France–Japan relations


The France–Japan relations are the current and historical relations between France and Japan. The history of relations between France and Japan goes back to the early 17th century, when the Japanese samurai and ambassador, Hasekura Tsunenaga, making his way to Rome, landed for a few days in Saint-Tropez, creating a sensation.

Chronology of Franco-Japanese relations

17th–18th centuries

File:YokosukaConstruction.jpg|thumb|Leonce Verny directed the construction of Japan's first modern arsenal at Yokosuka from 1865.
  • 1864: Arrival of Leon Roches in Japan.
  • 1864: Bombardment of Shimonoseki by allied ships.
  • 1864: In November Leonce Verny arrives in Japan for the construction of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal.
  • 1865: Shibata Takenaka visits France to prepare for the construction of the Yokosuka arsenal and organize a French military mission to Japan.
  • 1865: On September 12, 1865, the Messageries Maritimes passenger liner ship Dupleix was the first to call at a Japanese port to start a new service with France, both for passengers as well as for cargoes such as Japanese silk.
  • 1867: The first French Military Mission to Japan arrives in Yokohama January 13, 1867. Among them is Captain Jules Brunet.
  • 1867: Japan sends a delegation to the 1867 World Fair in Paris.
  • 1867: The French mining engineer Jean Francisque Coignet is sent to Satsuma Domain and is put in charge of the silver mines of Ikuno in 1868.
  • 1868: Kobe incident. A fight erupts in Kobe between 450 samurai of Okayama Domain and French sailors, leading to the occupation of central Kobe by foreign troops.
  • 1868: Eleven French sailors from the Dupleix are killed in the Sakai incident, in Sakai, near Osaka, by southern rebel forces.
  • 1869: Former French advisors under Jules Brunet fight alongside the last Tokugawa shogunate loyalists of Enomoto Takeaki, against Imperial troops in the Battle of Hakodate.
  • 1870: Henri Pelegrin directs the construction of Japan's first gas-lighting system in the streets of Nihonbashi, Ginza and Yokohama.
  • 1872: Paul Brunat opens the first modern Japanese silk spinning factory at Tomioka. Three craftsmen from the Nishijin weaving district in Kyoto travel to Lyon. They travel back to Japan in 1873, importing a Jacquard loom.
  • 1872: Start of the second French Military Mission to Japan.
  • 1873: The legal expert Gustave Emile Boissonade arrives in Japan to help build a modern legal system.
  • 1874: The Second French Military Mission is sent to Japan, and builds the military school of Ichigaya, the start of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy.
  • 1882: The first tramways are introduced from France and start functioning at Asakusa, and between Shinbashi and Ueno.
  • 1884: Third French Military Mission to Japan.
  • 1886: The French naval engineer Emile Bertin starts a four years' stay in Japan to advise the government on how to reinforce the Imperial Japanese Navy with new modern ships, and directs the expansion and modernization of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and the design and initial construction of the new arsenals of Kure and Sasebo, thereby contributing to the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. He was special adviser to Emperor Mutsuhito for naval development and was awarded by the Japanese government with the titles of Takaku Yaku nin et Chokunin.
  • 1898: The first automobile is introduced in Japan.

    20th century

  • 1907: Signing of the Franco-Japanese Treaty of 1907. France took the lead in creating alliances with Japan, Russia and with Britain. Japan wanted to raise a loan in Paris, so France made the loan contingent on a Russo-Japanese agreement and a Japanese guaranty for France's strategically vulnerable possessions in Indochina. Britain encouraged the Russo-Japanese rapprochement. Thus was built the Triple Entente coalition that fought World War I.
  • 1909: The first Japanese mechanical flight, a biplane glider tractored by an automobile, occurs in Ueno through the collaboration of Shiro Aihara and Le Prieur at a French military attaché in Tokyo.
  • 1910: Captain Tokugawa Yoshitoshi, trained in France as a pilot, makes the first self-propelled flight on board a Henri Farman plane.
  • 1910: Sakichi Toyoda, founder of the Toyota Corporation, visits France to study spinning techniques.
  • 1918: Fourth French Military Mission to Japan
  • 1919: France supported Japanese racial equality proposal in Paris Peace Conference.
  • 1924: First air flight from France to Japan, by Pelletier Doisy and Besin.
  • 1925: First air flight from Japan to France, by Kawauchi and Abe.
  • 1927: French-Japanese agreement grants most favoured nations treatment to Japanese in French Indochina and to Indochinese subjects in Japan.
  • 1940: Start of the Japanese invasion of French Indochina.
  • 1941: Japan pressures the Vichy France into making important military concessions in French Indochina, but leaves the French army and administration intact.
  • 1943: Guangzhouwan, a small French enclave on the southern coast of China, is occupied by the Japanese.
  • 1945: Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina—Japanese troops rapidly attack and take full control of French Indochina, which Japan maintains until its defeat several months later in September 1945, when Vietnam declared its independence from France and Japan, following the August General Uprising.
  • 1946–1950: Japanese war criminals are tried in Saigon for their action in Indochina during the war.
  • 1952: First Air France flight to Japan.
  • 1970s-1990s: French & Japanese cooperation between animation & anime studios.
  • 1997: "Year of Japan in France" and the opening of a Japanese cultural centre in Paris.
  • 1998: "Year of France in Japan" in which 400 events took place across Japan to celebrate France and its people.

    Franco-Japanese relations today

In recent years, France has been strengthening trade and cultural exchanges with Japan. In June 1996, in Lyon, as part of the G7 summit which took place thanks to the crucial role played by the Consul General of Japan, Louis Michallet, Ryutaro Hashimoto and Jacques Chirac decided to organize "The Year of Japan in France", from April 1997 to March 1998 in order to correct the superficial and sometimes inaccurate understanding of Japanese culture. The start of that year coincided with the inauguration of the House of Culture of Japan in Paris. "The Year of France in Japan" followed "the Year of Japan", the combination of these two events inaugurating Franco-Japanese relations for the 21st century.
In June 2005, France and Japan announced a collaboration to build the next generation supersonic commercial aircraft, a successor to the Concorde. Commercial service is not expected until 2050.
Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister, met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a courtesy call during a visit to Japan from 5 October to 6 October 2014. The meeting included Abe expressing his condolences for the ISIL beheading of French backpacker Hervé Gourdel and both agreed on future meetings on defense cooperation and tackling global warming.

Culture

Japan and France have mutual influence in the fields of art and cuisine. In Japan, French cuisine occupies a large place in the Japanese culinary world. Japanese entertainment often uses historical figures and settings from France, such as those from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment era, the Napoleonic era, the Belle Époque, and the World Wars. France has had a significant influence in many films from the renown Japanese animation studio Ghibli as well as its founder Hayao Miyazaki. Japanese painting and ukiyo-e and the modernity and elegance of French visual arts are fused in the creative field of painting. This has increased interest and affinity with France among Japanese people, and in recognition of her contribution, Riyoko Ikeda was awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the French government. Today many parts of Japanese pop culture such as manga and anime have become very popular among French people.