I am sorry, I lived in Okinawa and also in the US, there is nothing wrong with the people there, they are poor and drink as a side effect of economics? So what, it does not make them or their lifestyles any less important. I'd rather be drunk with friends than drunk on power with enemies. Anyways kari!!-A so-called African American with Native American ancestry and plenty of Drug Abuse and Alcoholism in the family tree

Documentaries are typically one sided and confirmation biased. You can literally make the same documentary about most (if not all) places in the world by finding someone with addiction, and interviewing a struggling single mother, which exists everywhere.

Yeah I felt like their narrative was a little bit one sided. Thanks for telling how locals feel.

Familiar with Vice documentaries, but this one seemed very jaded. Your input carries more weight than this person calling herself Japanese. I am halfway through and it is turning into a hatchet job... But why???? 😳

I didn't get the feeling that blame was put on the people. More like questioning WHY there is such differences & the consequenses/suffering that heavy use of alchol brings with it. There is a problem, and if it isn't exposed then sadly no one will care to do anythig.. My feeling after watchinh this is how the gov is thinking here? Those HUGE bottles of sttong alcohol! Like WTF?! I live in finland, we are known for alcoholism. But you cant get alocol stronger than around 40% it's illegal. And there is only 1 place that is allowed to sall any alcohol that's stronger than i think its around 9%. So to buy wine, vodka, whisky or similar you have to go to this certain store (called alko owned by the state - to not have any commercial interest driving alcohol sales & usage up). You can only buy beer, cider & wine that have an alcohol level under 8% in any grocery store. And only from 9 a.m to 9 p.m. No place is allowed to sell any alcohol to people already drunk, alko or a bar, dosen't matter. The size of the bottle is limited, you can't make & sell 5l bottles. The max is 0.75L for wine & stronger. You need permits to make any alochol & aren't allowed to make your own destilled alcohol, not even for personal consumption.. You can only bring a small ammout off alcohol into the country if you travel. But thats me, I don't live in the US. Here we have safety nets & our gov has responsability to care for the people that live here. Maybe all this made me see the reporting in a different light. But something ia clearly needed to be done here! So mutch suffering, now passed down trough generation.. And as always, the problems hit the women & children the worst. I completely understand the women who feel like they have no other choice than to take a "night life job" they have survived domestic abuse. They are survivors & now thrown down in another black hole. IF they ever manage to leave the abuse with their life. No kid likes & feels good when a parent is drunk, it's will trigger anxiety in the child. That complete personlaity change is not good for a kid to see.. To be drunk around children, is to strip them off any sence of safety.. The moms deserve to be there, with & for their kids. Not drunk. And all children deserves to be with non drunk parent/parents & feel safe! Something is clearly wrong here. Not only bcs people choose to drink. We need to look at WHY people do that & not make it so EASY to get REALLY REALLY drunk. If it's a cultural thing, then a good preventive methods is the first thing to do!

Thank you! This video felt super slimy.

Thank you. This video taught me that all the experts are men, Okinawans are underpaid because they're lazy drunkards, and all the women need their men back. A little under the bar to be called quality reporting I think.

They were basically blaming a complex issue on bad work ethics and alcoholism, that makes me question vice.

@Tommy Hubbs well, Okinawa is indeed not Japan, not Japanese, and not of Japanese culture. it's just "managed" by Japan. i've also heard of "no Ja panese" signs in some shops, meaning no "ones from mainlaind" as owners of those businesses found tourists from mainlaind (well, main "islands") to be a nuisance. imo, Okinawa is kind of suffering, especially because Japan has put USA military bases there and lets them get away with too many things... tho i'm not Okinawan, nor Japanese, so i don't know for sure if Okinawa is suffering. i do know for sure is that how the "managers" tend to deal with much smaller local populations and their smaller local cultures. many examples of that around the world. another example of that in Japan would be ainu.

@@3338MAN Having issues deep inside sounds more like an personal problem and characteristic (influenced by life expiriences of individual) than a characteristic of a whole nation.

Who is Uyouku and what other groups are there?

