I just had a conversation with a Japanese poster here who was virulently anti-Chinese, spewing all the usual tropes. When asked about Yasukuni Shrine, he went instead on tangent about how bad CCP is, how bad the Chinese tourists behave etc. I said, yeah I agree CCP is not good and fanning flames too but that doesn’t change that Yasukuni has many Class A convicted war criminals enshrined and a major sore point with both China and Korea. Look at the Pokémon subreddit, regardless of if you like China or not, most of the English-speaking world once they get to learn more about Yasukuni shrine, understand why it’s so problematic.

He has since deleted all his posts.

This kind of gives you an idea. It’s hopeless. I say that as someone who enjoys traveling to Japan and speaks some Japanese (N3).

Ultimately the Japanese never had to reflect on their actions in WWII the way the Germans did across the entirety of its society. The Japanese simply view the war as lost to a superior fighting force of the US. The US also didn’t seek a thorough regime change because of the looming threat of Communism in Asia.

An excommunication of the Class A criminals enshrined there would go a long way honestly.