German-Japanese relations

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German-Japanese relations
Location of Germany and Japan
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Germany Japan

The relations between Japan and Germany have traditionally been friendly. They have a checkered history.

Early contacts

The roots of German-Japanese relations go back to the 17th century when the first Germans came to Japan in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The first major historical contribution was made by the Leipzig surgeon Caspar Schamberger (1623–1706), who sparked a lasting Japanese interest in Western medicine. The doctor and businessman Andreas Cleyer (1634–1698) drew the interest of European scholars to the Japanese flora through numerous letters and mailings of material. He was supported in this by George Meister (1653-1713). With the Lemgo physician Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716) the exploration of the island realm reached its first high point. In his Amoenitates Exoticae (1712) as well as the History of Japan (1727) edited posthumously by the Swiss Johann Caspar Scheuchzer , he set standards for the scientific description of Japan, which was still used by Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796–1866). While Kaempfer's work shaped the Western image of Japan in the Age of Enlightenment, Siebold's Nippon, Archive for the Description of Japan, as well as his works on the flora and fauna of the archipelago, exerted a great influence on the modern Japanese studies that unfolded in the 19th century.

It is not clear since when people in Japan knew about the existence of Germany. For example, the neo-Confucian scholar Arai Hakuseki (1657–1725) in his script Seiyō Kibun , written around 1715, describes a large European country "Zerumania, called hōgodoichi or doichi in Dutch " (「ゼ ル マ ニ ア ア 、 ヲ と と と 、 語 語 ン ン 語 語 語 ン の 語 語 語 ン の 語 語 語 ン の 語 語 ン の 語い ふ.」), About which he had learned in his conversations with the captured Italian missionary Giovanni Battista Sidotti . And since new editions of western world maps were published in China and Japan as early as the 17th century, the geographic and political conditions are likely to have been known to some extent, at least in interested circles.

19th century

Reception of the Japanese embassy by His Majesty King Wilhelm I.

Diplomatic level

The first official relations between a German state and Japan came about through the Prussian mission of Count von Eulenburg , which led to the conclusion of a friendship, trade and shipping treaty between the two states on January 24, 1861 . The merchant Louis Kniffler , who founded the first German company in Japan with his trading house L. Kniffler & Co. in 1859 , had suggested the conclusion of such a contract with the Prussian government in order to reduce the conditions for Prussian companies in the then largely isolated country to improve. In 1861, Kniffler became the Prussian Vice Consul of Nagasaki and thus the first permanently accredited consular officer of a German state in Japan. In 1862 an embassy from the Shogunate arrived at the Prussian royal court of Wilhelm I and was received with a glamorous ceremony in Berlin. Japan and Prussia have been linked in mutual respect since the conclusion of the friendship treaty, which still forms the basis of German-Japanese friendship today. The Iwakura mission in Germany followed in 1873 , during which a Japanese embassy toured Germany and took over elements for the modernization of the Japanese state . This embassy was received by Wilhelm I in the palace and looked after at great expense for almost a month.

Max von Brandt became the first diplomatic representative of Prussia (and later of the German Empire ) in Japan, first consul, later consul general and, with the establishment of the German Empire, Minister-Resident . His successor Karl von Eisendecher was promoted to ambassador in 1880, and the German diplomatic mission in Japan thus became an embassy, ​​which is to be understood as recognition of the modernization of Japan since the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

Albert Mosse , cabinet advisor in Japan from 1886 to 1890

During the Meiji period (1868–1912), a number of Germans in Japan worked as advisors and teachers ("foreign contractors", o-yatoi gaikokujin ). The best known among them are the lawyers Albert Mosse (1846–1925) and Hermann Roesler (1834–1894), the historian Ludwig Riess (1861–1928), the doctors Benjamin Karl Leopold Müller (1822–1893), Theodor Eduard Hoffmann (1837 –1894), Julius Scriba (1848–1905), Erwin Bälz (1849–1913), the geologist Heinrich Edmund Naumann (1854–1927), the mineralogist Curt Adolph Netto (1847–1909).

