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

19th century

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 (1918–1919)
  • 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.

Nuclear collaborations

The two countries have been collaborating closely in the area of fission energy generation. In September 2013, two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan has officially accepted help from France for the decommission and dismantle of Fukushima's reactors. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a Japanese corporation and France's Areva began cooperating on constructing a nuclear reactor in Turkey in 2013.
On 3 May 2023 French Minister for Energy Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Nishimura Yasutoshi signed an agreement to develop sodium-cooled fast reactors.

French in Japan

Japanese in France

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Multilateral organizations

Both nations are members of the United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, G7 and G20 major economies, World Trade Organization, and among others.

Resident diplomatic missions

In English

  • Aminian, Nathalie, and K. C. Fung. "Silicon Valley, Japan and France: A Comparative Study of Innovation Systems and Policies".
  • Edwards, Ewen W. "The Far Eastern Agreements of 1907". Journal of Modern History 26.4 : 340–355.
  • Ferrier, Michaël. "France-Japan: The Coral Writers ". Contemporary French and Francophone Studies 21.1 : 8-27.
  • Hokenson, Jan Walsh. Japan, France & East-West Aesthetics: French Literature, 1867-2000, 520pp.
  • Jones, Christopher S. "A Lost Tradition: Nishida Kitarō, Henri Bergson and Intuition in Political Philosophy". Social Science Japan Journal 5.1 : 55–70.
  • Lederman, Leonard L. "A comparative analysis of civilian technology strategies among some nations: France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States". Policy Studies Journal 22.2 : 279–295.
  • Lehmann, Jean-Pierre. "France, Japan, Europe, and industrial competition: the automotive case". International Affairs 68.1 : 37–53.
  • Locke, Robert R. Management & Higher Education since 1940: The Influence of America & Japan on West Germany, Great Britain & France, 328pp.
  • Put, Max. Plunder & Pleasure: Japanese Art in the West, 1860-1930, 151pp covers 1860 to 1930.
  • Silberman, Bernard S. Cages of Reason: The Rise of the Rational State in France, Japan, the United States & Great Britain 487pp; covers 20th century
  • Slaymaker, Doug. Confluences: Postwar Japan & France. 2002 185 pp. covers 1945 to 1999.
  • White, John Albert. Transition to Global Rivalry: Alliance Diplomacy & the Quadruple Entente, 1895-1907 344 pp. re France, Japan, Russia, Britain

Other languages

  • Maurice Pinguet, Le Texte Japon, introuvables et inédits, Seuil, 2009.
  • Polak, Christian.. Soie et lumières: L'âge d'or des échanges franco-japonais. Tokyo: Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Française du Japon, Hachette Fujin Gahōsha.
  • Polak, Christian.. 絹と光: 知られざる日仏交流100年の歴史 Kinu to hikariō: shirarezaru Nichi-Futsu kōryū 100-nen no rekishi. Tokyo: Ashetto Fujin Gahōsha, 2002. ;
  • Michael Ferrier, La Tentation de la France, la Tentation du Japon : regards croisés, éd. Picquier, 2003
  • Michael Ferrier, Japon, la Barrière des Rencontres, éd. Cécile Defaut, 2009