Japan marked the 70th anniversary of the firebombing of Tokyo by US forces during WWII on Tuesday. The bombing killed about 100,000 people, the highest death toll caused by a non-nuclear bombing.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the first sitting prime minister to ever attend the annual memorial event. Abe said Japan will "humbly face the past," and do its best to "contribute to the world's eternal peace by keeping the lessons from the tragic war in our heart." Instead of defining the war as an invasion, Abe is trying to whitewash Japan as a victim of WWII, reminding its people of Japan's miserable past during the war.

An article in The National Interest on Monday said that the US should be "appalled" by Japan's historical revisionism, because "if Imperial Japan was the victim in WWII, then Harry Truman, not Hideki Tojo, must be the war criminal."

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. All the suffering that the Japanese experienced during the war, like being bombed twice by nuclear weapons, will be brought up again. Japanese society will be soaked in grief, which will further weaken their reflections on Japan's past atrocities.

Japan's understanding of peace and war is dreadfully different from the rest of the world. It only cares about what it went through, but understates its appalling crimes against other countries during WWII. Japan boasts it is a role model of internationalism, but soon turns headstrong when it comes to its past atrocities.

It took several years for the anti-Fascist forces to defeat Imperial Japan, but it has taken the world 70 years to try to convince Japan that it was a sinner instead of a victim. However, Japan just doesn't buy it, and it will probably never buy it.

We are sorry to have realized that this is what Japan is - a country which cannot draw clear distinctions concerning the cardinal issues of right and wrong. As for Japan, protests from China and South Korea mean both countries are too "narrow-minded" to let go of the past. Oddly, Japan thinks it has claimed the moral high ground.

Abe and his lackeys' crucifixion-of-Jesus-like expressions are horrible. The Japanese won't feel comfortable if angry remarks, such as "the Japanese deserved being bombed," are poured onto them. However, when their government repeatedly denies the Nanjing Massacre, disavows "comfort women" and refuses to make a heartfelt apology, its wartime victims feel hurt as badly as the Japanese when they hear someone lauds the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It must be Japan's thorough remorse that can trigger reconciliation in Northeast Asia over the historical enmity. This year is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the country. Everyone is watching Japan, waiting to see whether it will continue to be a historical scoundrel, or show some real guts to the world.