It always amazes me how the reactions for WWII in both China and Japan are strange, especially compared to us occidental.
I mean, in europe, you can ask most anybody about WWII and, except for a few extremists, you'll get pretty much the same answer ie "Yes the Nazis were bad, the german atone, and for instance we french aren't too proud either of what happened in our country and we reckon that there were a lot of bad things going on...". I don't feel like extending on the subect, but the thing is that the act have been recognized and the moral responsibilites acknowledged be it by politicains or your average Joe.
On the other hand, if you ask a Japanese out of the blue his though about WWII you'll probably never get a frank and honest "Yes we did bad things, we attone", either they won't say anything or it'll only be about the A bomb. I've never met one that had anything to say about what happend for instance in china. The thing is most of them don't even want to discuss it or really don't know anything about it.
Comming from such a world power, I find it difficult to understand, be it the politicians that try to change history or cover up facts or the citizens who just don't seem to care one way or the other.
You'll get the same kind of no-reaction if you try to get a discussion going on the subject of death penality. Once again no heated deabet or formed opinion like you can find in the US. Just ignorance and lack of interest.
Very sad IMO, japanese people should get more political and watch out for what their leaders are trying to do.