Japanese POWs’ 1945 Reality Check: Coca-Cola, Hamburgers, and a Shocked Worldview скачать в хорошем качестве

Japanese POWs’ 1945 Reality Check: Coca-Cola, Hamburgers, and a Shocked Worldview

In 1945, as World War II drew to a close, thousands of Japanese prisoners of war were held in camps across the United States. Many arrived carrying deep fears and rigid beliefs shaped by wartime propaganda—expecting brutality, deprivation, and humiliation at the hands of their captors. What they encountered instead was deeply unsettling in a different way. Within U.S. POW camps, Japanese prisoners were exposed to everyday American life: regular meals, Coca-Cola, hamburgers, and food portions that contrasted sharply with the hunger and shortages endured by civilians back home. These were not luxuries by American standards—but to men coming from a nation near starvation, they were shocking symbols of abundance and industrial power. This documentary explores how small, ordinary experiences became powerful “reality checks” for Japanese POWs. It examines how food, treatment, and daily routines challenged long-held assumptions, quietly reshaping how prisoners understood the war, their enemy, and the world beyond the barbed wire.