• he/him

guy who was too into deus ex


riversidewings
@riversidewings

The mythos behind the 187th Infantry's "Rakkasans" nickname is so frustrating. It's always presented as something like "the Japanese had no idea what a paratrooper was, so they called the 11th Airborne troops 'rakkasan'-- 'Mr. Umbrella man.'"

My guy, rakkasan 落下傘 just means "parachute."

there's layers of implicit Orientalism at work here, and the thing that makes this even more maddening is that Japan had paratroopers for years by the time the Occupation began, so a farmer in heavily militarized Miyagi knew damn well what a paratrooper was.

fuck's sake.

so apparently that's why you've got American airborne troops these days who very proudly shout the Japanese word "parachute!!" at each other in greeting.


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