their bones.
Did you also cringe at the arm flapping and dangling SPGs? No way the majority of divers in this video have the proper certs to be on those wrecks.
heading there Jan 24th.
Glad you're back! Hope all remains well with you, the crew, and family. Your take on small but important world events and culture is a valuable contribution to our world view.
Interesting video. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chuuk's outer islands from 1989 to 1991. I never dived the wrecks. Thanks for the spotlight on Chuuk.
The main source of income for Chuuk are remittances sent by Chuukese working in Guam, Hawaii, and the mainland US. I lived with a host family. They all are migrated to Hawaii and the mainland. Micronesians can apply for admission to the US as nonimmigrants without visas under the terms of the Compact of Free Association with the US.
My own impression of the Chuukese relationship with the Japanese is that it is complex. One friend told me he admired the Japanese because the islands were never so productive as they were under the Japanese. Another friend told me that he was forced to work. Those thought to be slacking were forced to kneel on a bed of nails until their hands and feet bled. Most people distinguished between Japanese military and civilians (many of whom intermarried and some of whom warned Chuukese of the impending US attack). Most of the starvation that I heard about happened after the US attack when it was impossible to resupply the islands from the outside and the Japanese military horded food. I met my wife there. She was in JOCV (Japan's Peace Corps). She had a great experience and never encountered any animosity.
Picking the bone up was insane. I am genuinely shocked often when I realize how much of a gulf there is between me and so many people when it comes to thoughts about respect and behavior when in a place housing the dead, especially the foreign dead.
Yay, Evan's back! I was getting a little worried. Glad to see you and your amazing content again.
My first trip to Asia I visited Japan. The horror stories I heard about the Japanese in other Asian countries makes me glad I visited Japan first.
ITS BACK! I have missed this series terribly, its added a ton of destinations to my bucket list.
Absolutely wonderful to get another video from you. Thank you for your work.
good to see you back ....making us think about things/views/and perspectives that would otherwise have passed us by ....keep doing what you do ....i think we need this
so excited to see this channel back up and running!! One of my favorites on youtube. Looking forward to what's to come!
I think the situation here is very similar to Cenotes in Mexico. Some of them still contain human remains and you need special agreement from indigenous groups to dive in them. I wonder how many of them were Mayans put there as their place of rest and how many were slaves from conquered lands.
This video managed to eloquently portray all opinions without disrespecting anyone, which is quite hard to do when dealing with sensitive topics, beautifully put.
wow - i'd never heard of this and your commentary and thoughts gave me lots to think about. appreciate your honesty, so great job writing this and putting it together.
Looking forward to the season ahead. Great to have you back Evan and Kata.
Good to see you back Evan can't wait to see what stories you found in Micronesia
Excellent content … It saddens me to learn that human remains are why divers come to Chuuk lagoon. I was stationed on Guam 30 years ago and was a PADI instructor. Chuuk is relatively accessible from there. Not a single fellow diver that got to dive Truk lagoon / Chuuk and there were many, mentioned skulls or bones, just the magnificent wrecks and UW wildlife and how many of those were a challenge to sport divers due to the depths involved.
What an amazingly complex story of beauty, history and gray area told in such a colorful and wonderful way. Thank you.
I'm so happy you're back; I've been rewatching your olde videos! Take care ^^
Glad you guys are back! Thanks for the new video!
Best channel on CZcams hands down.
Great video. Poignant and relevent still today, your story is engaging and beyond that, the writing is far FAR better than most videos I'll see this week or month. REALLY good!
I started off from this channel watching Space Oddity from Chris Hadfield. The fact that you made this video of my islands and included a lot of stories of what I’ve also learned. Makes me happy that someone looks into our history. Thank you @RareEarth
Different cultures treat the dead differently. I recall taking a hike with a large group of elementary school kids in Kenya. One of them found a human skull and everyone though it was cool. The teacher told them they should leave it where they found it and nobody thought much else about it.
I love this channel so much. So glad you’re back.
Glad I found this, it's been awhile since I've seen a truly great documentary. Well done!
There is something that I find very very disturbing about people being so callous with human remains. I can't really fathom wanting to touch the dead. Wanting to see the dead. Places like the Paris Catacombs and such, where some of that was expected by the people who died, I can sort of understand, but have no desire for. This however seems even less respectful and more just morbid and callous.
