Japanese culture perceives time differently than western culture. For example, a train in London is considered &quot;on time&quot; as long as it&#x27;s within 14 minutes. In Japan, a train is considered late if it&#x27;s not within 1 minute of schedule. Those perceptions of &quot;lateness&quot; permeate throughout the culture.<p>I don&#x27;t claim any authority, but it&#x27;s important not to project our own views of cultural permanence onto other cultures. Japan has businesses that have spanned over a 1000 years contiguously.  I would not be surprised if Japan had a view that spanned much further into the past (particularly during the days of the Emperor).<p>Oh, just another side. Those are only a couple of examples of Western aggression in the previous century. Europe and the U.S. had been <i>quite</i> active in South East Asia. There likely would have been Japanese alive at the time who had a living memory of events like the colonization of Vietnam.