Demands for an apology and compensation have been a recurring topic in Korean, Taiwanese, and Chinese politics. Western nations are also demanding long overdue actions from the Japanese government, most notably through the United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121 voted in 2007. Criticisms regarding the degree and formality of apology, issued as a statement or delivered person-to-person to the country addressed, and the perception by some that some apologies are later retracted or contradicted by statements or actions of Japan, among others.

In 2010, one comfort woman from Taiwan stated, "It’s unacceptable that the Japanese government still refuses to apologize for what it did." Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou also declared, "It is the responsibility of the Japanese government to admit its mistakes and apologize... The battle is not over yet and it is regretful that the Japanese government still refuses to face its mistakes."

In October 2006, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's apology was followed on the same day by a group of 80 Japanese lawmakers' visit to the Yasukuni Shrine which enshrines more than 1,000 convicted war criminals.[56] Two years after the apology, Shinzo Abe also denied that the Imperial Japanese military had forced comfort women into sexual slavery during World War II .

Prime Minister Abe claimed that the Class A war criminals "are not war criminals under the laws of Japan".

by questioning the definition used in the apology by saying, "There is no definitive answer either in academia or in the international community on what constitutes aggression. Things that happen between countries appear different depending on which side you're looking from."

No, the controversy is on whether it's been genuine, the is absolutely no question that their pathetic excuses for apologies were sufficient enough, because they keep retracting and undermining them for fear of enduring the horrors of national shame, because honor.

As of 2010, 24% of South Koreans still feel that Japan has never apologized for its colonial rule, while another 58% believe Japan has not apologized sufficiently.