Japanese–Portuguese relations

Japan	Portugal

Japan–Portugal relations are the current and historical diplomatic, cultural and trade relations betweenJapan andPortugal. The history of relations between the two nations goes back to the mid-16th century, when Portuguese sailors first arrived in Japan in 1543, and diplomatic relations officially restarted in the 19th century with theTreaty of Peace, Amity and Commerce.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Japan, blown ashore theŌsumi Archipelago, in theTanegashima island. During the 16th century, upon first contact with the Japanese, Firearms and other technological advancements were introduced, leading to mercantilism, known asNanban trade, having subsequently shaped the unification of Japan and economic development during theSengoku and earlyEdo periods. The Portuguese legacy in Japan, among many, includes depictions of the East and West inNanban art, with subsequent influences in gastronomy, suchtempura, in language, reflected in several dozenPortuguese loanwords in the Japanese language, geography, religion and everyday culture.^[1] The Portuguese heritage in Japan is still present in the consciousness of Japanese society today.^[2]

Both nations are members of theWorld Trade Organization. Since 2014 Japan has had associate observer status in theCommunity of Portuguese Language Countries. In 2016, 440 Japanese citizens were registered in Portugal^[3] and 589 Portuguese were registered in Japan.^[4]

The first affiliation between Portugal and Japan started in 1543, when Portuguese explorers landed in the southern archipelago of Japan, becomingthe first Europeans to reach Japan. As soon as the first Portuguese arrived in 1543, Portuguese traders and merchants began looking for trading opportunities in Japan. This period of time is often entitledNanban trade, where both Portuguese and Japanese would engage inmercantilism and cultural exchange.The Portuguese at this time wouldfound the port ofNagasaki, through the initiative of theJesuitGaspar Vilela and theDaimyo lordŌmura Sumitada, in 1571, where the annual trade ships arrived from then on.

The expansion for commerce extended Portuguese influence in Japan, particularly inKyushu, where the port became astrategic hot spot after the Portuguese assistance to Daimyo Sumitada on repelling an attack on the harbor by theRyūzōji clan in 1578.

The cargo of the first Portuguese ships (calledkurofune, "Black Ships", by the Japanese) upon docking in Japan were basically cargo coming from China (silk, porcelain, etc.). The Japanese craved these goods, which were prohibited from the contacts with the Chinese by the Emperor as punishment for the attacks of theWokou piracy. Thus, the Portuguese acted as intermediaries in the Asian trade. Many products and cultural aspects flowed into the Japanese market from Portugal, while silver and other goods from Japan circulated into the Portuguese kingdom.

In 1592 the Portuguese trade with Japan started being increasingly challenged by Chinese smugglers on their reeds, in addition to Spanish vessels coming to Manila in 1600, the Dutch in 1609, and English in 1613.

One of the many things that the Japanese were interested in were Portuguese guns.With the arrival of the first Europeans in Japan in 1543, Portuguese tradersAntónio Mota,Francisco Zeimoto disembarked inTanegashima, where they would introduce firearms to the local population. Thesemuskets would later be known asTanegashima, receiving the name after its location.

Because Japan was in the midst of a civil war, an era marked by theSengoku period, the Japanese heavily purchased Portuguese artillery, such as guns (arquebus) and cannons and adopted Portuguese full plated armour, opposed to tight leather.Oda Nobunaga, a famous daimyo who nearly unified all of Japan, made extensive use of guns playing a key role in theBattle of Nagashino. Within a year, Japanese smiths were able to reproduce the mechanism and began to mass-produce the Portuguese firearms. Early issues due to Japanese inexperience was corrected with the help of Portuguese blacksmiths. The Japanese soon worked on various techniques to improve the effectiveness of their guns and even developed larger caliber barrels and ammunition to increase lethality. Within 50 years, Nobunaga's armies were equipped with a large number of such weapons, changing the way war was fought on the islands. These weapons played a key role in the unification of Japan underToyotomi Hideyoshi andTokugawa Ieyasu, as well as in theinvasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597. Apart from weapons, the Portuguese also traded clocks, soap, tobacco, wine, and other unknown products inFeudal Japan.

