Talk:Summer 2014 Event/@comment-9676492-20140805083532/@comment-24332640-20140806093709

Man, you've clearly been drinking from the anti-Japanese Kool-Aid. So if you don't kill or imprison everyone in the old government it doesn't count I guess? The fact is Japan's whole attitude towards international relations changed dramatically after the war. It wasn't just lip service either. There was a dramatic shift from imperialism to economic development. Pacifism was genuinely popular in Japan. Even though the no-military part of their constitution is something the Americans put in there, the Japanese people have shown time and time again that they wanted to keep it. Even with the US actually encouraging Japan to develop their military during the cold war they limited spending on the JSDF stayed at around 1% or less of their GDP for a very long time. That has changed in recent years, largely as a response to growing threats from North Korea and China. But even if you don't like that (or don't believe the reason I just gave) it's really hard to argue that's a remnant of imperialism when there are 50 years of total pacifism in between. Countries change. Most of the people involved in imperial Japan aren't even alive anymore.

But this really isn't the place for this argument...