Script

Hey there! I'm a 40-year-old guy born and raised in Japan. Right now, I run a small business with two other people. If you love Japan, have an interest in it, or just enjoy the Japanese accent, you gotta listen to this!

Japan has so many things to be proud of, like sushi, manga, and samurai. But what I'm especially proud of is that Japan is the oldest existing nation, dating all the way back to 660 BC! Isn't that amazing? Unfortunately, they don't teach much about this in Japan's compulsory education. I actually found out about it on my own when I became an adult, and boy, was I surprised!

Let's talk about history classes. In Japan, history lessons are pretty bland. They focus on facts without any human drama or emotional descriptions. As a result, the students end up just memorizing dates, names, and events. No wonder the classes are not popular.

Personally, I liked history because I enjoyed history-themed video games, but most students don't seem to have much interest.

Switching gears, I also love samurai! They originated in the early 10th century, as groups of hunters, fishermen, and even criminals under the imperial court. By the 11th century, Japan's security was a mess, with nobles fighting each other and local lords in constant conflict. So, the imperial court relied on the strength of the samurai.

As samurai became more useful to the court, their influence grew, and they even outranked nobles. This continued until 1867, when the samurai era came to an end.

The famous act of "seppuku" or "harakiri," where they cut their stomachs, was a way to show courage and sincerity when a samurai committed a crime.

During the late 16th century, they actually performed harakiri for real, but from the 17th century onwards, it became more formalized. They would put a fan or a wooden sword against their stomach, and an "kaishakunin" would perform the beheading. In 1873, harakiri was abolished by law.

I'm relieved I wasn't born in the samurai era; it's way too intense for me! But, if you're not up to no good, you wouldn't need to worry about harakiri even back then.

Well, that's about it for today. See you around!