WHEN MY FIRST two books, Nichi-Doku kigyō kankei-shi (A History of Japanese-German Business Relations) and Ii-Gee-faruben no tai-Nichi senryaku (IG Farben's Japan Strategy) were published in 1992, there were three major sentiments which leapt out from the book reviews and personal communications I received. First, some remarked that my work ‘lent itself to publication in foreign journals’. to which I could only reply that that very well might be the case. Another sentiment similar to the first but tinged with condescension – or at least that is how it felt to me – was that my work ‘was aimed at a niche audience.’ To this I could only respond with a wry grin. The third sentiment was the one, which rang truest to me: ‘So you have studied the history of Japanese-German relations. What's next?’ Nearly twenty years have passed since then and I have come to ponder what would happen if I attempted to respond to this query again. The following is a synopsis of my answer.

MY INTEREST IN THE HISTORY OF JAPANESE-GERMAN/EURO-ASIAN RELATIONS

First, let me discuss why I have studied the history of Japanese-German relations and why the study thereof poses challenges. In essence it is two separate questions, why Germany and why Japan? When answering the former question, several replies immediately come to mind. Germany, economically and otherwise, is an important country, it has been a driving force of European integration, and it is the United States’ most important partner in continental Europe. But at the same time I think that as research subjects everything (not just nations) throughout history are equally deserving of attention, and an idea that comes to mind is that things only become unequal by way of a researcher's interest in an issue. If this is true, then I am obliged to explain my interest.

This obligation also applies to the question of why Japan. In fact, it applies even more so. Although I am a researcher who was born and raised in Japan and thinks in Japanese, it obviously does not necessarily follow that I should deal with Japan. Here, the nature of the interest I have in the issues is called into question even more sharply.