Military level

The military advisor Klemens Wilhelm Jacob Meckel (1842–1905) was invited by the Japanese government in 1885 to serve as an advisor to the Japanese general staff and as a teacher at the army college and spent three years in Japan. He worked closely with greats like Katsura Tarō and Kawakami Sōroku and contributed significantly to the modernization of the Japanese army . In Japan he left a loyal group of admirers who erected a bronze statue for him in front of the army college after his death . As a result, there was a lively exchange, especially from the Japanese side, with officers completing their military training in the German Empire. They made up around two thirds of all delegates abroad. According to a 1902 military report by the German legation in Tokyo, there were 42 Japanese officers in Europe that summer, 28 of them in Germany. By the First World War , their number rose to more than 450.

Cultural level

There was also a lively cultural and scientific exchange in other fields. In 1873, the Germans in Japan founded the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia (OAG), which still exists today. The respective German ambassadors in Tokyo were initially chairmen of this society. In 1913, German Jesuits founded the Sophia University in Tokyo , which is still a well-known educational institution today.

Japanese Constitution

Germany also had a decisive influence on the formulation of the Japanese constitution of 1889. After a visit by statesman Itō Hirobumi to Germany, where he discussed possible forms of a constitution for Japan with constitutional lawyers Rudolf von Gneist and Lorenz von Stein , Japan received the Meiji constitution , which was based on the Prussian constitution and was promulgated in 1889 and in 1890 Strength kicked.

20th century to the First World War

However, the good relations between Germany and Japan were soon over. When, according to the Shimonoseki Treaty, Germany, represented by its ambassador Felix von Gutschmid , - together with France and Russia - called for Japan to renounce territorial acquisition on the mainland in the so-called triple intervention (also known as Shimonoseki's intervention) the relationships are greatly reduced. The cooling was intensified by Wilhelm II's propaganda of the “yellow danger” ( yellow danger - the fear of a looming threat in the form of a modernized Japan in league with populous China - the “Asian masses” or “hordes”) Expression of this suspected threat and the reservations in international politics was the Emperor's speech in the Huns and the so-called " Knackfuß-Painting ".

The Doggerbank incident in October 1904, in which Russian warships on their way to the Far East due to a misunderstanding, shot at British fishing boats in the North Sea during the war with Japan , continued to put a severe test of stress on German-Japanese relations . The fact that the German Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft delivered coal to the Russians with its transport ships was seen by Japan as a breach of neutrality and led to a serious diplomatic conflict between the two states.

During the First World War , however, it was not so much the cooling of relations as power-political considerations that prompted Japan to enter the war against Germany. Due to the war in Europe, Japan was able to further consolidate its supremacy in East Asia and China. Japan conquered the German colony of Kiautschou in 1914 after the siege of Tsingtau , German prisoners of war stayed in Japan until 1920, some decided to spend their lives in Japan afterwards. In the Treaty of Versailles , Japan was granted the German rights over Tsingtau, as were the other German colonies in the Pacific , north of the equator, as a trust mandate of the League of Nations, i.e. a. the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands (excluding Guam), and the Carolina Islands.

Interwar period

Ambassador Wilhelm Solf , restorer of German-Japanese friendship

After the war, Wilhelm Solf was sent to Japan as ambassador in 1920 and diplomatic relations were resumed. In the interwar period, German-Japanese relations focused primarily on the cultural sector, a cultural agreement was concluded and various cultural institutions were founded, such as the Japan Institute (Berlin, 1926) and the Japanese-German Cultural Institute (Tokyo, 1927 ), and the Japanese-German Research Institute (Kyoto, 1934).

In the 1930s, German-Japanese relations became closer again, driven by the Japanese military, above all the army. On the German side, Joachim von Ribbentrop in particular strove for a German-Japanese rapprochement - directed against England. In 1936 the Anti-Comintern Pact was signed , which Italy joined a year later, followed by Spain, Hungary and other states.

