During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese sent out ambassadors to various countries around the world, but they seemed particularly obsessed by the modernized German economy. I have even read that Japan liked to refer to themselves as the Prussians of Asia. I am trying to read more about this topic but I have had difficulty in finding books describing the similarities in how the two countries developed and modernized during the same time period (found some German books, but none in English).

In my opinion, Japan resembled Germany in many ways. Fast modernization, culture centered around discipline (German Protestant worth ethic vs Japanese disciplined service to emperor), both hyper-nationalist.

In David Landes' Culture Makes all the Difference he particularly notes that Japan admired Germany.

Obviously, by the 1930s, the two countries had fascist and imperialist tendencies and I just wanted to see if their similar developments during their respective periods of modernization contributed towards their similar foreign policies by the 1930s. Any literature on this topic would be greatly appreciated.