Chrisser, the difference is that we acknowledge slavery, discuss it, and as a nation have condemned it.
Japan is not at that point with their dark pages.
We basically drug Japan into the civilized world after the war. The Japanese treated their soldiers horribly so it is not surprising they treated our soldiers horribly. The Japanese used terror at every possible point. They had no corporate concept of mercy.
Everyone I know who fought them, hated them even decades after the war. My uncle is in the VA with severe dementia but he can still cuss the Japs.