An alliance had existed between Germany and Japan since the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936. But Germany and Japan did not always agree on all questions of politics and the alliance had little effect until the end (1945), but remained primarily a propaganda tool. The alliance took shape in November 1936 with the Anti-Comintern Pact and in September 1940 with the conclusion of the Tripartite Pact. The alliance, however, had no firm foundations in common interests, but was made possible by the absence of major conflicts of interest and by the common hostility to England and the USA. Both states pursued a policy of non-interference in the policy of the alliance partner, but there was little consideration for the overarching interests of the alliance and just as little room was left for consideration of the interests of the alliance partner. Therefore there was no real cooperation in politics or warfare after the outbreak of war. The alliance between Germany and Japan in the 1930s and 1940s is therefore also known as the "alliance without a backbone".

Second World War

The Japanese embassy in Berlin's Tiergartenstrasse with the swastika flag , flags of the Empire of Japan and Italy (September 1940), photo from the Federal Archives

In 1940 Germany, Japan and Italy signed the three-power pact . After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the German declaration of war on the USA (December 1941) in January 1942, they then also concluded a military alliance, which, however, remained largely without consequences. There was just as little real cooperation between Germany and Japan as there was coordination of military operations, because basically different goals were pursued. Japan had not attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 in order to relieve the German armed forces , but turned against the USA, which had not yet been directly involved in the world war. In addition, a lot of mistrust remained on both sides - on the Japanese side, of course, due to Hitler's racial policy, according to which the Japanese were viewed as fundamentally inferior, which was not unknown in Japan, even if the Nazi propaganda tried to cover this up; and on the German side because of this resentment towards the allegedly "insidious" Japanese.

German-Japanese marriages were often prevented by German authorities despite the lack of a legal basis. Before that, however, intensive investigations into the background of those affected - in particular the diplomatic relevance - were carried out in each individual case in order not to annoy the ally. Contemporary witnesses report that marriages between Germans and Japanese were judged "in a milder form" similar to those between "Aryans and Jews". So it was "the other way around, also from the Japanese side". German authorities in Japan kept meticulous records of the Germans abroad, in which, in addition to Jewish spouses and children within the meaning of the Nuremberg Laws , German-Japanese couples and possibly their "half-Japanese" children were listed. The German consul in Yokohama, Dr. Heinrich Seelheim . He was supported in this by local party offices as well as the German ambassador Eugen Ott and the regional group leader of the NSDAP , Rudolf Hillmann.

However, both the Germans and the Japanese suppressed their knowledge of the crimes of their respective allies in the war. For example, John Rabe wanted to stand up for the Chinese by bringing to light records of Japanese war crimes in China, especially Nanjing . Shortly thereafter, however, he was arrested by the Gestapo and all evidence was confiscated and destroyed. In fact, the Japanese also suppressed evidence that incriminated the Germans as perpetrators of the Holocaust .

In the pursuit of Nazi opponents, there was close cooperation between the police attaché Josef Meisinger, who works at the embassy in Tokyo and is known as the "butcher of Warsaw", with Japanese authorities. The former German ambassador in Tokyo, Heinrich Georg Stahmer , later testified in court that, according to all his experiences, he believed it was possible “that Meisinger could have a German national arrested by the Japanese police.” All cases known to him Meisinger reported that arrests of Germans were raised as espionage cases. The real cause could therefore also have been the political attitudes of the accused. In the event of "espionage suspicion", Kempeitai was obliged to cooperate. This cooperation fell among others. the industrialist and "Schindler" of Tokyo, Willy Rudolf Foerster , after Meisinger had wrongly denounced him to the Japanese as a "Soviet spy". Meisinger's anti-Semitic indoctrination by Japanese authorities, directed against Jewish refugees in Japan and Shanghai, was disguised by him as a security policy consideration - knowing that the Japanese were “afraid of espionage”. As the statements of his former interpreter Karl Hamel show, his interventions led to the establishment of the Shanghai Ghetto in February 1943 and to the internment of Jews and other regime opponents in Japan in May 1945.

