Editing Tripartite Pact (section)

==Background==
{{Further|Germany–Japan relations}}
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Adolf Hitler 1936 (foto carnet).jpg
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| caption1          = [[Adolf Hitler]]
| image2            = Mussolini cropped 1940.jpg
| width2            = 300
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| caption2          = [[Benito Mussolini]]
| image3            = Hirohito in dress uniform (3x4 cropped).jpg
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| caption3          = [[Emperor Shōwa]]
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[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L09218, Berlin, Japanische Botschaft.jpg|thumb|The Japanese embassy in Berlin clad in the flags of the three signatories of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940]]
[[File:Shashin Shuho No 151.jpg|thumb|Japanese magazine published by the [[Cabinet Intelligence Bureau]] on 15 January 1941, advertising the Tripartite Pact]]
Although Germany and Japan technically became allies with the signing of [[Anti-Comintern Pact]] of 1936, the 1939 [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] between Germany and the Soviet Union came as a surprise to Japan. In November 1939, Germany and Japan signed the "Agreement for Cultural Cooperation between Japan and Germany", which restored the "reluctant alliance" between them.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol55/iss4/22 |title=Reluctant Allies: German–Japanese Naval Relations in World War II (book review) |first=Holger H. |last=Herwig |journal=Naval War College Review |format=PDF |volume=55 |issue=4 |page=22 |year=2002 |access-date=2018-09-25 |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116063756/https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol55/iss4/22/ |archive-date=2018-11-16 |url-status=live }}</ref>