Japan–Israel relations
 |
|
 Israel |
 Japan |
|---|---|
Israeli–Japanese relations began on May 15, 1952, when Japan recognized Israel and an Israeli legation opened in Tokyo. In 1954 Japan's ambassador to Turkey assumed the additional role of minister to Israel. In 1955 a Japanese legation with a Minister Plenipotentiary opened in Tel Aviv. In 1963, relations were upgraded to Embassy level, and have remained on that level since then. Japan's trade relations with Arab nations and Iran take precedence over those with Israel. However, due to the declining price of oil in early 2015, as well as internal political shifting in Japan, the two nations are seeking increased research, economic and cultural ties, particularly in the area of tech start-ups and defense.
In 1922, Norihiro Yasue and Koreshige Inuzuka, head of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Advisory Bureau on Jewish Affairs, returned from their military service in Siberia to provide aid to the White movement against the Red Army. They became particularly interested in Jewish affairs after having learned of . Over the course of the 1920s, they wrote many reports on the Jews, and traveled to Mandatory Palestine to research them and to speak with Zionist leaders Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion. Yasue even translated the Protocols into Japanese (variations of it have frequently made the bestseller lists in Japan). The pair managed to get the Foreign Ministry of Japan, or Gaimusho, interested in Judaism. Every Japanese embassy and consulate was requested to keep the Ministry informed of the actions and movements of Jewish communities in their respective countries.
...
Wikipedia