For a while, the Japanese were able to benefit indirectly from Hitler's entry into the war, as the Allies, based on the “Germany First” strategy, concentrated their forces on the fight against Germany and Italy for a long time. Japan and Germany actually fought their wars separately and lost separately; Japan capitulated three months after Germany in August 1945 after dropping two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's entry into the war against Japan.

post war period

In 1955 Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) resumed diplomatic relations (with the GDR in 1973), but relations remained insignificant until the 1970s. Only then did significant cultural and scientific exchanges take place, as did the expansion of trade.

The Japan-GDR Friendship Society was founded in the early 1960s under the umbrella of the League for Friendship between Nations .

In 1969 the Japanese Cultural Institute was founded in Cologne. Stimulated by the strong economic boom in Japan, Japanese studies also experienced a great boom in Germany in the 1980s. It came, among other things. on the establishment of the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) and the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) in Tokyo. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation play an important role in academic exchange on the German side, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) on the Japanese side. In both countries these activities are supported by former scholarship holders. In Germany, the Deutsche Gesellschaft der JSPS-Stipendiaten e. V. made an important contribution. The International Medical Society of Japan also has close historical ties to German medicine.

After the establishment of diplomatic relations in May 1973, visited from 26.-31. May 1981 the general secretary of the central committee of the SED and chairman of the state council, Erich Honecker , at the invitation of the Japanese government the country.

150th anniversary celebrations in 2011 and 2015

The governments of Germany and Japan decided in 2009 to celebrate 150 years of German-Japanese relations on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the conclusion of the treaty in 2011. This happened in Germany with lectures in Berlin and others. Places. In addition, the Reiss Engelhorn museums in Mannheim showed an exhibition. On this occasion, the German and Japanese Post issued two special stamps: the “Regensburg Cathedral” and the “Temple Yakushi-ji” (Nara). On the German side, the Japanese motif with 55 cents was intended for domestic traffic and the German motif (75 cents) for international traffic.

The Japanese Post printed the motifs with appropriate postage and even printed additional stamps with German motifs for the occasion. While the headlines on the Japanese stamps in German and Japanese are “150 years of friendship between Germany and Japan”, the German side confined themselves to the words “UNESCO World Heritage Site”.

  • Regensburg Cathedral

  • Yakushi-ji

Japan followed in 2015 with a memorial event at the National Museum of Japanese History in Sakura (Chiba) , which also opened an exhibition entitled “What connects Germany and Japan - 150 years of friendship between Germany and Japan”. The exhibition, for which a catalog was also published, will subsequently be among other things. shown in the Museum of History and Culture Nagasaki and in the German House Naruto .

Cultural, economic and scientific relations

Japan is considered to be one of the most important exporters of electronics and entertainment products such as computer games for Germany after the United States, South Korea and China. Well-known Japanese technology companies in Germany include Nintendo , Bandai Namco Holdings , Toyota , Honda , Sony , Mitsubishi , Panasonic , Hitachi , Canon , Fujitsu and Nissan . Germany primarily exports luxury motor vehicles and other mechanical engineering services to Japan . In export competition, Germany is above all China.

Anime and manga in Germany form an essential part of the German animation film and comics market and show a growing fan base. Both media came to Germany through the mutual media network since the 1970s and have been more successful since the 1990s. The German manga market is now the third largest market in Europe after France and Italy. Several hundred anime films and series have been dubbed into German and, since the 2010s, have been increasingly marketed with German subtitles on video-on-demand services. In contrast to K-Pop , J-Pop is less popular in Germany and is mostly heard by anime fans.

