17th–18th centuries 's visit to France • 1615:
Hasekura Tsunenaga, a Japanese samurai and ambassador who arrived at
Coria del Rio, Spain, sent to
Rome by
Date Masamune, lands at
Saint-Tropez for a few days, initiating the first contacts between
France and
Japan. • 1619:
François Caron, son of French
Huguenot refugees to the
Netherlands enters the
Dutch East India Company, and becomes the first person of French origin to set foot in Japan in 1619. He stays in Japan for 20 years, where he becomes a Director for the company. He later became the founding Director General of the
French East India Company in 1664. • 1636:
Guillaume Courtet, a French
Dominican priest, sets foot in Japan. He penetrates into Japan in clandestinity, against the 1613 interdiction of
Christianity. He is caught, tortured, and dies in
Nagasaki on September 29, 1637. • No French people visit Japan between 1640 and 1780. • Around 1700, the impostor known as
George Psalmanazar claims to come from the Japanese tributary island of
Formosa. • 1787:
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741–1788) navigates in Japanese waters in 1787. He visits the
Ryukyu Islands, and the strait between
Hokkaidō and
Sakhalin, giving it his name.
19th century • 1808: The
French language is taught to five Japanese translators by the Dutch chief of
Dejima,
Hendrik Doeff. • 1844: A French naval expedition under Captain Fornier-Duplan onboard
Alcmène visits
Okinawa on April 28, 1844. Trade is denied, but Father Forcade is left behind with a translator. • 1846: Admiral
Jean-Baptiste Cécille arrives in Nagasaki, but is denied landing. • 1855: In an effort to find the Russian fleet in the Pacific Ocean during the
Crimean War, a French-British naval force reaches the port of
Hakodate, open to British ships as a result of the
Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty of 1854, and sails further North, seizing the
Russian-American Company's possessions on the island of
Urup in the
Kuril archipelago. The
Treaty of Paris (1856) restitutes the island to Russia. • 1855: Following the opening of Japan by the American
Commodore Perry, France obtains a treaty with
Okinawa on November 24, 1855. • 1858: The
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan is signed in
Edo on October 9, 1858, by
Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros, opening diplomatic relations between the two countries. • 1859: Arrival of
Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt. , 1861 , in 1862 • 1862:
Shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi sends
First Japanese Embassy to Europe, led by
Takenouchi Yasunori. • 1863:
Second Japanese Embassy to Europe directed the construction of Japan's first modern
arsenal at
Yokosuka from 1865. • 1864: Arrival of
Leon Roches in Japan. • 1864:
Bombardment of Shimonoseki by allied ships (9 British, 3 French, 4 Dutch, 1 American). • 1864: In November
Leonce Verny arrives in Japan for the construction of the
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. • 1865:
Shibata Takenaka visits France to prepare for the construction of the Yokosuka arsenal and organize a French military mission to Japan. • 1865: On September 12, 1865, the
Messageries Maritimes passenger liner ship
Dupleix was the first to call at a Japanese port to start a new service with France, both for passengers as well as for cargoes such as Japanese silk. in front, second from right. • 1867: The first
French Military Mission to Japan arrives in
Yokohama January 13, 1867. Among them is Captain
Jules Brunet. • 1867: Japan sends a delegation to the
1867 World Fair in
Paris. • 1867: The French mining engineer
Jean Francisque Coignet is sent to
Satsuma Domain and is put in charge of the silver mines of
Ikuno in 1868. • 1868:
Kobe incident (February 4). A fight erupts in
Kobe between 450 samurai of
Okayama Domain and French sailors, leading to the occupation of central Kobe by foreign troops. • 1868: Eleven French sailors from the
Dupleix are killed in the
Sakai incident, in
Sakai, near
Osaka, by southern rebel forces. • 1869: Former French advisors under
Jules Brunet fight alongside the last
Tokugawa shogunate loyalists of
Enomoto Takeaki, against Imperial troops in the
Battle of Hakodate. • 1870:
Henri Pelegrin directs the construction of Japan's first gas-lighting system in the streets of
Nihonbashi,
Ginza and
Yokohama. • 1872:
Paul Brunat opens the first modern Japanese silk spinning factory at
Tomioka. Three craftsmen from the
Nishijin weaving district in
Kyoto travel to
Lyon. They travel back to Japan in 1873, importing a
Jacquard loom. • 1872: Start of the second
French Military Mission to Japan (1872-1880). • 1873: The legal expert
Gustave Emile Boissonade arrives in Japan to help build a modern legal system. • 1874: The Second French Military Mission is sent to Japan, and builds the military school of
Ichigaya, the start of the
Imperial Japanese Army Academy. • 1882: The first
tramways are introduced from France and start functioning at
Asakusa, and between
Shinbashi and
Ueno. • 1884: Third
French Military Mission to Japan (1884-1889). • 1886: The French naval engineer
Emile Bertin starts a four years' stay in Japan to advise the government on how to reinforce the
Imperial Japanese Navy with new modern ships, and directs the expansion and modernization of the
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and the design and initial construction of the new arsenals of
Kure and
Sasebo, thereby contributing to the Japanese victory in the
Russo-Japanese War in 1905. He was special adviser to Emperor Mutsuhito for naval development and was awarded by the Japanese government with the titles of
Takaku Yaku nin et
Chokunin. , in 1898 • 1898: The first automobile (a
Panhard-Levassor) is introduced in Japan.
20th century • 1907: Signing of the
Franco-Japanese Treaty of 1907. France took the lead in creating alliances with Japan, Russia and (informally) 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==