As an American I do not feel that Japan must apologize for Pearl Harbor not must the US apologize for dropping the bombs. What Japan did was an act of war and there is no denying the US was expecting war as there was a war alert in the Pacific only the week before. Dropping the bombs ended the war and saved casualties both American and Japanese, you only need to look at Iwo Jima and Okinawa and extrapolate from there. Countries are not persons, they don't apologize for actions committed by previous governments nor do they have friends. They have allies when their interests intersect and those relations normally do not go beyond that. The UK and the US states there is a special relationship but that is only for show, each country in the end will operate in it's own interest. Whether or not the government of Japan apologizes for Pearl Harbor will have no impact on relations with the US. Individuals in Japan and the US may make decisions based on apologies but not sovereign nations.