In what field? Both countries are, for lack of a better word, engineering hubs. The Germans like to think of the japanese as their counterparts in asia, i.e. an earnest, efficient people who get things done, with an artisanial tradition, who take pride in their work.So there is some similarity there, and a lot of respect going both ways, which leads to a few fun facts, for examples, in Germany, japanese knives are considered top-quality wares and priced accordingly. Guess what? In Japan, german knives have that reputation.Having gotten that out of the way, Both countries do appear to have a similar ethic, and a “trust in engineering” outlook, which is why engineers are so praised, and also why the germans were so shocked when the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant blew up. I mean, this was not some decrepit country (who probably skimped on maintanance), running some age-old, inherently dangerous (best of all: soviet) reactor design, which everybody agreed was unsafe to begin with, no, THIS HAPPENED IN JAPAN.The Japanese Are Like Us. If it can happen there, to Them…I would say it really, really depends on where you are looking. Sure, in some areas, the Germans are more savvy, but the Japanese best understood how to make an actual product out of it. And vice versa. In mobile communications, Japan is light years ahead of anybody else, and I would say that that also applies to some of their other sectors as well. In classical industrial fields (chemicals, toolmaking, optics, precision mechanics) I’d still give the nod to Germany, we like to improve slow but steady; but we’ve been at this for a long time.Overall, I would say, based on pure gut feeling, that Japan is probably first across the line, but I don’t think by much. It will depend very heavily on what field exactly you look at