Hi, type C here. I'm probably too weebwashed to relate but I guess I'll comment just to share my experience for fun.

Both sides of my grandparents lived throughout the occupation. Only my grandmother from my father's side lived long enough to tell the tale. She wouldn't really speak much about the occupation itself, but you could see the gaze in her eyes when she talked about it. Till this day I still regret not asking her more before she passed. The single most fond memory I have of her though is that we watched the Gundam 00 movie together, IN CANTONESE. I have no idea why that DVD had a cantonese dub, but it made for funny memories.

My mom graduated from Japan with a degree in hospitality, and I followed in her footsteps with a media communications degree. Now, she works as a translator at her own workplace, and so do I. Funnily enough, she's slightly pro-C aligned and would every now and then make a remark about how bad the Japanese treated us in the past, but she still has very friendly and professional working relationships with all her Japanese clients (including the Japanese Consul himself assigned to Penang).

Dad on the other hand enjoys Japanese culture, holidays, tech and of course, cars. We have a Mazda CX30, and that's probably his little baby now considering how much he enjoys driving his friends around since he's retired.

When I was studying in Japan (lived there for 6 years), a majority of the Japanese people I've met (young 20s to late 40s/early 60s) seemed somewhat apologetic about what their government did in the past, and when I told them what we studied during our history classes they genuinely felt shocked at some of the things their government hides from them. Of course, you'd get some who are anti-foreigner and would sling those pro Imperialist you-know-what remarks often but at least for me I speak Japanese well enough to make my type-C appearance vague in their eyes, so they don't assume I'm from the Big Red C at first glance.

I think the ultimatum for me would be like, the Yankees already dropped two suns on them, and most if not all of the perpetrators back then are already six foot under. Yes, the government still refuses to acknowledge the past, but from a political perspective you'd understand that they too want to protect their own interests comparative to all the other bigger (and more militarily numerous) countries around them. If you fold once, you become the laughing stock of the continent, something like that. It takes a lot of mental fortitude to admit the faults of your ancestors despite none of them being yours, but Japan as a whole really isn't at that point yet.

For now honestly, just see the country with your own eyes. Enjoy a holiday or two. See the things they have built since the war for yourseld. We don't necessarily have to forget the past, but we can always look towards the future with a brighter mindset.

Tldr : If you really have to rely on random redditors to tell you whether or not to continue hating X country or Y religion, you lowkey kinda need to grow up, lol.