In 2025, the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) will celebrate its 40th anniversary. In light of global political developments, the JDZB as a place for friendly international encounters is perhaps more important than ever. Secretary General Dr. Julia Münch writes about our beginnings and how the JDZB has developed over the course of the years. | Cover picture: His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Naruhito at the inauguration of the renovated embassy building in 1987

"The German-Japanese Young Leaders Forum" (YLF), organized by the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB), invites promising young professionals from fields such as business, politics, administration, media, and science and provides German and Japanese participants with the opportunity to deepen mutual understanding and to build networks through discussions and working together on various topics. Ms.Saki Sakuma (staff member of the Japan Business Federation, Keidanren), who participated in the YLF in Berlin in autumn 2023, shares her unforgettable and inspiring experience of the ten days.

Lisa ROSENBERGER, a former participant in the JDZB exchange program for young volunteers, was asked by the Office of the Federal President to accompany Frank-Walter STEINMEIER and his wife, Elke BÜDENBENDER, as a representative for German volunteerism on their state visit to Japan and South Korea. In the blog article she writes about this adventure.

In the "Sustainablility Talks", our YLF-alumni now meet regularly to shed light on sustainability from the perspective of Japan and Germany. The topic of the first meeting was "Sustainable Mobility".

Every Japanese probably knows Godzilla, there is not only the Shōwa-Godzilla series (1954 - 1875), but also the Heisei series (1984 - 1995) and even the Millennium series (1999 - 2994). In Germany, there was a big boom of Japanese Godzilla movies in the 1960s and 70s, but today the Hollywood version is better known. In this post, our former colleague FUJINO Akiko introduces a director who loves Godzilla with all his heart.

Our colleague Dr. Phoebe Stella HOLDGRÜN asked Dr. Jan GROTHEER - a long-time cooperation partner of the JDZB - to write a contribution for this section.

The JDZB is planning a conference on “Artificial Intelligence and the Human – Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Science and Fiction” from May 11 to 13, 2022 in collaboration with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and Waseda University. Below is an interview with Dr. Thomas Christian BAECHLE, Head of the Research Program “The Evolution of Digital Society” at HIIG, and Dr. NAGAI Yukie, Project Professor at the International Research Center for Neurointelligence at the University of Tōkyō.

We have a lot planned this year. In this article, JDZB Secretary General Dr. Julia MUENCH presents current topics, formats and activities of the JDZB.

This is a slighty different bridge walker article: Dr. SHINYO Takahiro, former Japanese Ambassador to Germany, has himself done a lot for German-Japanese relations. He sent us a very interesting article, which proves his profound knowledge of foreign policy.

For the Japanese-German Center Berlin, 2021 represented a transformational year in which significant groundwork was laid for its strategic realignment. We – JDZB team – look back with gratitude and look forward to 2022 with excitement but confidence.