Gee, that’s right, I forgot! To today’s Japanese, WWII began on August 6, 1945.
All that went on beforehand were a series of unfortunate misunderstandings about Japan’s “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” to unite all of Asia under the benevolent rule of their Emperor.
If you visit Japan ou will be hard pressed to meet anyone who really knows about WWII, except a few lingering WWII vets and university scholars. BUT there is a lingering deep distrust of all things military deeply rooted in the current culture.