Berlin — In 1940, the imperial regimes of Germany and Japan came together in what would come to be known as the Axis, linked by common opposition to the United States. They fought a world war, were defeated and spent the next 85 years with reduced armed forces and a heavy dependence on their former enemy, the USA, to guarantee their security.
Now, distrust towards the United States has grown again in both countries, at the same time as fears about the rise of China and Russia’s aggressive stance are growing. Tokyo and Berlin are racing to rebuild their military capabilities. And, once again, they strengthen their ties.
The expectation is that this cooperation will gain momentum this week, during the G7 leaders’ meeting in Evian, France. It already includes the sharing of knowledge, technology and weapons — such as drones and helicopters — considered essential for both countries’ rearmament efforts.
This is not, however, a reissue of the Axis. This time, Japan and Germany approach from a defensive posture: Berlin supports Ukraine’s defense against Russia, while Tokyo is on alert for the threats posed by China and North Korea. The two have also been aligning themselves with other “middle powers” with similar views, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and France — former enemies in World War II. And they seek to present themselves as defenders of international law and multilateral institutions, seen as barriers against intimidation exercised by the world’s greatest powers.
As Boris Pistorius, Germany’s Defense Minister, stated in March during a visit to a Japanese naval base, countries like Germany and Japan, “which remain committed to the rules-based international order, need to come even closer and make clear what they stand for.”
Germany and Japan emerged from the devastation of World War II with a focus on rebuilding devastated cities and economic growth. They let the United States and other allies shoulder much of the burden of ensuring the security of their populations.
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After the division of Germany, the US built large military bases and maintained tens of thousands of soldiers in West Germany, which became a front line in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The governments of West Germany and East Germany maintained their own large armies, but after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, the reunited country spent much more on social programs than on defense.
In post-war Japan, a Constitution imposed by the United States and drafted under the supervision of General Douglas MacArthur was adopted. The text forced the Japanese to renounce the war and prohibited the maintenance of armed forces, except for defensive purposes. This led to the creation of the Self-Defense Forces, the official name for the country’s military forces to this day.
In the decades following the conflict, anti-militarist movements gained strength in both countries, promoting ideals of peace, diplomacy, free trade and cultural exchange.
But this feeling has lost strength in recent years, especially since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and China’s increasingly assertive military and economic stance under the leadership of Xi Jinping.
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President Donald Trump’s threats to abandon security commitments in Europe and his willingness to close a trade deal with Xi have accelerated the push towards rearmament in both countries.
Thomas Berger, a professor at Boston University who studies the post-war history of Japan and Germany, said that the two countries were responsible for “perhaps the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century” — a reference to World War II — and that their defeats “destroyed their ideals and beliefs in empire and militarization.”
But the recent shift in the global security landscape, particularly Trump’s volatility, has heightened a sense of anxiety and urgency among the two countries’ relatively new leaders, both of whom are conservative and inclined to prioritize defense. “There is this justifiable fear that the United States might abandon them,” Berger said.
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Shortly before taking office a year ago, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz successfully led an effort to lift limits on Germany’s public debt in order to drastically expand military spending. In a few years, the German defense budget could exceed that of France and the United Kingdom combined.
Japan commits half of this amount, but is still among the biggest defense spenders in the world, with a budget of around US$58 billion this year.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a conservative politician, came to power last year on nationalist calls to revitalize the military. She positioned long-range missiles — capable of reaching China — in southern Japan and reversed postwar bans on arms exports.
Both Merz and Takaichi made a point of trying to maintain cordial relations with Trump, but both also began to increasingly seek military alliances beyond Washington.
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Recently, Japan reached a US$6.5 billion deal to supply warships to Australia and is negotiating with the Philippines and Indonesia to export military vessels. Germany strengthened ties with Ukraine in the development and deployment of new weapons and asked France for help in providing it with a nuclear deterrent.
China and Russia have accused Takaichi of trying to revive World War II-era militarism. But she says her policies are necessary because Japan faces the “most severe and complex” security environment since that period, citing threats from China and North Korea.
“Today, no country can protect its own peace and security alone,” she said recently. “There has been absolutely no change in our commitment to following the path we have taken as a peace-loving nation for more than 80 years.”
German society embraced rearmament reluctantly, but more quickly than Japanese society.
Recent polls suggest that most Germans see the world today as more dangerous than it was during the Cold War. They also indicate that two-thirds of the population support increased military spending, although the German Armed Forces, which do not adopt compulsory military service, have difficulty convincing young people to enlist.
In Tokyo this spring, tens of thousands of people protested Takaichi’s security policies, including the decision to export more weapons and create a national intelligence agency. Protesters fear that Takaichi will then try to abolish Article 9 of the Constitution, which renounces war.
Nahoko Hishiyama, 37, who helped organize some of the protests, said Takaichi’s policies “are deeply worrying because they seek to transform Japan into a military power.”
Alexandra Sakaki, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin and a Japan scholar, said rearmament will require new changes in mindset in both Germany and Japan, especially if authorities begin to consider policies such as conscription.
“They need to completely rethink the relationship between the military and society,” she said. “Will they be combat ready? Will they be ready to fight? Japan and Germany need public opinion to support that vision.”
There is one country that applauded the changes in Germany and Japan: the United States.
Trump has long pressured allies to spend more on their own defense so that the US military can focus on other fronts. In a meeting with Merz last year, he praised the surge in German military spending — although not without some reservations. Jokingly, Trump noted that a remilitarized Germany might not sit well with the American leaders who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II.
“I’m not sure General MacArthur would say that’s a positive thing, you know?” he said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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