In Japan, topics from German and Swiss literature are taken up more often. A well-known example of this is Heidi in Japan , which is why many Japanese also know the Alpine region and represent a popular tourist destination. Classical German literature, language and culture are also dealt with in Japan. For example, there are several branches of the Goethe Institute in Japan and the Goethe Archive Tokyo . Japanese loanwords ( Gairaigo ) come mainly from English, French, Portuguese and German. Due to the fans of Japanese pop culture such as anime and manga in Germany, which are also known as weeaboo , Japanese expressions are also increasingly used in the German language. A great cultural exchange took place in the Meiji period . Germany is one of the most popular European travel destinations for the Japanese. Japanese martial arts such as karate or judo are also popular in Germany, but in contrast to Japan, they are still considered a fringe sport. Japanese gardens can be found in many major German cities.

With over 800 bilateral university partnerships , currently 50 city ​​partnerships , the branches of the Goethe Institute and the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia (OAG) in Tokyo, the cultural exchange between the two countries is promoted. With a striking number of people in the cityscape, the city ​​of Düsseldorf is the only Japantown in Germany, has Japanese quarters and is considered the most important place of economic cooperation (see also: Japanese in Düsseldorf ). Relations between Germany and Japan are celebrated here once a year on Japan Day , which is attended by an average of half a million people. Japanese studies can be studied at various German universities as a minor, specialization or course of study.

