hi! additional info is welcome, but FYI, this question comes up now & then in this sub. check these threads for previous responses

• Ok, I'm sure this has been asked before but my searches have yielded nothing. in WWII, why did the Japanese align with the Nazis (and vice-versa) if the Nazis felt they were the master race and the Japanese were inferior?

• The Germans thought the Aryans were the master race, and the Japanese thought they were better then everyone else. What made them help each other?

• Why were the Japanese not wary of Hitler's "master race"

• What was the basis for Japan's alliance with Germany during WWII? Were they unaware of Hitler's view of a "master race"?

• what were the nazi plans with japan if they had won the war? japanese are pretty far from aryans, were there any plans on how to deal with them (and other non desirable races around the world) if germany won the war?

plus, some general info on post-war plans is in the FAQ

• Axis post-war plans

I just want to point out a few things, as the other reasons are well covered in the FAQ. The nazis didn't really have a formula for who was Aryan and who was not. It in some ways can be looked at as a status. Several important Japanese officials were given "honorary" aryan status during the war. But the most insightful look into the nazi opinion of the Japanese can be found in mein Kampf. Hitler expresses admiration for the Japanese culture and history and he admits that their history and heritage are more extensive than Europe's. He also talks about what hitler thought was an "Aryan" influence on Japan, hitler placed the Japanese above the other Asian nations and explained that japan was the dominant Asian power because of their "Aryan" heritage.

It should also be noted that much of the prodding for an alliance between Germany and Japan was done at the behest of German foreign minister Von Ribbentrop. Germany had signed the anti-Comintern pact with Japan in 1936, but Ribbentrop took it further; Ribbentrop pushed Hitler to break relations with Chiang Kai Shek's china and recognize the Japanese puppet government of Manchuko. But more than anything it was a shared hatred of the Soviet Union which brought the nations closer together.