[VOA]

Friendliest people I had ever known up to then.

Agreed. Before I post on the topic of "The Japanese in WWII",
I really should append a "boilerplate" as I've worked (in the
biochemical sciences) with probably about 10 Japanese researchers.
Hard-working, honest and easy to work/socialize with.
And thanks to three Japanese ladies, three of my buddies at
a church-affiliated college found wives...when the home-grown ladies
wouldn't give them the time of day.

Never have been able to figure out how the Japanese people
went from fanaticism to docility virtually overnight.

Definitely one historical mystery that I've encountered in reading
(probably too many) history books.
My understanding is that until the militarism rose in the 1930s,
the Japanese were the ones you'd want to take you as a detainee...
good food, good accomadations and decent treatment.
Something went severely wrong with the modern Japanese concept
of how to treat prisoners in the 1930s.

But the memory of WWII Japanese atrocities must be forced,
for their victims’ sake, to live forever!

Yep.
I remember an NPR report with a recording of a Japanese classroom.
Only one student seemed to have a grasp of Pearl Harbor, the Burma
railway, the Hell-ships and other reasons the USA/UK/Australians/
NZ/Dutch/etc folks might harbor some ill feelings toward the Japanese.

Turned out that one student was from a family that had immigrated
from Korea.

[Last Dakotan]

Never have been able to figure out how the Japanese people went from fanaticism to docility virtually overnight.

I had a similar conversation with an old French friend. He said the French are always looking for the switch on the back of Germans. "You know, the one that makes them go from happy, singing beer drinkers to organized killers."