People and organizations

> with activities before 1868


> with activities between 1868 and 1899


> with activities between 1900 and 1919

> with activities between 1920 and 1945


> with activities from 1946


> without an exact time allocation

literature

  • Junko Ando: The Making of the Meiji Constitution. On the role of German constitutionalism in the modern Japanese state (= monographs from the German Institute for Japanese Studies. 27). Iudicium, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-89129-508-1 (At the same time: Düsseldorf, University, dissertation, 1999: On the history of the origins of the Meiji constitution. ).
  • Sebastian Dobson, Sven Saaler (Ed.): Under the eyes of the Prussian eagle. Lithographs, drawings, and photographs of the participants in the Eulenburg Mission in Japan, 1860–61. = Under eagle eyes. Lithographs, drawings & photographs from the Prussian expedition to Japan, 1860–61. =プ ロ イ セ ン - ド イ ツ が 観 た 幕末 日本. オ イ レ ン ブ ル ク 遠征 団 が 残 し た 版画 、 素描 、 写真. Studies, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-86205-137-3 .
  • Curt Engelhorn Foundation and Association of German-Japanese Societies (Hrsg.): Far companions. 150 years of German-Japanese relations (= publications by the Reiss-Engelhorn museums. 43). Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-7954-2570-8 (accompanying volume for the special exhibition of the same name in the Reiss-Engelhorn museums).
  • Harumi Shidehara Furuya: Nazi Racism Toward the Japanese: Ideology vs. Realpolitik. NOAG, 157-158, 1995, 17-75, ( PDF ).
  • Stefan Hübner: National Socialist Foreign Policy and Press Instructions, 1933–1939: Aims and Ways of Coverage Manipulation based on the Example of East Asia. In: The International History Review. Volume 34, No. 2, 2012, ISSN  0707-5332 , pp. 271-291, doi: 10.1080 / 07075332.2011.626577 .
  • Stefan Hübner: Hitler and East Asia, 1904 to 1933. The development of Hitler's image of Japan and China from the Russo-Japanese War to the "seizure of power". In: OAG Notes. September 2009, ISSN  1343-408X , pp. 22-41, oag.jp (PDF; 5.8 MB).
  • Clemens Jochem: The Foerster case: The German-Japanese machine factory in Tokyo and the Jewish auxiliary committee Hentrich and Hentrich, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-95565-225-8 .
  • Gerhard Krebs , Bernd Martin (ed.): Formation and fall of the Berlin-Tōkyō axis (= monographs from the German Institute for Japanese Studies. 8). Iudicium, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-89129-488-3 .
  • Gerhard Krebs (Ed.): Japan and Prussia (= monographs from the German Institute for Japanese Studies of the Philipp-Franz-von-Siebold-Foundation. 32). Iudicium, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-89129-843-9 .
  • Josef Kreiner (Ed.): Germany - Japan. Historical contacts (= Studium universale. 3). Bouvier, Bonn 1984, ISBN 3-416-04003-1 .
  • Josef Kreiner (ed.): Japan and the Central Powers in the First World War and in the twenties (= Studium universale. 8). Bouvier, Bonn 1986, ISBN 3-416-04008-2 .
  • Josef Kreiner, Regine Mathias (ed.): Germany - Japan in the interwar period (= Studium universale. 12). Bouvier, Bonn 1990, ISBN 3-416-02207-6 .
  • Kurt Meissner: Germans in Japan 1639–1960 (= communications from the Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia. Supplement. 26, ZDB -ID 404128-8 ). German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia, Tokyo 1961.
  • Wolfgang Michel: Glimpses of medicine and pharmaceutics in early Japanese-German intercourse. In: Masakazu Tsuzuki (ed.):黎明 期 の 日本 近代 医学 ・ 薬 学. 日 独 交流 150 周年 記念 出版. = Dawn of Modern Japanese Medicine and Pharmaceuticals. The 150th Anniversary Edition of Japan-Germany Exchange. = The dawn of the development of modern Japanese medicine and pharmacy. Anniversary edition 150 years of exchange between Japan and Germany. International Medical Society of Japan, Tokyo 2011, ISBN 978-4-9903313-1-3 , pp. 72-94.
  • Albert Mosse , Lina Mosse: Almost like my own country. Letters from Japan 1886–1889. Edited by Shirō Ishii, Ernst Lokowandt, Yūkichi Sakai. Academium, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-89129-273-2 .
  • Peter Pantzer , Sven Saaler: Japanese impressions of an imperial envoy. Karl von Eisendecher in Japan during the Meiji period. =明治 初期 の 日本 - ド イ ツ 外交官 ア イ ゼ ン デ ッ ヒ ャ ー ー 公使 の 写真 帖 よ り. Iudicium u. A., Munich u. A. 2007, ISBN 978-3-89129-930-2 (460 pages, with numerous photographs and other image sources).
  • Ernst L. Presseisen: Germany and Japan. A Study in Totalitarian Diplomacy. 1933-1941 (= International Scholars Forum. A Series of Books by American Scholars. 12, ISSN  0924-5243 ). Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague 1958.
  • Theo Sommer : Germany and Japan between the Powers 1935–1940. From the Anti-Comintern Pact to the Three Power Pact. A study on the diplomatic prehistory of World War II (= Tübingen Studies on History and Politics. 15, ISSN  0564-4267 ). Mohr, Tübingen 1962.
  • Christian W. Spang: Karl Haushofer and Japan. The reception of his geopolitical theories in German and Japanese politics (= monographs from the German Institute for Japanese Studies. 52). Iudicium, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86205-040-6 .
  • Christian W. Spang: Who were Hitler's East Asia experts? In: OAG Notes. April 2003, pp. 10-21, oag.jp (PDF; 2.9 MB); and May 2003, pp. 12-25, oag.jp (PDF; 3.7 MB).
  • Christian W. Spang, Rolf-Harald Wippich (Ed.): Japanese-German Relations, 1895–1945. War, Diplomacy and Public Opinion (= Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia. 35). Routledge, London et al. 2006, ISBN 0-415-34248-1 .
  • Holmer Stahncke: The diplomatic relations between Germany and Japan 1854-1868 (= studies of modern history. 33). Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-515-04618-6 (also: Hamburg, University, dissertation, 1985).
  • Holmer Stahncke: Friedrich August Lühdorf's trade expedition to Japan (= OAG aktuell. 39, ISSN  0915-8790 ). German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia, Tokyo 1989.
  • Holmer Stahncke (Ed.): Prussia's way to Japan. Japan in the reports of members of the Prussian East Asia Expedition 1860–61. Iudicium, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-89129-287-2 .

