“I agree with you. I never understood the resentment anyone would have against a foreign country that hasn’t been an enemy of ours in decades.”
Japan has NEVER apologized for starting that war - not to us, not to the Chinese (of whom they murdered about 15 million), not to Korea for occupying it for 35 years and using its women as a bunch of prostitutes, not to the Phillipines, not to those in Indochina, etc., etc. They haven’t apologized to those servicemen who were tortured, starved, denied medical treatment, etc., etc. Hell, they don’t even teach about that period of time in their schools.
When they apologize for all of that, then we can talk about moving on. Until that point, their failure to apologize for the actions of their grandparents and great grandparents is a strong signal that they think it was OK to do what they did - and I simply cannot understand how you both feel that such an implied statement by the Japanese people SHOULDN’T be resented.
I can understand your feeling. You probably not experienced thee joy of being slowly starved to death and being forced to perform what would be backbreaking manual labor by someone that is well fed and healthy. Nor have you been given the honor of watching your friends and peers being used for bayonet practice. Or experienced the joy of volunteering to be used for said practice. And how exciting it was to watch your buddies being buried alive. And, if by some miracle one survives treatment such as that, one’s health is ruined, which most of the time leads to one’s productive life being kaput. I agree with you. Only a true hater would hold a grudge for something as trivial as something such as these being done to one.
After reading of the atrocities committed on our Service Men and Women, my thought was not enough Japanese were killed.