Well actually Japan completely screwed itself over by isolating itself.
By cutting themselves of from all outside influence for centuries they fell hopelessly behind and when they finally did - under the threat of US military force in the 1850's - decide to open up they did so only on technological and financial issues while remaining culturally reactionary and chauvinistic.
Which made them actually believe that they by 1941 could take on and win over the US and the entire Commonwealth in a war.
Japan of course never had a chance in hell to beat all those forces they took on and had they as a society actually been open to the world instead of culturally closed of and high on their own self-importance they would have realized that.
Instead millions of Japanese had to die in a completely unwinnable war they started that end up with them getting two atomic bomb dropped on them - not a great track record for Japanese isolationism really.
They where in fact both conquered and occupied by US forces for a number of years after the war, but luckily for them the US had no interest in keeping them in a subjugated state so they where let of the hook eventually.
But they still haven't actually learned the lesson of that experience in the way that Germany has, that actually worked through it's obsession with chauvinistic nationalism and accepted the concept of international cooperation instead.
Japanese society still in large part refuses to acknowledge the war crimes their nation committed during the war and they have a very idealized and chauvinistic view of their own history and their relationships with their neighbors.
As a consequence I think it's quite possible far-right hyper-nationalism could once again come to power in Japan and fuck that nation and it's neighbors over in another war somewhere in the future.
While Germany, I believe, has actually inoculated itself from that disease by actually acknowledging and working through their historic record of chauvinism.
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@Hyporia
Well actually Japan completely screwed itself over by isolating itself.
By cutting themselves of from all outside influence for centuries they fell hopelessly behind and when they finally did - under the threat of US military force in the 1850's - decide to open up they did so only on technological and financial issues while remaining culturally reactionary and chauvinistic.
Which made them actually believe that they by 1941 could take on and win over the US and the entire Commonwealth in a war.
Japan of course never had a chance in hell to beat all those forces they took on and had they as a society actually been open to the world instead of culturally closed of and high on their own self-importance they would have realized that.
Instead millions of Japanese had to die in a completely unwinnable war they started that end up with them getting two atomic bomb dropped on them - not a great track record for Japanese isolationism really.
They where in fact both conquered and occupied by US forces for a number of years after the war, but luckily for them the US had no interest in keeping them in a subjugated state so they where let of the hook eventually.
But they still haven't actually learned the lesson of that experience in the way that Germany has, that actually worked through it's obsession with chauvinistic nationalism and accepted the concept of international cooperation instead.
Japanese society still in large part refuses to acknowledge the war crimes their nation committed during the war and they have a very idealized and chauvinistic view of their own history and their relationships with their neighbors.
As a consequence I think it's quite possible far-right hyper-nationalism could once again come to power in Japan and fuck that nation and it's neighbors over in another war somewhere in the future.
While Germany, I believe, has actually inoculated itself from that disease by actually acknowledging and working through their historic record of chauvinism.