Web links

Commons : German-Japanese relations  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Friendship, trade and shipping treaty between the North German Confederation and the members of the German Customs and Trade Association not belonging to this confederation on the one hand and Japan on the other (1869).  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Greeting from Cornelia Pieper on October 16, 2010 , accessed on September 23, 2020.
  2. ^ German-Japanese relations on the website of the Embassy Berlin , accessed on 23 September 2020.
  3. ↑ "Records of the Western World".
  4. ^ Rudolf Hartmann: Japanese officers in the German Empire. 1870-1914. In: Japonica Humboldtiana. 11, 2007, ISSN  1433-3473 , pp. 93–158, hu-berlin.de (PDF; 490 kB).
  5. ↑ Harumi Shidehara Furuya: Nazi Racism Toward the Japanese: Ideology vs. Realpolitik. NOAG, 157-158, 1995, 17-75, here p. 65 ( PDF ).
  6. ↑ Clemens Jochem: The Foerster case: The German-Japanese machine factory in Tokyo and the Jewish auxiliary committee Hentrich and Hentrich, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-95565-225-8 , p. 22.
  7. ↑ Jochem: The Foerster case. Berlin 2017, p. 21.
  8. ↑ Jochem: The Foerster case. Berlin 2017, Chapter: German-Japanese marriage not desired! Pp. 33-50.
  9. ↑ Jochem: The Foerster case. Berlin 2017, p. 179 f.
  10. ↑ Jochem: The Foerster case. Berlin 2017, p. 182 f.
  11. ↑ Jochem: The Foerster case. Berlin 2017, chapter: Josef Meisinger's lists - The Shanghai ghetto and the second arrest of WR Foerster, pp. 82–95.
  12. ^ Eberhard Zachmann: Pankow's feelers to Japan. "Friendship Society Japan-GDR". In: Social Democratic Press Service . Daily policy, comments, international reports , June 27, 1963, ZDB -ID 531268-1 , pp. 2–3, fes.de (PDF; 281 kB).
  13. ^ Materials in the Federal Archives : DY 13 League for Friendship between Nations, 16 Societies, December 16, Friendship Society and the Japan-GDR Board of Trustees.
  14. ↑ Hans Modrow (head of the author collective): The GDR and Japan. Dietz, Berlin 1983.
  15. ↑ 150 years of friendship between Germany and Japan . Website of the Embassy of Japan in Germany.
  16. ↑ ド イ ツ と 日本 を 結 ぶ も の. 日 独 修好 150 年 の 歴 史. = What connects Germany and Japan. 150 years of friendship between Germany and Japan. Main band. 国立 歴 史 民俗 博物館, 佐 倉 市 2015 (In Japanese language and script. Foreword in Japanese language and script and German language, summaries and captions in Japanese language and script and English. In addition to the main volume, a volume appeared with "Attachments" and another Volume with "supplements".).
  17. ↑ Bodo Wilmes: Germany and Japan in Global Competition: Success Factors Empirical Findings Strategic Recommendations . Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-48216-8 ( google.de [accessed on May 12, 2020]).
  18. ↑ German Business in Japan 2019 (PDF) German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan (AHK), accessed on May 12, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Patricia Minks: . In: Paul Ferstl (Ed.):. No. 1/2011. Societa, Vienna 2011, p. 11 f.
  20. ↑ Jean-Marie Bouissou, Marco Pellitteri, Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff, Ariane Beldi: . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (ed.) . Continuum Publishing. New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 254-256.
  21. ^ Keppler-Tasaki Stefan: How Goethe became Japanese: International cultural diplomacy and national identity discourse 1889–1989 . IUDICIUM Verlag, 2020, ISBN 978-3-86205-668-2 ( google.de [accessed on May 12, 2020]).
  22. ^ Naoji Kimura: The East-West Goethe: German language culture in Japan . Peter Lang, 2006, ISBN 978-3-03910-610-3 ( google.de [accessed on May 12, 2020]).
  23. ↑ Valentina Resetarits, Rio Nishiyama: The real reason why the Japanese think Germany is so great. April 23, 2018, accessed on May 12, 2020 (German).
  24. ^ Federal Foreign Office: Germany and Japan: Bilateral Relations. Retrieved May 12, 2020 .