People around me are often surprised when I say Japan does not hate the US because of the World War Ⅱ.
Yes, there are some elderlies who detest the US, but most of them do not. If people ask me "but the US bombed Japan with atomic bombs in the World War Ⅱ ", I would say "It was an awful event, but there was no other way to stop the war".(I think most of my Japanese friends would answer like this as well)
However, many Korean people hate Japan so much mostly because Japan colonized the country in the 20th century.
So what is the difference between Japan not hating the US and Korea hating Japan? Yes, the colonization of Korea was much more awful and much longer period of time than two atomic bombs thrwon in Japan. However, I personally think the biggest reason is that Korea has been an independent country for thousands of years; it has its strong identity as being "Korean". Therefore, I would say it was almost loss of their own identities when Japan colonized the country.
(I often realize this difference when I see Korean football and baseball national teams. Players feel greater responsibility for being representatives of Korea rather than for being players, which I think shows its patriotic minds.)
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