The Japanese overrunning most of the British and Dutch colonies pretty much wiped out the idea of the “White Tuan” or supremacy notion that the Europeans had engendered.
Singapore was a horrific wake-up call to the British psyche - and to the indigenous folks who suddenly saw that the white guys weren’t invincible.
WWII in the Pacific was a Race war between the Japanese Empire and the European/American allies. No one likes to think of it that way, but it was.
Look up “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” and the Japanese slogan “Asia For Asians!” Drive out “the White Devils”.
Oh, I understand what motivated the Japanese; Teddy Roosevelt had told them they could have their “co-prosperity sphere” in Asia (during the peace conference ending the Russo-Japanese War in 1905), and they were looking to do just that.