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There is a big difference between a member of a culture apologizing to other members of that culture, and an entire culture apologizing to the world.

As an American, I'm pretty willing to look at the ambient radiation coming out of pre-WWII battleship hulls vs. post-WWII and just say "We're square."

Certainly can't speak for the rest of the world.

Japan didn’t invade America and forcibly conscript its women as concubines for soldiers.

This one is basically Japan being social media IRL since before it. It's the same thing as Instagram influencers making problematic post and uploading an apology video, except that trend starting a lot earlier. Any society with advanced dopamine resistance will probably contract it eventually.

War crimes stuffs is a separate and a bit more nuanced issue. It's also not just the simple matter of admitting or denying it.

Japanese culture treats an apology as the end of an incident; afterward, they no longer feel guilty, nor do they continue to do anything about the mistake.