Japan is often depicted as suffering from a particularly severe form of collective amnesia regarding its recent past. While the Japanese people remember in excruciating detail their own sufferings during the war, especially the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they are said to overlook the immense suffering their country inflicted on other peoples. To be Japanese, as the noted Japan critic and commentator James Fallows put it, means never having to say you're sorry – at least to non-Japanese. For much of the period since 1945, Japan's status as a victim, rather than as a victimizer, has dominated not only the official historical narrative of the Japanese state but also the collective memory of the Japanese people.

This impenitent stance is widely believed to have had consequences. Just as Germany is widely seen to have benefited from its penitent stance on history, it is commonly argued that Japan's lack of contrition has placed it at odds with its Asian neighbors and, at times, even with its principal ally and protector, the United States. Tensions over history are said to have heightened suspicions regarding Japan's military intentions – increasing the risk of military conflict and a potentially destabilizing regional arms race – inflamed nationalist feeling in its East Asian neighbors, and all but wrecked efforts to create a strong network of international institutions in East Asia. If Germany is the model penitent in international affairs, than Japan is the model impenitent.