Foreword: Professor Kudō Akira's Work and its Historical Background

Summary

INTRODUCTION

ON 22 APRIL 2011, the House of Representatives in the Japanese Diet resolved to promote the friendship between Japan and Germany on the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the amity treaty between Japan and Prussia in 1861. The resolution stressed that the newly-founded Germany in 1871 became a model for the Japanese modernization during the Meiji period. And, although Japan and Germany fought each other in the First World War, both countries were allies in the Second World War – launching an aggression, which caused unparalleled human suffering and material damage in their neighboring countries but ultimately resulted in their own defeat and destruction. However, both Japan and Germany miraculously succeeded in rebuilding their country from the ruins and reviving their economies. Having reflected on the war they caused and its consequences, both countries are now cooperating for the peace and prosperity of the world. There is now an active and steady interchange between the Japanese and the Germans in various fields, with both respecting each other's culture and values. The House of Representatives declared on this occasion that Japan will contribute to the realization of world peace based upon the reliable partnership with Germany. Based on this declaration, various events in both countries took place nationwide on official and private levels. This occasion provides a good opportunity to consider the relations between Japan and German from a historical perspective.

There are many books on the relationship between Japan and Germany, especially on diplomatic history and the comparison of types of economic development. One of the main concerns in the field of economics and business deals with the characteristics of the Japanese and German economies compared with the Anglo-Saxon ones. Given the growing weight of the Anglo-Saxon economic and business models on the one hand, and the frequency of global economic crises starting in these economies on the other, a historical analysis of the economy and business in Japan and Germany might provide us with some clues for alternative models.

I am, therefore, very glad that Professor KUDŌ has published this collection of his articles written over the last quarter of a century on Japan's business and economic relations with Germany as well as with the EU and Asia.