evil regime in modern times, and one was that was elected to power democratically, and had massive popular support. They literally turned genocide into an industry and made racism and bigotry the central, driving theme of an entire continent. For all of Tojo’s terrible misdeeds, he wasn’t genocidal; he has an associate’s degree in evil, compared to Hitler’s doctorate.
If anything, I think we in the West go too easy on Germany. Note how most people prefer to say “Nazis” rather than “Germans” when we talk about the genocide and other horrors they perpetrated, despite the fact that the Nazis were freely elected to power and had so much popular support. But with Japan, we don’t refer to Tojo’s political party when talking about the Rape of Nanking or other atrocities — people just say that the “Japanese” did it. Seems to me like a subtle way of excusing the Germans, as if the Nazis were some sort of anomaly that wasn’t really German, while pointing the finger directly at Japan.