They are a minority anywhere in Japan. Whenever they drive through a town with their loud speakers other people look at them like they are bonkers crazy.

They came across as the biggest Nerds tbh 😂 "BANZAAI" that's all they had to say to the attractive hafu woman .I bet they wanted to "Banzai into her" but couldn't express it more subtle 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I agree it was a strange decision to start the local interviews with the fringe Uyouku group. I want to give the VICE production crew the benefit of the doubt - maybe their connections or resources were limited, or maybe the Uyouku group was just the most willing and available to be interviewed (because they probably don't believe the pandemic is real), but still... starting with Fukumoto-san's story would have worked.

Wow that is a strange decision for vice to make, because to a non Japanese person who doesn't even know what Uyouku is they would assume that they are representative of Okinawa, like they are just regular people

He is! And thank you. ♥️

"those around you will crush you or help you", man your words are so obvious. Ofcourse, theres only 2 choices for almost everything, help or not help, stay at home or go out, to buy or not to buy, bla bla. What youre saying is similiar to this: "this road will split into 2 lanes, right and left. If Im not going right then I will go left..". Youre pointing out something which is so obvious.

@@WooKeung take no sides and stay in the middle

Well it's not much of a realization, seems pretty obvious that people can be either nice or not nice to you, whatever you do.

It's projection if they can't improve they'll drag you down also.

Negative or positive people bring you up or down. Watch out for the trolls and rats too!! You can tell who is !! First impressions mean a lot along with demeanor

Florida is like this always

I wonder how much of the burden is signatory to the tourism industry, or due to the fact that it never works out to have an entire economy propped up on one source of revenue. What’s the poison? The single-industry-driven-economy….or the tourism industry in general.

As someone from a Caribbean island, I strongly relate. That's why I resent tourism a lot. it bounds locals to entertain westerners with mostly racist / exotic stereotypes at our expense. I don't see how we could become stronger and dependent at this rate. With Covid it showed it more

@@TheLily97232 Yea, get rid of the paradise/heaven/ lotr adventure mentality europeans have infected the world with. Then we won't have the industrialized vs paradise dichotomy where one places nature is bulldoozed factories while another is foreced to remain pristine for the enjoyment of the factory owners (and their management staff). Put the means of productions in the hands of the masses of people, corporations will die & humans will have to reintegrate into nature. Depression will go down, purpose will go up, occupation will go up, work-life balence will increase too. Families will stay together as women won't measure men soley on a monetary scale. Men won't drink so much either for the same reason. Aru aru won't be a problem.

No country prospers because of tourism

Can you elaborate on how Hideki Tōjō or Hirohito are involved in Okinawa alcoholism/taxes/income today? Curious 🧐

The last part that you said was full of wisdom that is touching. I’ll pray too for these people that they can break free from the cultural cycle of addiction.

I don't think it has to do with war, Western European places that got much more devastated than Okinawa don't have that problem

@@TheAnikeenko Just because other places recovered doesn't mean Okinawa isn't still struggling from the war. No one place recovers at the same pace or in the same way.

@@TheAnikeenko I'm not sure how it was after the war but the Japanese hierarchy during the war taught the population that we were monsters coming to do what they did to many Pacific island nations rape and pillage. They were a strong proud people that were also lied to on a complete scale about what they and the rest of the world were doing. I Remember seeing the mass suicides in Saipan by Japanese women and children because they feared us so badly based on lies the military/government told them about us. Who knows what all of this did to the psyche of the entire population once we occupied here for decades after the war. I don't think anyone from the outside can really relate or explain why it is the way it is now. Every where has problems they are no different than us or the rest of the world.

was kinda hit or miss tbh, the beginning was really weird "let me go into a liquor store and ask them if a higher abv means higher price" like wat

I thought so too

@@phenitagomes1292 it is vice after all

How dare you have your own opinion on the internet! What an outrageous statement

She's too washed up to be a hostess in Tokyo, the reason she stays in Okinawa, she's not pretty at all.

Island life will do that to you. Makes you wonder what is so good about the rat race a mainland is running.

