This edited volume is part of the Palgrave series in Asian German Studies, a relatively new area of study reflected in the large number of Asian-German panels at the annual German Studies Association conferences. The framework that gives some coherence to the broadly-themed chapters is “transnational history,” with its focus on the active exchange, interconnectedness, cultural flow, and “hybridity” (4) between Germany and Japan. As the editors admit, however, this transnational framework is not consistently applied to the entire volume, with two chapters (“The Nuremberg and Tokyo IMT Trials: A Comparative Analysis” by David M. Crowe, and “A ‘Penologic Program’ for Japanese and German War Criminals, 1945–1958” by Franziska Seraphim) taking a purely comparative approach. Moreover, the transnational connections discussed here appear to have been imbalanced, for a number of contributions present stories of one-sided impact rather than of mutual influence.

The thirteen chapters are grouped into three sections, and the first, titled “Ambivalent Partners in Modernization,” spans the period from the Meiji era (1868–1912) to World War II. Toru Takenaka's reexamination of popular myths surrounding German-Japanese relations in the Meiji period is the most exciting and “transnational” of the entire volume. The author challenges the conventional view that this was a “golden age” of Japanese-German relations and rejects claims about allegedly close ties between the two countries as a historical myth. Takenaka argues that certain German influences, especially in disciplines called the “Three M's” (military science, medicine, and music) were doubtless very important for Japan, but that language education in German followed only at a much later date: English continued to retain an overwhelmingly dominant role in Japanese intellectual life. With keen observations and conclusions that rely on primary sources in both Japanese and German, this brilliant essay connects to two chapters presenting case studies on the Germans Karl von Eisendecher and Count Hermann Keyserling. Both men lived and travelled in Japan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, reflecting exactly the type of elitist view—namely, an interest and respect for the Japanese and their culture but also criticism about alleged imitations of Western modern technology—that had a huge influence on German popular opinion about Japan at the time. Editor Joanne Miyang Cho's own essay on Keyserling then analyzes the close relationship between imitation and innovation in the process of Japan's transnational adaptions of Western standards. Lee M. Roberts's final chapter in the first section returns to popular German views of Japan, demonstrating that a major shift in German public awareness of Japan occurred after its military victory over Russia in 1904–05.

The second section, “Transnational Partners between Two World Wars,” delves into topics that are thematically disparate. Sarah Panzer's chapter, which discusses Japanese martial arts in Germany in the early twentieth century, concludes that jiu-jitsu was adopted more readily than the seemingly more foreign judo because of the former's perceived resemblance to traditional German culture. It was jiu-jitsu's association with warfare and with military bravery that made it it attractive to many Germans, especially military and civil law enforcement authorities. The next two chapters, case studies by Hans K. Rode and Christian W. Spang of German intellectual and political influences on Japan during the 1920 and 1930s, clearly show that their impact remained limited to areas such as academe, or to Nazis becoming members of the German East Asiatic Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, or OAG). The most stimulating contribution to this section is Thomas Pekar's fine study of Japan's fundamentally ambivalent policy toward Jewish exiles from 1933 to 1945. Essentially antisemitic ideas existed among Japanese policymakers, yet there was no sign of racial discrimination in their handling of Jews in Japan or in the occupied areas of China until late 1941. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into the war marked a decisive turning-point in this regard: hitherto conciliatory policies gained a much more oppressive character but without displaying racial components, such as profound hatred for the Jews.

The third section, “Post-World War II Affinity: Pariah Nations,” presents two comparative approaches to related topics: the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials initiated and conducted mainly by the United States in the immediate postwar period, and the different consequences that Germany and Japan drew from the war crimes trials, which influenced not only their future external and internal political strategies but also public opinion. Following German division, two separate states interacted with Japan from 1949 to 1990. Looking at West Germany during its first two decades, Rolf-Harald Wippich focuses on diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties on different transnational levels. The author's excellent analysis complements Volker Stanzel's careful study of East Germany's links with Japan, which were hampered from the very beginning by fundamental ideological differences. Stanzel presents the mutual relationship as one of cultural ties, with Japan regarding such links merely as a continuation of its traditional relationship to Germany. The last chapter in this section, by Birgit Maier-Katkin and Lee M. Roberts, offers a fitting close to the entire volume, introducing German-Japanese literature in the framework of “transnational communicability.” The authors describe Yoko Tawada's writings in German and Japanese as a curious encounter with foreignness and cultural difference.

All in all, the book offers a colorful mixture of recent approaches to the complex field of Japanese-German encounters. Given that the volume originated from a collection of conference papers, it is perhaps natural that some aspects of the mutual relations between these two nation-states (e.g., economic interactions, as well as exchanges in the arts, natural sciences, and medicine) are dealt with only within chapters that offer more general insights into “transnational encounters.” The ambitious goal of presenting active cross-cultural exchanges is not fully realized, however, and its achievement seems to have depended on the authors' specific interests or skills in uncovering and emphasizing active exchanges between the two countries. The chapters nevertheless present broad overviews and specific case studies dealing with a range of important issues over a period of a century and a half; in so doing, they explore a fascinating spectrum of mutual but not always equal influences, bilateral exchanges, and cultural flows.