[throwaway0a5e]

Excuse me while my eyes roll a loop in their head.

Japan's only crime is speed-running the "major nation of Europe" experience.

Develop central government, industrialize, colonize, fight "real wars" with other "real nations", etc.

Europe is just as bad. They just spread it out over 400yr instead of 80yr so the history textbook gets a chapter of feel good stuff to isolate the genocidal religious wars from the hand cutting and the opium.

There's a joke about the difference in work ethics in there somewhere.