ABSTRACT
The avowed war aims of the Axis powers was to fashion conquered lands and satellites into self-sufficient economic "spheres" that would serve the strategic and economic needs of each master race. The story of Germany's disappointment over inadequate Japanese assistance during the "phony war" would be tedious. It will be sufficient to mention a few of the areas in which Japanese aid fell sorely short of German expectations. A Japanese government program for German aid to the Japanese economy was formulated only in the summer and fall of 1940 in the course of the negotiations and deliberations which preceded the Tripartite Pact. The background of Soviet cooperation, the Germans held the Japanese solely responsible for frustrating German bean imports from Manchukuo. The steep decline of German soybean imports was felt all the more bitterly in Berlin since ample means of transportation from Manchuria were available during the first twenty months of the Second World War.
