page_title: Germany–Japan relations
section_title: Reestablishment of relations and Sino-Japanese dilemma
hierarchical_section_title: Germany–Japan relations / History / Rapprochement, Axis and World War II (1920–1945) / Reestablishment of relations and Sino-Japanese dilemma
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Wilhelm Solf Solf, Wilhelm, geb. 5.10.1862 1911 Staatssekr. d. Reichskolonialamtes, 1921-28 Botschafter in Tokio. [Porträt von Wilhelm Solf, Zigarre rauchend] Abgebildete Personen: Solf, Wilhelm Dr.: Botschafter in Japan, Staatssekretär des Reichskolonialamtes, Deutschland
context_page_description: The relations between Germany and Japan were officially established in 1861 with the first ambassadorial visit to Japan from Prussia. Japan modernized rapidly after the Meiji Restoration of 1867, often using German models through intense intellectual and cultural exchange. After 1900 Japan aligned itself with Britain, and Germany and Japan were enemies in World War I. Japan declared war on the German Empire in 1914 and seized key German possessions in China and the Pacific.
  In the 1930s, both countries adopted aggressive militaristic attitudes toward their respective regions. This led to a rapprochement and, eventually, a political and military alliance that included Italy: the "Axis". During World War II, however, the alliance was limited by the great distances between the Axis powers; for the most part, Japan and Germany fought separate wars, and eventually surrendered separately.
  After the Second World War, the economies of both nations experienced rapid recoveries; bilateral relations, now focused on economic issues, were soon re-established.
context_section_description: After Germany had to cede most of its Pacific and Asian possessions to Japan and with an intensifying Sino-German cooperation, relations between Berlin and Tokyo were nearly dead. Under the initiative of Wilhelm Solf, who served as German ambassador to Japan from 1920 to 1928, cultural exchange was strengthened again. A cultural agreement was signed in 1926 that led to the re-establishment of the "German-Japanese Society" (1926), the founding of the "Japan Institute" in Berlin (1926), the establishment of the "Japanese-German Cultural Society" in Tokyo (1927), and later also the incorporation of the "Japanese-German Research Institute" in Kyoto (1934). Both, France and Germany, were also very attractive for Japanese wanting to study abroad, as both countries kept their currencies undervalued in the 1920s. As German universities were considered superior to their French counterparts, 80% of Japanese students going abroad thus chose Germany. In fact, many of the men who emerged as leaders of the Pan-Asia movement in Japan in the 1930s studied at German universities in the 1920s, which led the Japanese historian Hotta Eri to note there was a strong German influence on the discourse of Japanese Pan-Asianism.
  On 30 January 1933, the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler assumed power in Germany, abolishing the democratic system of the Weimar Republic within the first two months of its reign. This political turning point proved to be far-reaching for the relations between Germany and Japan. In spring and again in fall of 1933, German-Japanese relations were damaged, when the Sturmabteilung (SA), a para-military branch of the NSDAP, took to beating up Asians studying at German universities. Japanese and Chinese officials complained about "Yellow Peril" propaganda in German newspapers, reports of German plans to ban interracial relationships, and ongoing violence against Asian students all over the country. In October 1933, the Japanese government warned its nationals not to visit Germany, saying the country was unsafe for Asians to be in, and in November 1933, the Chinese government issued a similar warning to its citizens. German foreign minister and head of the Auswärtiges Amt Konstantin von Neurath persuaded Hitler to stop the SA violence against Asians, pointing out that Chinese head of state Chiang Kai-shek was threatening to expel the German military mission and replace it with a French one. In regards to Japan, Neurath noted it was advantageous to have so many scions of the Japanese elite studying at German universities, arguing that it was an incalculable advantage to Germany in the long run. At this time, however, Germany had much closer relations with China, which purchased an increasing amount of German arms and whose National Revolutionary Army received training by a German military mission. Not only did this happen against Japanese objections, but it also caused the original complaints from China, and not those from Japan, to eventually motivate Berlin's change of attitude.
  In late 1933-early 1934, another strain was placed on German-Japanese relations when the new German ambassador to Japan and outspoken proponent of German-Japanese partnership, Herbert von Dirksen, backed the appointment of Ferdinand Heye, a member of the Nazi Party and disreputable businessman, the Special German Trade Commissioner for Japan's puppet state Manchukuo in northern China. Berlin's interaction with Manchukuo was delicate, as its official diplomatic recognition by Germany was sought after by Japan, but would greatly damage Sino-German relations. Hitler's interest to keep China as a partner for the time being became obvious, when he disavowed Heye, who had falsely promised German recognition of Manchukuo in order to monopolize German trading in the region under his name. In the summer of 1935, Joachim von Ribbentrop, a German foreign policy official operating independently from the Auswärtiges Amt, together with his friend, the Japanese military attaché to Germany, General Hiroshi Ōshima, planned to relieve Germany of its China-or-Japan-dilemma
caption: As German ambassador in Tokyo from 1920 to 1928, Wilhelm Solf initiated the re-establishment of good German–Japanese relations.
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