Welcome back.
Been waiting patiently ( mostly, little sigh here and there).
Hope you and yours keep having fun (so we can keep getting insights).
Thank you (for widening my my viewpoint).
I am so happy you keep making videos, and a few friends of mine immediately click to watch. Thank you for continuing.
My favorite channel returns. Glad you’re safe and well. Thank you for the education and entertainment. Thank you for it all
Your story telling abilities often get me crying at the end. You've done it again. Thank you. 😢😅
Glad to see you guys back!
Ive missed rare earth so much. This was the best surprise i could ever hope to have gotten.
They're just gonna start putting new and/or fake bones down there for the tourists and who could blame them.
Welcome back! So looking forward to the new season.
They are actually mine. Please leave them there its one of my storage lakes, thanks
Crazy I was rewatching some old Japan Rare Earth videos just yesterday since I am studying abroad there now. Now we have a great new video!
So glad you're back!!!
"The past is never dead. It's not even past." -- William Faulkner
Dude if the skull isn't wanted by the authorities, I'm keeping it.
Glad to see, you’re still making great videos man.
im on that list! but its all worth it for videos like this. thanks guys for the hard work and the little bit of vacation time ;)
Fantastic channel!!❤
Thank you.
Besides bringing an open view from both sides of this story, you had the audacity to give your own conclusion. Thanks for sharing so much and being a true historian.
Amazing, interesting and thought provoking as always
The dead should be left in peace. I have a photo of my grandpa, with a pile of J skulls. They were a photo prop, 1944. Seeing them, and even touching them, is respect.
This series is the history we need with a bit of commentary that’s fair
Thank You. Great Respectful and Historic video. ~ As as veteran, not WW2, I understand and I can relate. Sad events. ~ Be Safe out there folks. Peace & Health to Us All.
Very eye opening. Excellent documentary. Keep up the good work!
You cover topics that I would never had know and cover them uniquely .
As a former wreck/cave diver and history buff, I watch youtube almost all day due to health. This is one the best videos I’ve watched! Superbly done!
Holy crap this video stopped me in my tracks, I had to just stop everything that was going on in my life for a couple of hours and just think really hard about the blessings of peacetime and plentiful food, and to feel complicated feelings of sympathy and brotherly love for all my fellow humans. And this was a much better use of those hours than scrolling + watching + scrolling + watching, and feeling easy feelings and thinking simple thoughts. Thank you for making this video, sincerely!
It seems kind of weird that people would want to see bones that much. Seeing old WW2 boats, planes, guns, etc seems way more interesting to me.
Great episode! The script for this one is especially good.
Excellent as always
So happy to see you back
Loving this. Once all of these new videos air you should really consider coming to the Persian Gulf. Bahrain has so many tales to tell you'd love it 😊
What a complicated situation. Well done!
Yesterday i came here thinking it's been awhile since your last upload! So excited!!
Very well put together
Congrats on a million subs! You deserve it!
welcome back.
As an expat Canadian relegated to Texas for the last decade I love and understand your respectful, inquisitive, reverent point of view. you see the world in wonderment and we all love you for it.
... even when Kata has to keep you in line!
Really, really excellent. Respectful and understanding. Awesome videography too.
Evan my friend, I appreciate every one of your uploads
“What we saw was an American tourist immediately pick it[human remains] and play with it, treat it like a toy, not ashamed in the slightest because this is a graveyard playground she’d payed good dollars to swim with those bones.”
☕️ moment
Glad you’re back!
Thank you for this video, im Palauan raised in Guam and this is very informative and I could watch videos on Micronesia all day
Over the next few months I'll be releasing about 20 from Micronesia and the Marshalls. Hope you enjoy!
