Get Japan to break with their past as Germany did

Inspired by the Godwin thread in the Before 1900 board:
How do you get the Japanese to own up to their guilt in WWII as the Germans do today? No attempts at rationalization, justification or downplaying their actions in the war, and a greater attempt to redeem themselves in the eyes of the world?
 
Inspired by the Godwin thread in the Before 1900 board:
How do you get the Japanese to own up to their guilt in WWII as the Germans do today? No attempts at rationalization, justification or downplaying their actions in the war, and a greater attempt to redeem themselves in the eyes of the world?

That's really kind of hard. Japanese culture is pretty much against it. Unless you can have the Allies invade Japan as planned, inflicting hundreds of thousands to millions of casualties added with multiple nuclear bombs being utilized, and a longer Allied occupation of the area, you'll probably have something like it.
 

maverick

Banned
Well, Emperor Hirohito offered to apologize for the things Japan did, but I don't know for which crimes, or if it was just a general apology for everything.

In any case, MacArthur didn't accept the apology for who knows what reason (maybe he thought Apologizing made you a spineless socialist or something)
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Well, Emperor Hirohito offered to apologize for the things Japan did, but I don't know for which crimes, or if it was just a general apology for everything.

In any case, MacArthur didn't accept the apology for who knows what reason (maybe he thought Apologizing made you a spineless socialist or something)
MacArthur saw the Japanese monarchy as one of the few uniting institutions left in Japan. There was enough grumbling when the emperor was forced to surrender his divinity. Having Hirohito apologize for Japan's atrocities would have just infuriated the majority of Japan's populace (which was either ignorant of or unconcerned with said atrocities) and delegitimized the monarchy even further.

MacArthur wanted to preserve the monarchy and Japan's national conscience/pride to avoid radicalizing parts of the populace and upsetting the US occupation.
 
I think the reason they did not is mostly economic. Germany had to embrace Europe to survive the Cold War. Japan needed to embrace the USA, which was in a forgiving mood since its civilians suffered relatively little harm from the Japanese. Japan did not need Asia economically or politically, so it felt no need to gain Asian forgiveness.

For this to change the rest of Asia would have to industrialize much more rapidly post-war.
 
Maybe nuclear bomb isn't developed in time and the Soviets take enough of Japan to make a puppet government then with China going Red America may force Japan to make amends so that America can get some Far Eastern nations onside.
 
Simply have a postwar China (preferably non-communist) that becomes powerful extra-early, like in the late 60s or 70s. More economic ties to Asia will create more incentive to apologize on Japan's part.
 
Top