The high tension between Japan and China, Japan and Korea, etc. are still ongoing 70 years after the war. There are two trends I've noticed throughout the rest of reddit regarding this topic: Japan pretends certain events (e.g. Nanjing) never happened. Japan has never properly apologized. These trends are sometimes too reddit - I'm astounded that, in a news article where Japan is promoting peace and anti-nuclear sentiments, the top comment would be to the effect of "Japan can ask for sympathy, Nanjing caused more suffering than the nuclear bombs."

The current events are not why I'm here. These events are a simple continuation of the past seven decades. I would like to learn more about the causes of these relationships.

 

(1) Has there been systemic and mass-spread denial of WWII events in Japan? The examples I have seen so far are individual's views (who are in a position of political power). This is unconvincing for me, as an American equivalent would be looking at certain textbooks that have been published and used in Texas public schools as a basis for the content of American education.

 

(2) How can Japan apologize to satisfy other countries? I've seen the wikipedia article on apology statements and tried to understand the controversies.

It appears the emperor either apologized to General MacArthur or was denied an apology. Throughout the past seven decades, many political entities have made apologies of varying quality. I think it's very unfortunate that the current PM is who he is, and how he conducts himself is undiplomatic as well. That said, what is missing in this list of apologies? Is it compensation (money, land), or is it an issue of perceived sincerity?