Mutual Perceptions and Images in Japanese-German Relations, 1860-2010

About this book

Mutual Perceptions and Images in Japanese-German Relations, 1860?2010' examines the mutual images formed between Japan and Germany from the mid-nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, and the influence of these images on the development of bilateral relations. Unlike earlier research on Japanese-German relations, which focused on the similarity of these countries? historical trajectories, this publication presents a more nuanced picture. It relativizes perceptions of a special ?spiritual relationship? between Japan and Germany as well as their commonalities of ?national character? through an exploration of previously untapped historical visual and textual sources. With essays by sixteen leading scholars in the field, this collection is an invaluable contribution to the historiography of modern Japan and Germany, and to the field of international relations.