[Sangetsu]

I would visit it. My grandfather fought in the war of the Pacific, and lost many friends. He held no grudges against the Japanese. People of his time were not strangers to war, and the horrors that came with it. Arriving in Tokyo escorting the Missouri, he was present at the signing of the surrender.

Quite surprisingly, he found himself treated with respect by the Japanese, who were by then long tired of war, and naturally respectful to any enemy strong enough to have defeated them. Allied soldiers were not as well respected in defeated Germany, remnants of the Nazis still on the loose frequently attacked allied soldiers for nearly 2 years following the end of the war, until they were all eventually hunted down and shot or hung.

My girlfriend's grandfather was also a veteran of the war, having worked as an interpreter until he was captured by the Americans and held as a POW.

The Chinese are different, they seem to have much longer memories than westerners. If I go to a Chinese restaurant in America with my girlfriend, somehow they immediately know she is Japanese, and they are noticeably less friendly. It doesn't matter that the war occurred many years before either they or she was born, they are still resentful.