Woohoo! History lesson because apparently →→SOME←← hetalia fans find it ok to not take imperial Japan seriously and dumb it down to just a "hetalia reference lolll 😂😂🤣🤣"

To start off, What is Imperialism and why is it harmful?
Imperialism can be defined as a doctrine, political strategy, practice, state policy, or advocacy that consists in extending power by territorial acquisition or by extending political and economic control outward over other areas.
Imperialism's negative effects include devastating loss of life, culture, and identity for colonized peoples; economic exploitation through forced labor, resource extraction, and trade imbalances; political oppression via imposed rule and denial of self-determination; and long-lasting social disruption, leading to ethnic conflicts, religious divisions, and persistent poverty.

What is Imperial Japan?
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From August 1910 to September 1945, it included the Japanese archipelago, the Kurils, Karafuto, Korea, and Taiwan.
Imperial Japan refers to the period from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to Japan's surrender in World War II in 1945. This era saw Japan's rapid modernization and transformation into a world power. The country adopted Western technologies and systems, while preserving its own culture and traditions. It became an imperial power through territorial acquisitions, starting with Taiwan in 1895 and extending to Korea, Manchuria, and parts of China. The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) was a significant turning point, marking Japan's emergence as a major world power.

Why would Japan want to be imperialist?
The primary objectives of Imperial Japan were territorial expansion, resource acquisition, and the establishment of a 'Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.' This term was coined to justify Japan's imperial ambitions, suggesting a unified Asia under Japanese leadership. The empire aimed to free Asia from Western colonial rule but in practice imposed its own form of colonialism on other Asian nations. Military strategies and alliances, such as the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, were also part of Japan's imperial objectives.

Why should I be against Imperial Japan?
The memories of Japan's imperialism and colonialism, exemplified by events such as the Nanjing massacre, the sexual exploitation of comfort women in Korea and other countries, criminal medical experimentation, slave labor, human rights abuses in development unit 731, and other such atrocities still affect Japan's relations with other Asian countries in the present day.

Why is it wrong for me to say that it's a hetalia reference?
In the end it portrays Imperial Japan as only just an anime character and look over the actual country itself. Many people uses the character's personality and babies them as a "innocent thing who didn't know any better" to make people feel sympathy for them and to make them think "Japan would never do that!". These are real atrocities and real people died from these things. It essentially treats what these people and countries went through under Imperial Japan's exploitation as something not serious. It's like saying "Oh Nazi Germany is literally a hetalia reference because doitsu😳😳". Yes, Hetalia took place during World War II and that's why they're supposed to represent but please don't say that they're just "hetalia references". This goes for all other countries or anything in history. No they're not hetalia references and it just only harms the victims because it treats their experiences as some joke and something that shouldn't be serious.

Also a lot of the time people who make these claims are the same people who use hetalia as a history tool. Hetalia is not a history tool, it is simply something to introduce you to history and it just barely goes over the topic of important events, but in the end it's not going to get you anywhere. Same with oversimplifed or extra history they only go over the big details and timeline and they're amazing with introducing the topic to you but they're simply not enough for you to learn. You have to read books, you have to watch documentaries, and you have to actively study with textbooks. History takes a lot of time and you can't simply just say you're a " history nerd!" From hetalia. This isn't to offend anyone but to just be honest. I used to be like this back when I first got into hetalia in 2022, but over the years I've genuinely picked up history as a interest and I've been spending my free time studying. Now I'm a gay woke japanese marxist. 🥹🩷.

What was the point of this?
To make THOSE hetalia fans understand that Imperial Japan is more than just Japan from Hetalia and the topic shouldn't be talked so lightly. They only recognize Germany and Italy during WWII to be fascist and evil but these weeaboos always glaze over Japan and still somehow defend it?? Hetalia as much as I like it and as someone who LOVES Japan from Hetalia, the show is obviously spreading Japanese propaganda and completely dodges the war crimes the Axis had committed and the result of that treats the atrocities in history as simply a joke. No one grasps the severity of it and it's extremely harmful to the person to think that way and the victims who underwent those atrocities.