Germany and Japan are two countries that started the largest war in human history, committed countless atrocities and massacres, and plunged the humanity into its darkest hours. However, the two countries are totally different in the treatment of their own history.

A common theme in contemporary Japanese media and film is to try to paint Japanese soldiers as ordinary people who fought for their country. Japanese movies about WW2 almost never contain any genuine remorse about the criminality of the war of aggression they started. They even erect memorials in places like Hiroshima to try and paint themselves as victims, while at the same completely ignoring the victims of Japanese atrocities. Even to this day Japanese leaders shamelessly visit Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are worshiped.

This is in stark contrast to Germany. There are no memorials dedicated to the bravery of Wehrmacht soldiers. The few war memorials for German soldiers that exist memorialize the lives of soldiers who died in futility for a war of aggression. Rather than ignoring this shameful part of their history, Germans are not afraid to take responsibility for the Holocaust, and makes Holocaust education an important part of their education to ensure that such things never happen again.

This is I used to think of Germans as far more noble than the Japanese. Although nowadays the rise of parties like AfD has eroded my respect for Germans.