Showcasing moments of convergence between the German and Japanese cultures towards common points of interest over the last one hundred fifty years, the chapters in this book cover such topics as culture, diplomacy, geography, history, law, literature, philosophy, politics, and sports. From the creation of two similar modern nation-states, to the aggressive struggle for national supremacy and subsequent total defeat in 1945, the necessity of coping with their earlier militarism and parallel economic miracles in the postwar era, Germans and Japanese look back on a remarkably similar past.

Brings together cutting-edgescholarship from international scholars in a variety of fields

Introduction; Joanne Miyang Cho, Lee M. Roberts, and Christian W. SpangPART I: AMBIVALENT PARTNERS IN MODERNIZATION 1. The Myth of the 'Familiar Germany': German-Japanese Relationships in the Meiji Period Reexamined; Toru Takenaka 2. Karl von Eisendecher and Japan: Transnational Encounters and the Diplomacy of Imperialism; Sven Saaler 3. Count Hermann Keyserling's View of Japan: A Nation of Consummate Imitators; Joanne Miyang Cho 4. Western Criticism of an Occidental East: A German View of the Modernization of Japanese Literature, 1900-1945 ; Lee M. Roberts PART II: TRANSNATIONAL PARTNERS BETWEEN TWO WORLD WARS5. When Jiu-jitsu was German: Japanese Martial Arts in German Sport and Körperkultur, 1905-1933; Sarah Panzer 6. Anna and Siegfried Berliner: Two Academic Bridge Builders between Germany and Japan; Hans K. Rode¿ and Christian W. Spang7. The Expansion of Activities of the German East Asiatic Society (OAG) during the Nazi Era; Christian W. Spang8. Japanese Ambivalence towards Jewish Exiles in Japan; Thomas PekarPART III: POST-WORLD WAR II AFFINITY: PARIAH NATIONS? 9. The Nuremberg and Tokyo IMT Trials: A Comparative Analysis; David M. Crowe10.A 'Penologic Program' for Japanese and German War Criminals, 1945-1958; Franziska Seraphim 11.German-Japanese Relations after the Second World War; Rolf-Harald Wippich12.Peace, Business, and Classical Culture: The Relationship Between the German Democratic Republic and Japan; Volker Stanzel 13.Transnational Communicability: German-Japanese Literature by Yoko Tawada; Birgit Maier-Katkin and Lee M. Roberts