A discussion on another topic (about image of Eastern Europeans towards Western Europeans) sparked this answer from a Romanian in which he argues that Japan put everything in the works to change its image towards Westerners. How much of his comment is true (especially the part where the Japanese government pushed these changes) and what else would there be to know about this evolution of Post WW2 Japan?
That user's comment made my head spin. The ideas are reductive and simplistic. Aside from the fact that that user provided zero sources, the claims are outlandish and deny the historical precedent and context of Japanese history, general Asian history, western influence, Japanese cartoons, and the power that SCAP (Supreme Command for the Allied Powers) had.
Japan, which before the second world War, was perceived as the ISIS or Taliban of it's time.
By "before," I assume the OP means during the invasion and occupation of Manchuria beginning roughly in 1931. The association of Taliban/ISIS with Imperial Japanese forces is mostly nonsensical however. It is arguable that Taliban and ISIS are non-sovereign entities with international and religious political goals. The Japanese Empire was a national entity with both material and ideological goals: more land and resources, and the greater east asia coprosperity sphere. Moreover, who perceived the Japanese as anything akin to terrorists (a modern construction, not a pre-WW2 one)? Perhaps Chinese nationals, but this was likely inside of a conventional warfare context, not to mention the complications of Japan intervening in a civil war (again).
They were culturally ornate (non Christian), very indoctrinated, extremist, and even had suicide bombers. The Kamikaze.
Associating "culturally ornate" with "non christian" creates a dichotomy in which a true Christian can only be a Christian with little decoration and ceremony. Of course this is untrue. Not all Japanese were "ornate" either. The Imperial Court surely was subsumed in ceremony and grandeur, but would a farmer in Ishikawa prefecture have been just as ornate despite living on millet? The words "indoctrinated" and "extremist" are essentially non-specific buzzwords that mean nothing in a historical context unless defined. The Japanese state had been engaging in a concentrated effort to create a type of unity, nationalism, and set of values that revered the emperor and state, but by no means were all Japanese sold on this front. (See Japan's Modern Myths by Gluck for ideology, and So Beautiful a Country Will Never Perish by Keene for the opposing position).
After the US dropped the bomb on them, they concluded that it was the way they were perceived by the western world, that allowed for a justification to use such unprecedented evil against them
The OP gets near some accuracy in this part. Many Japanese did in fact view their country as the first sacrifice in the new era of modern warfare. But surely (as a recent discussion in this sub on the decision to drop the bomb showed), this was not the only consideration that Japanese had for why the bomb was used on them.
They got together with sociologists and admen from the US, and redesigned their national identity form scratch...
This is incorrect. They did not "get together," they had no choice. SCAP, the occupation force headed by General Douglas MacArthur, included a group of people with backgrounds in law, history, sociology, and others, first wrote their postwar constitution. The Japanese government essentially rubber stamped it and sent it to their diet (legislature) where it was approved. The Japanese did not as a whole desire to redesign their identity. Japan has been criticized for its poor reconciliation with the war: the bureaucracy was not completely cleansed of war supporters, and after the occupation, many war crime convicts' sentences were commuted or shortened.
SCAP was in many cases the impetus for the change in identity. Family and civil law was reformed to give women more power and remove the patriarch from absolute power in the household. Everything was run through the occupation forces before being published; many works that mentioned the war were prohibited by occupation forces.
by focusing their efforts in industrially relaunching their country, as predominantly technology oriented. They had to be the first to bring new gadgets to market...
The U.S. envisioned Japan as a country that would sell raw materials to first world countries or low-level manufactured products to third-world countries. Japanese manufactures were previously known to be shoddy and of poor craftsmanship. Moreover, industry does not necessarily mean "new gadgets" as the author seems to think. The first concern for SCAP and Japanese officials was to get their obliterated country running again and feed a population that had been starved for at least two years by then. Japan would not reach its prewar GDP until the end of the occupation (can't find the specific year in my notes!).
The Japanese government, also mandated an army of animators...the next generation of white kids...with oversized eyes, because they had as a foremost image complex...
One of the more absurd claims. Anime and manga were created for white people, for international image. This ignores the long history of emakimono, Japanese political cartoons (Maruchin and Japan Punch) and various other threads. Anime and manga are a part of a longer thread of Japanese cartoons that have little to do with impressing western audiences.
become superheroes after being exposed to radiation, and films like Godzilla, about a lizard exposed to radiation.The underlining message in all these movies, being that radiation exposure enhances rather than diminishes, and therefore Japan is stronger for it, and not a victim of radiation.
This is the most absurd claim of all. Godzilla is a representation of the destructive capacity of nuclear weaponry. Can there be any question by looking at Japanese literature that many Japanese people feel like victims of this weapon? See A Personal Matter by Ōe, Black Rain by Ibuse, or even Akira the animated movie, and the reiterations that have emerged from the 3/11 incident.
The OP's comment is a tiresome tirade of inaccuracy and poor historical understanding.
Other Sources:
Japan's Postwar History by Allinson
Postwar Japan as History ed. Gordon
Unpublished dissertation on history of Manga