This hits hard. I had uncles that I never knew who started the march of Battan but never made it to the end of the war. I've been to where they have the crosses that bear their names but I doubt that there is anything under there.
I would have to think about this for awhile but I'm not sure I wouldn't pick up a sword and pay some of them back.
The Japanese murdered tens of thousands of young boys over there. There was little revenge for this mass murder and sometimes I still believe that we need a few more pounds of flesh. I've watched my mother and grandmother cry many times over my lost uncles. I have the letters that they sent home before they were captured, and a few simple ones while in captivity. Then they just feel off the face of the earth. I'm a retired AB Ranger a warrior for many years of my life. I was good at what I did in two wars and a few crappy little conflicts. But I never killed anyone in cold blood or played with their lives. I have mixed feelings about this man. I believe he should be punished for the lives he destroyed.
Payment is still needed. I don't feel it for this man because at least he's trying to make amends for what he did although it will never be enough and I'd never trust myself in his company. I also lost relatives in the war though we were spared the letters and firsthand accounts you had.
Even though the worst perps are dead, I do want the Japanese to apologise properly - to us, Indonesia, Malaysia, the pacific islands they invaded, China, everywhere that suffered under their cruelties. Then they need to stop rewriting their textbooks. At that point I might believe they've moved on, but while their rightwing holds on and claws back negative references to the war from textbooks every year, I am not going to cut them any slack. At leadst the Germans haven't stopped apologising and axcctually matched it with enough physical gestures that I'm more inclined to believe they are sorry.