While working inMalacca in December 1547,Francisco Xavier metAnjirō. A former samurai on the run for murder, Anjirō had heard about Xavier's work and left Japan specifically to learn Catholicism from him. The two became friends, exchanging knowledge of their cultures while working together for a year inGoa. Then, with Anjirō as his translator, Xavier traveled through Japan between 15 August 1549 and 15 November 1551, starting inKagoshima. He laid the foundation for theJesuits' missionary activity and thus introducedChristianity to Japan. Other Portuguese Jesuits likeFrancisco Cabral andGaspar Coelho visited Japan in 1570 and continued to carry outChristian missionary activities in Kyushu, later leading several lords of the region to Christianize.Tenshō envoys were also sent to Europe in the late sixteenth century. The Jesuits initially missionized exclusively, then in competition with other Christian monastic orders, but also significantly promoted cultural, scientific, institutional, business and diplomatic exchange.^[5]

In addition to their religious activities, Portuguese merchants introduced a wide range of European cultural practices to Japan. They taught Western techniques in fields such asart,music,theater, andpainting, and produced printed materials inLatin,Portuguese, and romanized Japanese, helping to disseminate European knowledge. Jesuit schools and workshops became centers for instruction in subjects includingcartography,astronomy,medicine,metallurgy,Western-style military science, entertainment, andcuisine.

European leisure activities also took root in Japanese society during this period. Card games such askaruta, derived from Portuguese playing cards, later known ashanafuda developed into popular pastimes and eventually became embedded in Japanese cultural traditions. In culinary, the Jesuits’ cooking methods also influenced the development oftempura, which evolved into one of Japan’s iconic dishes. Local confectioners inNagasaki likewise adopted European techniques to create sweets such askeiran somen (fios de ovos),konpeitō, andcastella cake, all of which became enduring elements of Japanese gastronomy.

Portuguese Jesuits also played a role in writing several works about the Japanese language and society. Publications include the firstJapanese-to-Portuguese dictionary andJapanese grammar, the latter byJoão Rodrigues, in the early 1600s, which took more than four years to compile and have become valuable resources for philological studies of Japanese and Portuguese today. Other important works include the books "The First European Description of Japan" and "Historia de Iapam" byLuís Fróis and "História da Igreja do Japão" (also by João Rodrigues) on the history of Japan.

In 1556 JesuitLuís de Almeida, who disseminated surgical and other medical knowledge from Europe to Japan, founded the first European hospital of Western medicine in Japan, a leprosy ward and a kindergarten inŌita. He built the hospital in Funai with the permission of thedaimyōŌtomo Sōrin. This hospital was able to accommodate about 100 patients. Initially, Almeida was in charge of the surgical department, andinternal medicine was in the hands of converted Japanese doctors, who were so successful in applying Chinese-Japanese therapies that some of them were singled out by name.^[6] The hospital had departments for surgery, internal medicine, and leprosy, and was the first hospital in Japan where Western medicine was introduced. He also began medical education in 1558, training doctors.

With the decree against Christianity in Japan in 1587 and the expulsion of missionaries from 1614 onwards, the persecution of Christians in Japan began, which ended in 1639 with the expulsion of the Jesuits and the Portuguese from Japan. As early as 1625,Francisco Pacheco, head of the Jesuit mission in Japan, was executed at the gates of Nagasaki. The Portuguese missionaryCristóvão Ferreira, who arrived in Japan in 1610, contributed to the tense situation on the issue with his varied role until he was executed there around 1650. The Buddhist monks in Japan, who feared for their power, also pushed for the expulsion.

InWorld War I, Portugal and Japan participated together in the war on theAllied side. After the war, nine countries, including Japan and Portugal, attended theWashington Naval Conference of 1922, where they both ratified theNine-Power Treaty.

During theSecond World War, both countries had a complicated relationship. Portugal was officially neutral; while it was aligned more closely with theAllies, it adhered to strict neutrality in East Asia, to protect its territories of Macau and East Timor. Initially, Japan respected the neutrality of both territories. Macau, in particular, become a haven for Allied civilian refugees. To varying, degrees, however, both Macau and East Timor later came under de facto control of Japan, until the end of the war. During this time, diplomatic relations were temporarily disrupted.

