Originally posted by nzueda
I was nervous to meet his Granma though because her husband died in the war and thought she would be really sad/angry to meet a gaijin - but she was lovely and really down to earth ;)
If she's really lived during the war, how could she forget that their were 3 main "teams" : the Axis (Japan, Germany/Austria and Italy), the Allies (USA, UK, France, USSR...) and the neutrals (some actually supporting the Axis in Europe : Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland, etc.). Which means that a lot of people in Europe where actually on the same side as Japan. Not all Westerners are Americans ! Europe was so to say absent from the Pacific War anyway. That's very sad to see that such elderly people 1) still bear grudge against former enemies 60 years later, 2) can't even distinguish Westerners together, even former allies of Japan are now just seen as the "bad foreigners".

So, to reply to Ninja Rock Star, if anybody in Japan start talking about WWII and tell you to go back to your country, just tell them (in Japanese, for more effect) that you are German or Italian (depending which you look more like physically) even if it's not true. Remind them you were on the same side to make them lose face. Anyway such people are stupid enough not to know if you are telling the truth or not and don't deserve respect (for they are plain racists).