Hi!
As far as I know Japanese saw (and see?) their culture as originating from china and recognize that many aspects of their culture such as their writting system is of chinese origin. Yet, during WWII the Japanese army and government commited horrendous crimes against chinese people and, to my knowledge, considered them as subhumans. When and why this racism originated in Japan and how did it concile itself with the Japanese perception of China as one of the main sources of their culture?
Thank you in advance!
More can always be said, but you may be interested in reading an earlier contribution I made to a similar question, as well as the numerous threads I linked in the end of my comment.
Just to note, the Japanese did not necessarily see their culture as originating from China. Rather, while there was considerable adoption of religion, political organization, writing, and many aspects of culture, the Japanese still maintained their own traditions and customs, with their own origin mythology. Moreover, as you may read in the linked threads, Imperial Japanese society did not simply view Chinese as "subhuman". There was an escalation of nationalism and imperialism during the late 19th and 20th century, and official narratives developed as the war and empire project expanded.