Abstract

Germany has managed to achieve reconciliation with European neighbors it brutalized in the past, while Japan remains mired in tense relations with neighbors it once invaded or colonized in Northeast Asia. Why? I study paired cases: relations between Germany and France, along with those between Japan and South Korea (Cold War allies now enjoying similarly high levels of economic development); and relations between Germany and Poland, along with those between Japan and China (Cold War rivals with different levels of development). Based on the case study results, I reject the conventional wisdom, which suggests that Germany apologized sufficiently while Japan has not. Instead, I argue that Germany showed a credible commitment to cooperate with its neighbors by nesting itself in regional institutions of economic and security collaboration. Japan has demonstrated no such commitment – in part due to the constraints of its bilateral alliance with the United States.