Japan's emergence as East Asia's leading power in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries involved three brutal wars in China, in which the Japanese army committed dreadful atrocities. The 1949 communist takeover in China, the Cold War, America's adoption of Japan as its pampered protégé, and the failure to prosecute Emperor Hirohito for war crimes, allowed Japan to avoid a moral reckoning.
事实上，日中关系对日本的影响最为深远。19世纪和20世纪早期日本作为东亚强国的历史牵涉到在中国发动的三次血腥战争，当时日军犯下了令人发指的杀戮罪行。1949年中国共产党掌权、冷战、日本成为受美国纵容的保护国和未能以战争罪对裕仁天皇进行审判等，凡此种种，使日本得以逃避道德上的反省和清算。如今，随着中国的崛起和日本的衰落，这些旧有的、根深蒂固的怀疑、紧张和不信任重新浮出了水面。