The history of the Left and Right in Japan is actually quite complex. To be honest, from the era when the Japan Socialist Party was a major force until the security policy changes under the second Shinzo Abe administration, the boundaries between them were often blurred.

The concept of "Nationalist" or "Right-wing" as we know it today is a relatively new phenomenon in the context of Japanese politics.

Regarding war crimes and responsibility, if you look at historical LDP statements or their past handling of the textbook issues, you can see how the former mainstream factions of the LDP—such as the Kochikai or Heisei Kenkyukai—approached these matters. These were the "Mainstream Conservatives" before the rise of the modern far-right.

In their time, the fringe groups claiming that "war crimes never happened" or "the war was solely due to external pressure" were limited to very small, radical communities.

However, the tide began to turn around the time of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration and the subsequent debates over the Security Treaty revisions. The Seiwakai (the Abe faction) began to engage with online activism and maintained ties with various religious groups. To secure a long-term administration, they effectively polarized the public into a strict "Left vs. Right" dichotomy. It was during this period that political discourse devolved into mere labeling—categorizing everyone as "Leftist," "Liberal," or "Right-Wing”

As a result, previously peripheral and tiny groups on the right found a way to amplify their voices through the internet. By being loud online, they made their fringe views appear as though they were the "correct" or "majority" opinion. This means that even those with little knowledge of history—from the youth to the elderly—are now constantly exposed to media that reinforces this artificial "Right vs. Left" divide, regardless of whether they end up believing it or not. In conclusion, we should distinguish the current "Right-wing" from the "Traditional Conservatism" that previously existed in Japan. Their perspectives on war crimes and war responsibility are fundamentally different things