User blog comment:Morgane of the Mists/Cultural exchange, pt. 1/@comment-24903916-20140509051140

This is a great post. You make a great stand against Japan's past. People, as much as you (and I) may love Japan for what it is now, you must never equate her with what she was in WWII. Imperial Japan was not moe land, It is exactly as Morgane describes, arrogant of her (then) recent history of modernization and naive when it came to the responsibility she had as an industrial nation. Japan wanted the world to see her as a first-world nation, comparable to the U.S. and Europe, yet behaved on a 19th century mindset: "Asia was the Japanese man's burden. Need more resources? Conquer and colonize! America's not giving us oil anymore? Those westerners!" (Germany was not too different in mindset, but they actually preferred exterminating to colonizing so, you know, they can have more living space.)

If anything, I would tell your Chinese friend to not focus too much on Japan and focus more on his/her homeland. As a Chinese myself I can't help but notice similarities in mindset in today's China: "Asia is China's business, not the westerner's. China lifted millions out of poverty and built its economy up in 30 years, it totally has the right to any resources it needs! America is doing something in Asia? It must be containment!" It's almost as if the "evil spirit" that haunted Imperial Japan transferred to China, but in reality, it's because China and Japan are culturally very similar. Think Japanese regard their race as special? We Chinese do exactly the same. That's why traditional Chinese fathers freak out when they see their daughters chasing non-Chinese men. China AND Japan did NOT experience the Civil Rights movement or anything similar in regard to fighting racism. The only big difference between the two is Japan DID lose WWII, and DID get militarily castrated by the U.S.. China isn't, and doesn't think it's repeating history.

Personally, I would not like my mother country to have her name branded in history under the same light Imperial Japan was, so really, if you're Chinese, look at your own country and not others. Japan has plenty of its own people countering its extreme-right-wing and the same can be said of Americans, most of whom are very weary of their recent wars.