Further stirring the pot is of course the idea that the Japanese see themselves as the victims of WW2, which I’ve never seen particularly good data to confirm or disprove but it certainly doesn’t help their case when their leaders insist on honoring their dead war criminals with state ceremonies.
Imagine, for example, the shit Poland, France, Russia, and Israel would all say if the German heads of state kept laying flowers on Hitler’s grave and then bitching about how “we said we were sorry you were offended, what more do you want?”
That aside, it’s interesting that the excuses for Japanese militarism and the buildup of the modern Chinese military are largely the same, eg the West will definitely try to bully or colonize us (again) if we don’t.
Next traditionally comes “so that’s why we need to invade our neighbors, for their protection”
That or the West tries to invade and colonize them. Again.
They’re referencing a very specific brand of militarism…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_militarism
Further stirring the pot is of course the idea that the Japanese see themselves as the victims of WW2, which I’ve never seen particularly good data to confirm or disprove but it certainly doesn’t help their case when their leaders insist on honoring their dead war criminals with state ceremonies.
Imagine, for example, the shit Poland, France, Russia, and Israel would all say if the German heads of state kept laying flowers on Hitler’s grave and then bitching about how “we said we were sorry you were offended, what more do you want?”
Food for thought btw:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/armed-forces-personnel-percent
That aside, it’s interesting that the excuses for Japanese militarism and the buildup of the modern Chinese military are largely the same, eg the West will definitely try to bully or colonize us (again) if we don’t.
Next traditionally comes “so that’s why we need to invade our neighbors, for their protection”
That or the West tries to invade and colonize them. Again.