Historians in Japan after WWII (were there similar discussions as in Germany?)

I can answer this! I just finished reading "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang and she touches on this later in the book. The short answer is the Cold War started. On pages 181 and 182 she describes that while high-ranking Nazi officials and soldiers of the Wehrmacht lost their military pensions and were stripped of power and authority as civilians no such changes happened in Japan. She says that while the Iron Curtain fell across Europe a "bamboo curtain" fall across Asia. With Mao winning China in 1949 and the start of the Korean War in 1950 the US, the driving force behind the IMTFE (International Military Tribunal, Far East - the PTO version of the Nuremberg Trials) kind of just... stopped. The IMTFE lasted three times as long as the Nuremberg Trials but convicted relatively few people involved in Sino-Japanese War and WWII atrocities.

In top of this, China was now Communist and Japan was being set up as an ally. The US was very reluctant to prosecute crimes against now-communist nation.

Chang also goes into the shamed silence of the survivors. Remember, this was not as systematic as the Holocaust. The Rape of Nanking and the conquest of China led to a more spur-of-the-moment genocide, if that makes sense. The Japanese, at this time a highly military culture that reinforced military ideas from a very young age, had been biding their time since the 19th century for a chance to expand and become a super power. When they arrived in China and met shockingly little resistance they were disgusted that they ever thought the Chinese would pose a threat and even more disgusted by the fact that they surrendered. In letters describing the events from Japanese soldiers the Chinese are referred to as "ants" and other sorts of vermin. The Chinese taken away for medical experiments by Ei 1644 were called "lumber." This disgust is what led to the "orgy of violence" that came to a head in Nanking. Torture, especially sexual torture, was commonplace and many survivors did not speak about their experiences out of shame. The culture of China at the time was to raise submissive women and chastity was prized above most else, above life among Korean women (where the Japanese also took "comfort women" from) so those that did not get their day in court at the IMTFE often just kept their accounts to themselves for decades.

So in order to focus its efforts elsewhere the US, the occupying force in Japan, left the prewar bureaucracy intact. Chang goes on to state that in 1957 Japan elected a Class A war criminal as prime minister. It became a case of "no one is asking and we aren't telling" and unlike Germany which has made its part in the Holocaust very known, and the surviving Jews who actively hunted their oppressors and refused to let their story die, the Japanese largely tried to erase any history and their victims tried to move on. In a cruel twist of fate the Americans in charge of microfilming all the primary evidence such as journal entries, newspaper clippings (Japanese atrocities were not only known - they were reported on in national newspapers!) were actually turned over to the Japanese authorities and only years later turned back over for microfilming and recording. It is incalculable how much evidence was lost in that time.

It is also important to note that the commander for forces in Nanking was Lt. Gen. Prince Asaka, a direct member of the Japanese royal family. Much effort was put into distancing the royal family from war crimes.

I highly recommend Chang's book "The Rape of Nanking." When it was published in 1997 it was really the only big book out there English speaking audiences. My only warning is that it is a heavy read and you should take breaks from it. The pictures included are the worst part.

Also, check out the 2011 film "The Flowers of War" by Chinese director Zhang Yimou. It stars Christian Bale as an American mortician who ends up responsible for an alter boy, 13 school girls and 12 prostitutes during the Rape of Nanking. Roger Ebert had a problem with Christian Bale playing an American (something something whitewashing) but it's worth noting that if the westerners that helped 300,000 Chinese survive the invasion and occupation, two were Germans and Nazis and westerners had better access and success in helping the Chinese against the Japanese.

The story is as fascinating as it is horrifying and heart-breaking and something that not many people know too much about.