@짭조름한후추 He is talking about how modern japanese work culture is killing the youth of the japanese. Low birth rate, karoshi (work by death), stupidly rigid work culture with crazy hiearchy and many stupid things like the hikikomori just screams how fked up the mainland can get. Maybe all they need is that island vibe in mainland huh what do you say my friend ?

As a Japanese , Japan must smash black company .

I've seen both sides of the discussion: Okinawans are too laid back and mainlanders work themselves to death. There should be a happy medium in there, no?

It's usually just some blend of turmeric/ginger and other herbs that stimulate the liver

I thought I was the only one like wtf lol

also she has a nice bottom. only saying this cause they CLEARLY like to show it off.

Swedistan?

Indeed, I got lucky and lost them right after high school, such liberation!

@@astralblue Grade school. Left in the early 90s. I've been back to mainland Japan a few times as an adult. I will always love that country. I do wish it was easier to get a job over there though.

I’m wonder what song is playing she is getting ready for work at the hostess club

Then do you want China to take over Okinawa? Why?

China never say will take over RyuKyu! Japanese and western world will never show the real will and thoughts of people from RyuKyu! They only care about Ukraine, taiwan, and hk. Never care about hawaii, Scotland and RyuKyu! Shameful fake democracy campaign

Life is not fair...!

Watch this instead : Okinawans call for independence at the United Nations

Where's Nancy Pelosi?

That happened years ago 80+ so stop

@@luiscruz679 i grew up there as a child from 2004 and on when all of what i typed occurred while i lived there. And all of this is still happening in Okinawa to present day. You can see examples of this in how US marines have been treating COVID protocol while living in Okinawa. Or how the US military found Agent Orange reminisce in the soccer field i used to play on as a child and just recently notified families. I’m assuming you’ve never experienced genuine dialogue with people who have been negatively effected by the military in Okinawa and can only offer an outside perspective?

@@goyaguy Okinawa's problems go far deeper than that. It dates back to the Ryuku Kingdom

😊

Same, I love Okinawa. Living there was one of the best times of my life. And yes, don't call them Japanese. They are Okinawans.

Just asking. Is Okinawa part of Japan?

@@MrTjuan Yes, but they're very different from mainland Japan. Even in WW2 Japan didn't refer to them as Japanese just Okinawans

@@MrTjuan Originally they were a separate nation from the Japanese until the Japanese annexed the Ryuku Kingdom in 1879 and it became a Japanese prefecture. Which we all know today as Okinawa.

Like how Hawaiians are American but have their own ethnic identity

If you have a degree of any kind, you could get a teaching job with the Board of Education. There's a Facebook group called Okinawa Private ALT Forum that often advertises teaching jobs.

@@okinawapaul4369 LOL! And make what? $10/hr? Hard pass on that nonsense.

Oh, they are, across the world but, it's not other people's children they're helping in intentional mass human extinction

@アフタヌーンヌアクショット most European countries have higher rates, for european countries with atleast 1 Million people, the only countries having lower birthrates are Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Greece, Moldova, Bosnia, Finland. Fertility rate of JP is at 1.36, that of Europe is at 1.7 on average. but even if a country or a region like europe has lower rates, that doesn't mean there is no problem for JP, it's still a big issue or do you see that differently? I mean the statistics atleast don't lie.

@アフタヌーンヌアクショット that's a generalisation, not every european countries has alot of immigration and not in every european country the birthrate of immigrants is far higher. what's wrong with the word immigrant, i'm not one but my parents. in most european countries the biggest immigrant groups are also often other europeans.

@アフタヌーンヌアクショット Europe accept young immigrants to include in their societies. Japan in practice doesn't

YES, and in all of those places it is fueled by US

all thru south east asia the big money is from sex tourism...govs keep their people poor so cashed up foreigners can jse their bodies for joy riding....of course they are gonna be sitting in the streets drinking beer or taking drugs...their own greedy governments have sabotaged them for $$

Sounds like Miami :/

Sounds like New Zealand

Sounds like everywhere in America

HELL

@@juniorhuachoguisado6640 Don't forget England. That's a dirty hole mommy

Could you please elaborate? I thought that he highlighted most of the main issues that affect this community and create this kind of cycle: poverty, intergenerational trauma, alcoholism, high rates of teen/early adult pregnancies and single parent families with low incomes, etc. How is he victim blaming? I do agree however that they should have gone deeper into the history of Okinawa and the U.S. military bases there.

