Cuba–Japan relations are the

bilateral relations Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...

between

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Diplomatic relations between the two countries was established on 21 December 1929. Relations were temporarily suspended due to the Second World War, but diplomatic relations resumed on 21 November 1952. Cuba has an embassy in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. Japan has an embassy in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. However the expansion of the Pacific theatre of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

on 8 December 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, a territory (now state) of the United States, led to a rupture in friendly relations between the two countries. The following day, on 9 December 1941, Cuba quickly clarified its stance, joined the Allies, and declared war on Japan. Japan and Cuba did not maintain diplomatic relations during the Second World War, and on 15 August 1945, Japan accepted the

Potsdam Declaration The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, ...

and surrendered to the United States and the Allies.

From the resumption of diplomatic relations to the end of the Cold War (1952–1989)

With the entry into force of the

San Francisco Peace Treaty The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war, military occupation and providing for War reparations, redr ...

on 28 April 1952, Japan rejoined as a member of the international community. Cuba was one of the 49 signatories to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which was ratified by Cuba on 12 August 1952, and diplomatic relations between the two countries officially resumed on 21 November 1952. On 1 January 1959, a revolutionary force led by

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

overthrew the

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

regime, which was under the strong influence of the United States and Western capital, and established a revolutionary government in Cuba (

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

). The People's Socialist Party (later the

Communist Party of Cuba The Communist Party of Cuba (, PCC) is the sole ruling party of Cuba. It was founded on 3 October 1965 as the successor to the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which was in turn made up of the 26th of July Movement and Popu ...

), which had been suppressed by the pro-American and anti-communist Batista government, became the only ruling party in the country and ruled Cuba. By the time of the Cuban Revolution, the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

structure had already been established in which the capitalist and communist camps fought each other for power, and the United States under the

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

administration, the leader of the capitalist camp, did not welcome the establishment of a communist regime in Cuba. The United States was not satisfied with not recognizing the revolutionary regime, and in 1961 broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba (reestablished in 2015 during the second term of the

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

administration), and attempted to overthrow Castro's regime by using military force and assassination. However, none of the U.S. plans for regime change in Cuba worked, and the Cuban revolutionary regime tried to survive by strengthening relations with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In the summer of 1962, the east–west confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union reached its climax with the introduction of nuclear missiles and their delivery vehicles to Cuba, which resulted in the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

. Despite the serious conflict between the United States and Cuba, Japan chose to maintain friendly relations with Cuba without severing diplomatic relations. Smoke break el serrano 1987

On 20 November 1984, then

Japanese Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party is chaired ...

chairman Tetsuzo Fuwa held a meeting with Castro in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.military intervention in Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, which remained Cuba's ally, while the United States also condemned

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, where a communist government had just been established. The United States was unafraid to provide military support to the anti-communist rebels (

Contra War The Nicaraguan Revolution () began with rising opposition to the Somoza family, Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–79, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The ...

). Meeting with Fuwa, Castro asked a series of questions about the political and industrial situation in Japan, while expressing a strong wariness of US imperialism, which would not hesitate to interfere in Nicaragua's internal affairs, including military support for anti-communist forces, in order to topple the communist regime in Nicaragua. The meeting lasted three hours and 15 minutes.

After the end of the Cold War (1989–present)

In May 2015, Japan's foreign minister,

Fumio Kishida Fumio Kishida (born 29 July 1957) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) from 2021 to 2024. He has been a member of the House of Representatives in the National Diet ...

, met with the now 88-year old Castro in his residence, where Kishida stated that Japan supported the ongoing

rapprochement In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word ''rapprocher'' ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations between two countries. This may be done due to a mutual antagonist, as the German Empire ...

between the United States and Cuba. In September 2016, Japanese prime minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

became the first Japanese head of government to visit Cuba, meeting with Castro, now ill, for a little over an hour. Abe also met with Fidel's brother,

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz ( ; ; born 3 June 1931) is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the One-par ...

, and expressed hope for a deepening of mutual economic ties between the two countries, with Japan forgiving part of the debt owed by Cuba. On 25 November 2016, Castro, who had ruled Cuba since 1959, passed away. On the same day, Kishida first sent a condolence telegram to Cuban foreign minister

Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla (born 22 January 1958) is a Cuban diplomat and politician. He is a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, and has served as Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2009. Biography and career ...

. On 28 November, from the ruling party, Kishida, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobuo Kishi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kentaro Sonoura, and Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Shunsuke Takei visited the Cuban Embassy in Tokyo and expressed their condolences. From the opposition party,

Kazuo Shii is a Japanese politician who has been the chairman of the Central Committee of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) since 2024. He previously served as the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the JCP from 24 November ...

, who serves as the chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, offered the Cuban embassy his condolences. Similarly, the Japanese Communist Party's Tetsuzo Fuwa visited the embassy and wrote, "The meeting 32 years ago in which we discussed the right of self-determination of all peoples is still deeply engraved in my heart." Also on 28 November, Keiji Furuya, Japanese Chairman of the Cuba Parliamentary Friendship League, went to Cuba as a special envoy of the prime minister and attended the funeral held there.

Economic relations

In 2017, exports to Japan totalled 1.55 billion yen and included tobacco, fish and fish preparation, coffee, non-ferrous metallic ores. Exports to Cuba totalled 4.72 billion yen and included electrical machinery, machinery, precision instruments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuba-Japan relations

Bilateral relations of Japan

From the resumption of diplomatic relations to the end of the Cold War (1952–1989)

After the end of the Cold War (1989–present)

Economic relations

See also

References