Japan–Saudi Arabia relations (, ) are the foreign relations between Saudi Arabia and Japan. Official relations between the two nations were established in 1955.
Since then-Japan was the world's third largest economy, as well as the second largest during large parts of the latter half of the 20th century, and Saudi Arabia which is home to two holy cities and is the world's largest oil producer, have developed their mutual interests. In 2015, Japan became the third-largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia, importing $45.4 billion in petroleum products and exporting $7.5 billion in finished goods.
History
The first half of 20th century
The first official contacts between the two nations occurred in 1938 when Saudi envoy to the United Kingdom, Hafiz Wahba, visited the Empire of Japan to attend the opening of the Tokyo Mosque. In the following year the Japanese envoy to Egypt, Yokoyama, visited Saudi Arabia and met with Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.
Both of the monarchs maintained weak ties during the following years; however, the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 brought Japan–US relations to a state of war and led to a breakdown in relations between the Axis powers and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Finally, in March 1945, the kingdom declared war on Japan and Nazi Germany. As a result of the catastrophic war, Japan lost three million lives and all its overseas territories, namely the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Manchuria, the South Seas Mandate, the southern part of Sakhalin and all of the Kurils.
The latter half of 20th century
In 1953 the Japanese government sent its first delegation to the UK Economic and accelerated the process to culminate in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1955, and passed the economic relations between the two countries, an important station in the year 1957 as the Kingdom was granted the right of privilege to explore for oil It's a Japanese Arabian Oil Company.
The first Saudi Royal visit to Japan occurred in 1960, when Sultan bin Abdulaziz visited the country in his capacity as Minister for Transportation and Communication.
The visit of King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz to Tokyo in 1971 strengthened their bilateral relations and it launched the most important stage in the history of Saudi-Japanese relations, which has seen many of the mutual visits of officials of the two countries. Thereafter, the bonds of relations between the Saudi royal family and the Japanese imperial family were strengthened through their repeated visits.
In 1981, when Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko were Crown Prince and Princess during the reign of Emperor Hirohito, the couple visited Saudi Arabia.
And on behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz was attended by His Royal Highness Prince Nawwaf bin Abdul Aziz, crown emperor decrees year 1990, and in 1994 the Crown and the parent in Japan during a visit to the Kingdom.
In 1997, Ryutaro Hashimoto visited the Prime Minister of Japan at that time as part of the Kingdom of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz.
In the month of October of the year 1998, he visited the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Japan, when he was crown prince, and Saudi Arabia signed the agenda of cooperation with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, was His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, Emir of Riyadh region and later king, had visited Japan in April of the same year.
The first half of 21st century
In 2001 Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono visited Saudi Arabia. He met with Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz to discuss a plan to meet the region's needs for drinking water with the aim of further extending co-operation between the two countries. Initiatives were announced in three areas: the promotion of dialogue between the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds, the development of water resources, and wide-ranging political dialogue.
Japan is the third-largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia and by the end of 2000 Japan had invested more than three billion US dollars in the country.
In March 2017, King Salman bin Abdulaziz visited Japan and had a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Tokyo, where the two leaders exchanged opinions and discussed international security and Saudi-Japan Vision 2030, a program of bilateral cooperation aimed at realizing Saudi Vision 2030. Afterwards, the Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 plan was announced and published.