@@RareEarthSeries thank you for being a thorough content creator, I apologize that sounds like an insult. Most content creators leave you less intelligent after you witness their creation. I believe you are a documentarian that highlights the less known facts on intriguing parts of history, science and biology perhaps. I have traveled to Palau and my grandparents speak Palauan and Japanese and I was born and raised in Guam. Two very different outlooks from the people who lived through WWII . I was raised and new Chamorros who survived tinta and faha which were the pits that Japanese made the Chamorro people dig and had them pile in and used one grenade to execute them to not waste ammo. And my grandma told me about the Japanese when they first came to Palau. Palau was the only island in the pacific that to y knowledge they did a different approach with the native inhabitants. They were spotted stealing taro and lurking in the outskirts. Almost like ghosts or a supernatural being, until more crops were stolen. And some were captured. Their approach was wrong to survive and if it wasn’t for the geographical features of this island I probably wouldn’t be alive. The first mistake I was told is if you are familiar with the rock islands of Palau then you would know about the mushroom shape they have gotten over time. Before I was told these stories about I was told when we were in the rock islands to never drink the water dripping through the underside. It would make people assume that it’s filtered like percolating through the rocks but it’s the opposite. For warned of the pathogens that would make you sick. This happened to the Japanese. If it was easier to see and get to the native population they probably would have seized control, but by probably getting Giardia or other parasites and pathogens the troops were not in physically good shape. And needed food. And from the accounts I heard Japanese were executed by Palauan people first for being caught stealing food. All in all the Japanese collaborated and built an infrastructure consensually with the Palauan people. My grandma told me they set up schools and it was the first modern education she received, and the first time she had ever been given manufactured slippers ( zori) is the Japanese name and is used in Guam still even though they have a now weakening deep animosity towards Japanese. My grandma’s age group has the same animosity towards Americans. Long story short is that they viewed them as a nation bringing them into the twentieth century and then the Americans bombed it because of the Japanese infrastructure, radio towers and visible Japanese machinery. Wiped them out and left Palau to clean up a mess. Any ways I’ve been to red beach and I love history, my grandpa and my grandmothers brother served in WWII my grandfather was an air traffic controller on midway and his brother in law is guy gabaldon that has the us war record for the most single handed surrendering to one individual. He did the very insubordinate act of going out at night because he knew Okinawan dialect of Japanese due to being raised kinda by his best friends family in Los Angeles. This took place in Saipan. There is a movie about him called “ to hell and eternity “ I believe. But I’ve been to red beach in Palau and sat on the decoy battle ship that they made. It’s kinda remarkable i. They made a full size Japanese battle ship out of cement next to an island with a cliff line close to the decoy . It looked like the enemy ship was tucked next to the island to be more concealed to me . And when the Americans came close to bomb it the Japanese had gunners in the cliff to shoot down the fighter planes. It was an actual successful tactic, not to sure if they had slaves building it though, I can’t see soldiers doing it for it’s enormous size, it’s called red beach because the battle left it drenched in blood and it’s been oozing the red color ever since due to the blown up metal machinery dispersed everywhere. If you haven’t been there I highly recommend that you do , it was in two pieces when I was there maybe three and climbed on it, that’s in 03’ don’t know if it’s completely submerged yet
@@jaysaburo5108 thank you for taking the time to write this out, I appreciate the stories
I may have let out a tiny, gleeful shriek when I saw the notification. So glad you're back!
Thank you for a video about this wonderful dive site.
This problem will solve itself.
Leave the bones long enough and archeologists will study them and write papers about them, and everything will be fine.
I recently watched a video about a construction site in London where they were excavating, and studying, a medieval cemetery.
Nobody was upset.
Just give it time.
Such a beautiful island, yet it's overshadowed by this period of devastating history. It would be awesome if someone could compile their history and stories from before the war. It could be something that's given some space in the tourism experience. People that come to visit a place should learn about the cultures they meet.
This another of your deep thoughts videos. You do them the best. Much respect. Look forward to learning more about these peole people and their home.💜
I really love how earnestly yet unbiasedly you manage to paint the perspective of every side of this issue.
God this channel is the most hidden of hidden gems. I am so happy to see you back on my feed again!
Not at all the video the title or thumbnails suggested, but honestly a hell of a lot more. Very well done.
Great content as always, looking forward to the upcoming videos!
I'm also wondering, will you ever do another video on Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh)? You went there before the war, but now it's been in a total blockade for almost 9 months, with no food, fuel, natural gas and limited electricity, and tens of thousands of people left to starve (and freeze if the blockade isn't lifted by winter). It's apalling to me that nobody talks about it, and you being one of the very few people to have visited and created a video on it, I thought you might be able to spread awareness. Thank you and stay safe!