I'm not sure who said it(Tom Clancy?), but it's speculated that Japanese society is so regimented and disciplined that once cut loose from the civil and customary restraints, they go nuts. Whether this is true or not is beyond me, but given the absolute fanaticism they displayed in defending islands to the last man, and the Kamikaze's, it wouldn't surprise me.
I used to work at a sporting goods store, and one of our visiting salemen was a Marine who'd fought in the Pacific. Over 50 years after the war ended, he still refused to even talk to Japanese salesmen at sporting good conventions.
I have seen that too. My Grandfather fought in the South Pacific in WW II and in the mid-eighties I bought a Toyota Celica GT. My Grandfather refused to ever ride in it. He didn't turn it into a crusade by ragging about it all the time, but he insisted on driving if we went anywhere and he always told me why.