This very strange video was passed along to me by Arun over at Arun with a View . And I thank him for thinking of me and saving me from reading yet another academic article for seminar on what should be a day of rest and relaxation.
I watched it a few minutes ago and I think I liked it. It does cover the major events and, as a general overview of Japanese history, it's not bad. On the other hand there were a few places where Wurtz was trying to be amusing and I was not laughing. At all.
No expert on Japanese history am I - it is the younger Frenchling who aspires to be a scholar of that and the Japanese language. Of all the books that I, the non-expert, have read about Japan, the one I liked the best was Patrick Smith's Japan: a Reinterpretation.
Here is the video for your viewing pleasure and I would be very interested in hearing what you think of it.
I think my reaction is similar to yours. Ambitious, frequently amusing and manages to hit a bunch of major points, though a couple of bits thudded for me. (Perhaps I'm an old fogey and not down with the Millenials.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, here's a version of history-made-entertaining that has been a minor hit here in Japan. These guys do song and dance routines about various historical events, such as this one where they sing about the demise of Oda Nobunaga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b77mjDbips&list=PLtpAa6BruKZbLDCGHv9rgbraAphScS18Z&index=1
There is a whole series of such videos at that channel.