Agreed. Okinawa has been exploited for many centuries.

Yeah, I definitely got this vibe too. I mean I'm not an expert but what I know about sociology kinda contradicts a lot of what he was saying. I mean perhaps these are realities but I feel like there was more depth they could've explored. The history of American colonization is not insignificant to it's history. I mean, she literally hung out with a bunch of nationalists. I feel like they didn't really explore that at all. I guess it wasn't intended to turn into a deep dive like that but I feel an opportunity was missed.

Perfectly said !! 🥲

Please call it RyuKyu, and not Okinawa! Japanese discriminate the RyuKyu people too.

Best place on earth..

As an American other Americans thinking America is the best.Tells me how many have never gone anywhere

They obviously drove all over the place interviewing people for more time than the clips they ultimately included. Each interview requires lighting the location and setting up microphones and cameras. In order to know who to interview, they had to research and find them and then contact them and create a schedule under which all those people are available in a limited amount of time. Then, the video has to be edited into a coherent story by reviewing the footage and writing a voiceover script, then recording that audio in a suitable environment. Basically, you're shooting your mouth off about something you're completely ignorant about, insulting the people who worked hard to make this. How about not doing that?

Tbh it makes some of my favorite journalism. It's a bit of a hunter s thompson vibe

Yes, it is! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qtOFbKR4ud2dk58.html This video dives deep into the real problems that Okinawa is facing.

Product of incest

He is going to live a very long time. Look at Buddha his ears were super long as well and this guy almost look like Buddha haha. I am Vietnamese and my mom always told me people with long earlobes will live long.

They still do

Your comment hits home on how I viewed this video.

yes, everyone knows a culture that doesn't embrace education, ambition, and personal responsibility, while avoiding crime, is doomed to poverty. Fortunately there are still places, especially in Asia, where they haven't succumbed to the leftist, woke nonsense that is pedalled in Western academia

Lol just regular capitalist rhetoric that you can find everywhere else with that “neoliberal spirits”

You got the point. This is like an educated, white person describing the poverty of black people in the states as the result of their ability/personality/characteristics as a shared community.

There's a comment here from an okinawan saying the Japanese colonialism made them poor and its hurtful to say that the people in the mainland Japan accuse them of just being lazy

I think u meant "pau hana"

Haha, no… the only thing similar about Hawai’i and Okinawa, is the Ocean😂

@@MrBLAA and the drinking and partying.

Are you joking?

@@baretta2197 don't be gay.

yo Hanako Montgomery is a babe.. super babes. love me intelligent woman

Fat ears tho lmao

Then go, it's beautiful

Japan is a beautiful country.

shoot I can't wait

See if you feel that way in typhoon season.

@@noneofyourbusiness4616 Yes! My father tied his Volkswagen Bus tou our little house when a Typhoon hit in the 60s... took the roof off. We went back to Kagoshima.

I’m Mexican and we celebrate each other accomplishments and have a very similar alcohol problem so I don’t think that’s exactly the case.

In Holland we kind of overdo it

@@cerberus3426 environmental factors are what you are missing here

One of the worst takes I've ever seen on here, congratulations.

@@solongyouth you're welcome!

Facts

Okinawa is not like mainland Japan and never has been

You want to come to America?

@@P2Feener305 no I just want to work for Vice

@@P2Feener305 no ew, America is trash.

@@P2Feener305 Americans love to think everyone wants to come to this hell hole if racism, minimum wage, no education, disgusting air (unless you go to hillbilly land) constant political arguments, insane gun laws, minorities struggling, welfare, drug opioid addiction. Nope

Especially since their headquarters is in America…..soooooo