The reaction by neighboring countries such as Korea and China, as well as a large group of Japanese, is to protest the new textbooks. The reason given for re-writing history is to foster a new sense of nationalism in Japanese youth. Yet this approach may turn these youth against the nationalist movement when they learn the facts. Napoleon said that history is the truth agreed upon by the victors, yet to erase such critical chunks of facts from Japanese wartime history is to affect other historical events as well. To be fair, no conquering nation can claim innocence from committing atrocities and other crimes against humanity.
Japan is certainly guilty.
China and Korea have also done their fair share over time. In fact, this is one of the few things that the West and East have in common. Germany is not the only Western nation guilty of heinous crimes such as genocide. The United States, France, England, and Denmark also have a long history of similar crimes perpetrated against various groups. The danger in not acknowledging such historical truths is that nations cannot heal and grow beyond their cultural and spiritual shame and guilt.