Bilateral relations between Germany and Japan are characterised by close political dialogue and international cooperation. As liberal and pluralist democracies, the two countries share fundamental values and have manifold political, economic and social ties. Bilateral intergovernmental consultations were held for the first time in March 2023. Alongside the G7 and the G20, the principal multilateral forums for German cooperation with Japan are the United Nations as well as the OSCE and NATO (Japan is a cooperation partner of both organisations). As the G4, Japan and Germany, together with India and Brazil, are campaigning for reform of the UN Security Council.

Japan is Germany`s second most important trading partner in Asia. In 2025, German imports from Japan totalled €22.1 billion; exports to Japan were worth €21 billion. The most important trade goods are pharmaceuticals and chemical products, machinery, vehicles and vehicle parts, as well as electronic and electrical goods.

Since 1985, the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JGCB) has been working to promote exchange in the fields of politics, business, culture and academia. It also serves as the German secretariat of the annual German-Japanese Forum (GJF).

Germany and Japan are also linked by a wide range of cultural, academic and scientific contacts. As early as 1861 Japan and Prussia concluded a treaty on amity, commerce and navigation. A cultural agreement was signed in 1957. Various town twinning arrangements are in place, including one between the capital cities Tokyo and Berlin, which celebrated its 30^th anniversary in 2024. There is a dense cultural and academic network made up of a total of 55 active Japanese-German societies in Japan, some 50 German-Japanese societies in Germany, over 800 bilateral higher education partnerships, as well as the offices of the Goethe-Institut and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Japan, the German School of Tokyo Yokohama (DSTY), the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) and the German East Asia Society in Tokyo. Furthermore, an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in science and technology has been in place since 1974, which focuses primarily on high-tech research.