Is there anything significant that is left out, avoided, or in any way manipulated to downplay any wrong doing?
Quite the opposite. We spend very much time on this subject and across many different classes. German pupils also have to visit a concentration camp at least once while in school.
More info: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/103sb0/german_redditors_how_does_the_public_school/
You might be interested in a very long and in-depth thread that covers the German side of the matter and also has a comment thread devoted the Japanese side:
How is/was World War II History Taught in Germany and Japan (and Russia), and how has it changed in the past 70 years? - 187 comments, over 1 month old.
Most of the thread is concerned with how the war is taught in Germany and even pulls up sources from current curriculum of certain German schools for evaluation.
/u/AsiaExpert gave a detailed overview over Japanese history education from the earliest postwar years to the present day and stuck around to contextualize issues you may have heard about such as Yasukuni Shrine.