Abstract
When Hans Modrow, formerly Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), watched the celebration of the unification of East and West Germany on October 3, 1990, he did so in Tokyo, together with the Prime Minister of Japan, Kaifu Toshiki.1 That day, a relationship that had been characterized by the Cold War conflict, had been a factor of the overall political, economic, and cultural objectives pursued by the GDR and Japan, and had become part of the history of German-Japan relations, came to an end. It had had its own character, yet Kaifu’s invitation to Modrow sheds a light on where the relationship was most distinct—that is, unexpectedly, the realm of culture.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Christian Heideck, Zwischen Ost-West-Handel und Opposition. Die Japan-Politik der DDR 1952–1973 (Munich: Iudicium, 2014) in an exceptionally insightful analysis covers the trade relationship of both countries under the conditions of the Hallstein Doctrine.
See also Beate Neuss, “Die Beziehungen zwischen der DDR und Japan,” in Die Westpolitik der DDR zu ausgewählten westlichen Industriestaaten in den 70er und 80er Jahren, ed. Peter R. Weilemann (Melle: Ernst-Knoth OHG, 1989), 265–316.
For a brief review of events after 1973, see Peter Pantzer, “Japan und die DDR (1973–1989),” in Ferne Gefährten. 150 Jahre deutschjapanische Beziehungen, ed. Curt-Engelhorn-Stiftung für die Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen and Verband der Deutsch-Japanischen Gesellschaften (Mannheim: Schnell und Steiner, 2011), 268–270.
For an illustration of the tortured relationship of Communists from either country to the other, see Fukuzawa Hiromi, Aspekte der Marx-Rezeption in Japan. Spätkapitalisierung und ihre sozioökonomischen Folgen, dargestellt am Beispiel der japanischen Gesellschaft (Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1981), which hardly ever uses as reference East German authors but prefers Marxist authors from West Germany.
Cf. Nakai Takeshi, Mō hitotsu no Doitsu: aru shakaishugi taisei no bunseki (Tokyo: Asahi, 1983).
Modrow quotes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru: “West Germany and Japan are both border guards of the free world.” See Hans Modrow, In historischer Mission. Als deutscher Politiker unterwegs (Berlin: edition ost, 2007), 137. Certainly, the impact of North Korea’s nearly successful attempt to conquer South Korea in the context of a war happening next-door to Japan just a few years after World War II left a lasting impact on Japanese society and politics.
On the state of things in the cultural field, see Siegfried Kupper, Die Tätigkeit der DDR in den nichtkommunistischen Ländern, VIII Japan (Bonn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, 1971), 33–35. While the official aspect to these relations in a system such as East Germany’s is certainly the crucial one, even here was a civil element, playing a marginal but curious role for over thirty years: in 1966 the owner of the Thuringian restaurant “Waffenschmied” in the small town of Suhl, Rolf Anschütz, created a “Japanese” restaurant—complete with a facility for nude communal bathing—which was as a private enterprise, initially a nuisance to the state authorities, but later became a boon for the Japan-GDR relationship after the establishment of diplomatic relations, and was an immense success after it was “discovered” by Japanese living in the GDR, who provided it with authentic Japanese foodstuff, and booked it for years in advance. See the 2012 movie “Sushi in Suhl” and http://lotharanschuetz.de/6.html (accessed May 6, 2015).
See Masahide Kato, Doitsu to Doitsujin (Tokyo: Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, 1976), 156. Other books on the GDR, often published with East German support, include: Saimaru shuppan kaihen/Panorama DDR, Ittemitai Higashi-Doitsu (Tokyo: Saimaru Shuppankai, 1983); Jin Takaiwa, Higashi Doitsu. Trube-gawa no shakaishugi (Tokyo : Ochanomizu Shobō, 1988).
Attachment to embassy report dated August 12, 1987 (PA AA AV Neues Amt, 6.844). For how the GDR’s success vexed West German diplomats despite their own overwhelming presence in Japanese cultural life, see Johannes Preisinger, Deutschland und Japan. Die deutsch-japanischen Beziehungen in Gegenwart und Vergangenheit (Tokyo: Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1986), 15–21.
See the analyses of West and East Germany’s images in Japan in Josef Kreiner, “Neuorientierung im Westhandel der DDR?” in Arbeitspapiere zur Internationalen Politik 30 (Bonn: Europa-Verlag, 1984), 91–92; “Hakenkreuz und Butterfly—Japanische Schüler sehen uns, Deutsche Schüler sehen Japan,” Paul Schwarz ed. (Stuttgart: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, 1981), 18.
Christin Tewes, Die Wahrnehmung der DDR in Japan. Darstellung der DDR-Gesellschaft in ausgewählten japanischen Augenzeugenberichten (Munich: Akademische Verlagsgemeinschaft, 2012), 62. Aso see Kupper, Die Tätigkeit der DDR, 8–9.
Eiko Saitō, Sekai chizu kara kieta kuni: Higashi Doitsu e no rekuiemu (Tokyo: Shinhyōron, 1991), 19.
On this question, see Volker Stanzel, “Die Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und Japan,” in Länierbericht Japan. Die Erarbeitung der Zukunft, ed. Raimund Wördemann and Karin Yamaguchi (Bonn: bpb, 2014), 184–200.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2016 Volker Stanzel
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stanzet, V. (2016). Peace, Business, and Classical Culture. In: Cho, J.M., Roberts, L.M., Spang, C.W. (eds) Transnational Encounters between Germany and Japan. Palgrave Series in Asian German Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137573971_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137573971_13
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57944-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-57397-1
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)