Japan–Kosovo relations are foreign relations between Japan and Kosovo. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, and Japan recognized it on March 18, 2008. According to the

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organiz ...

, Japan and Kosovo established diplomatic relations on February 25, 2009.Japan–Kosovo Relations (Basic Data)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

History

Sadako Ogata , was a Japanese academic, diplomat, author, administrator, and professor emerita at the Roman Catholic Sophia University. She was widely known as the head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 1991 to ...

, the Japanese-born

UN High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...

, issued an official statement in November 1998 which revealed the violence and abuse that civilians in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

faced every day; an estimated 175,000 people remained displaced inside Kosovo. She demonstrated on the report a lasting commitment to protect Kosovar refugees and returnees and to seek solutions to relevant problems there. In order to cease the appalling violence and to regain peace and prosperity in Kosovo as soon as possible, the

Government of Japan The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive (government), executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary st ...

declared in April 1999 to provide assistance to international organizations and the neighboring countries which accepted numerous Kosovar refugees, including the UNHCR, Albania and

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, and Japan recognized it on March 18, 2008. Japan is the third Asian country which recognized the Republic of Kosovo after Afghanistan and Turkey. The embassy of Kosovo was opened 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 ...

on July 16, 2010. Japan had no embassy in

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

until January 1, 2020. 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. ...

proposed the launch of the ''Western Balkans Cooperation Initiative'' on his visit to several

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

an countries in January 2018. Although he did not visit Kosovo at that time, the scheme emphasized that Japan would strengthen bilateral assistance, support regional cooperation and establish new embassies to the Western Balkan countries including the Republic of Kosovo. As a part of the initiative, two years later, the embassy of Japan was opened in Pristina.

High-level visits

High-level visits from Japan to Kosovo

* December 1999:

Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Yōhei Kōno is a Japanese politician and a former President of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from November 2003 until August 2009, when the LDP lost its majority in the 2009 election. Kōno served as sp ...

Japan–Kosovo Relations
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, dated June 2009 * April 2005: Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs

Itsunori Onodera is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). He served as the Minister of Defense from 2012 to 2014 and again from 2017 to 2018. Early life and educa ...

* May 2006: Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Akiko Yamanaka * September 2009: Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

Kazuyuki Hamada is a Japanese politician. He has served one term in the House of Councillors for the Tottori At-large district. After being elected in 2010 as a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party, he changed parties three times before unsuccessfully see ...

* February 2018: Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

Manabu Horii (born February 19, 1972) is a former Japanese politician and speed skater. He won an Olympic bronze medal in 1994, and also competed in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics. He ended his speed skating career in 2002. Horii represented Noboribetsu in th ...

* February 2019: State Minister for Foreign Affairs

Toshiko Abe Toshiko Abe (阿部俊子, Abe Toshiko; born 19 May 1959) is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives in the Diet of Japa ...

High-level visits from Kosovo to Japan

: (February 2000:

UNMIK The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Привремена административна мисија Уједињених нација на Косову, Privremena administrativna misija Ujedinjenih na ...

Special Representative Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

Bernard Kouchner Bernard Kouchner (born 1 November 1939) is a French politician and doctor. He is the co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde. From 2007 until 2010, he was the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in t ...

) * April 2004:

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Bajram Rexhepi Bajram Rexhepi (3 June 1954 – 21 August 2017), was a Kosovar politician who served as the first elected post-war prime minister and later as interior minister of Kosovo and as a member of the Kosovo Assembly. He was a member of the second large ...

* December 2011:

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Enver Hoxhaj Enver Hoxhaj (born 4 October 1969) is a Kosovar politician. He served as minister for foreign affairs of the Republic of Kosovo and a former leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo. Career Hoxhaj served as a professor at the University of ...

and Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Dardan Gashi * June 2012: Prime Minister

Hashim Thaçi Hashim Thaçi (; born 24 April 1968) is a Kosovo Albanian politician who was the president of Kosovo from April 2016 until his resignation on 5 November 2020. He was the first prime minister of Kosovo and the Foreign minister and deputy pri ...

with Minister of Foreign Affairs Enver Hoxhaj, Minister of Education, Science and Technology and

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

Bedri Hamza Bedri Hamza (born 8 November 1963) is a politician and administrator in Kosovo. He has been the Republic of Kosovo's finance minister on two occasions, served three terms in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, was governor of the Central Bank ...

* September 2013: Bernard Nikaj with Chief Executive at Investment Promotion Agency Valdrin Lluka * October 2013: Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ramë Buja * April 2014: Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi with Minister of Finance and Minister of Trade and Industry Bernard Nikaj * March 2018: First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Behgjet Pacolli Behgjet Isa Pacolli (; (born 30 August 1951) is an Albanian-Kosovan Swiss politician and businessman who served as the first deputy prime minister of Kosovo and minister of foreign affairs from 2017 to 2019 under the Ramush Haradinaj government. ...

with Valdrin Lluka * March 2019: Chairman of Kosovo Assembly

Kadri Veseli Kadri Veseli (born 31 May 1967) is a Kosovo Albanian politician, former chairman of the Assembly of Kosovo and the Kosovo Intelligence Service. He is the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo. Veseli was one of the founders and leaders of th ...

* September 2019:

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Hashim Thaçi * October 2019: President Hashim Thaçi * July 2021: President

Vjosa Osmani Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu (born 17 May 1982) is a Kosovan jurist and politician serving as the sixth president of Kosovo since April 2021, having previously served as acting president from November 2020 to March 2021. She also served as Speaker of the ...

Sports

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

, a Japanese origin

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the pres ...

, included into the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

as an official sport for men in 1964 and for women in 1992. Kosovo Judo Federation was accepted into the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) is the international governing body for judo, founded in July 1951. Today the IJF has 200 National Federations on all continents. There are over 20 million people around the globe who practice judo, accordi ...

and the

European Judo Union The European Judo Federation consists of 51 national Judo federations/associations, and is itself recognised by the International Judo Federation as one of five continental unions. The organisation of the administration of Judo is based on a pyr ...

in 2012. Kosovar-Albanian judoka

Majlinda Kelmendi Majlinda Kelmendi (; born 9 May 1991) is a Kosovan-Albanian former judoka and judo coach. In 2014, Majlinda topped the IJF Women's Prestige World Ranking List. On 7 August 2016, she became the first Kosovan athlete to win a medal at the Olym ...

achieved a great success and victory by winning the first

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

for Kosovo at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. Kosovan judoka Distria Krasniqi won the gold medal in women's under 48kg competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 due to the global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

; it is the first gold medal for Kosovo at the

Tokyo 2020 The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

and the second for Kosovo at the Olympic Games.Tokyo 2020 - Krasniqi and Takato Open the Ball

References

External links

Embassy of Japan in Kosovo

Embassy of Kosovo in Japan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Japan-Kosovo relations

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 ...