In early 1942, as Japanese forces advanced rapidly through theDutch East Indies, Portugal declined all requests for cooperation from the Allies, who believed that East Timor would become the site of major Japanese bases. Nevertheless, Portugal did not object, when Australian and Dutch forces landed unilaterally in East Timor, to set up defensive positions. In the subsequentTimor campaign, the indigenous Timorese and other Portuguese subjects assisted the Allies and suffered reprisals from Japanese forces. The Allies withdrew in 1943 and East Timor remained under de facto Japanese occupation until late 1945, when Japanese troops in East Timor surrendered to the Portuguese governor.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese authorities in Macau were coming under increasing pressure to cooperate with the Japanese military. In August 1943, Japanese troops seized a British-registered steamer in the harbor of Macau. Soon afterwards, Japan issued an ultimatum to Portugal, demanding that the territorial government accept the installation of Japanese advisors, and threatening direct occupation. Portugal acceded to Japanese demands and Macau effectively became a Japanese protectorate. Believing that Japan had or would get access to stores of aviation fuel in Macau, US forces launched several air raids on the territory. In 1950, the US government compensated the Portuguese government with US$20M, for the damage caused in Macau by US air raids.^[7] In 1945 the Japanese finally withdrew and gave East Timor back to Portugal.

In 1952, Japan regained its sovereignty by issuing theTreaty of San Francisco, and diplomatic relations between Portugal and Japan were restored the following year in 1953. In the same year, Portugal established an embassy in Japan (Tokyo) and Japan in Portugal (Lisbon) in 1954. Since then, Portugal has undergone major changes from thedictatorship ofAntónio Salazar to democratization through theCarnation Revolution and membership in theEuropean Economic Community and the European Union, and has lost its remaining territory in Asia with theindependence of East Timor andhandover of Macau.

Relations between Portugal and Japan have since remained good and friendly. In 1993, events commemorating the 450th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese to Tanegashima were held. In the same year, PresidentMário Soares visited Japan andPrincess Hisako Takamado visited Portugal.

In 1998, theLisbon World Exposition was held under the theme "The Oceans: a Heritage for the Future", withEmperor Akihito andEmpress Michiko making their first visit to Portugal.

In 2004, the then prince and current emperorNaruhito traveled to Portugal.

In 2010 and 2020, a number of cultural and sporting events (such as Japanese film,anime shows, judo events andcalligraphy exhibitions and workshops) were held in Portugal to commemorate the 150th and 160th anniversaries of diplomatic relations and friendship between the two countries since the 19th century.

In Nagasaki, theKunchi festival is celebrated annually and features the arrival and presence of the Portuguese in the city, in the 16th century.^[5] One of the main attractions of the Kunchi Festival, celebrated every autumn, is the denunciation of the hidden Christians and the “Nau Portuguesa”, which constitutes an historical evocation of the Portuguese expansion to Japan, highlighting the importance of Portuguese universal history and culture.^[8]

InMinamishimabara region near Nagasaki, the 'Festivitas Natalis' festival is held to recreate what Christmas was like in 16th-century Japan. The celebration features a historical parade with costumes from the Nanban era—the period when Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, first arrived in Japan. The festival honors Nanban culture and its early European influence through music, food, and traditions from that time, while also commemorating the arrival of Christian missionaries who introduced Christianity to the region.

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Unlike in the 16th and 17th centuries, the current relationship between the two countries has little influence on each other's political situation, and economic ties are also relatively small. In 2010, exports from Japan amounted to $479,858,000 and exports from Portugal amounted to $270,635,000, representing a significant export surplus on the Japanese side. The proportion of total exports is only 0.06%, and the proportion of exports from Portugal in Japan's imports is 0.04%. Even among the 27 EU member countries, Portugal remains Japan's 18th largest partner country in terms of export value and 19th largest in terms of import value.^[10] The share of Portugal's trade with Japan in its total exports and imports was approximately 0.5–0.6% in 2009,^[11] and while intra-EU trade accounts for approximately 74% of total exports and imports, the contribution of trade with Japan is small. Japan's exports have a high share of passenger and freight vehicles, auto parts, and electrical equipment, while Portugal's main exports include clothing and accessories, vegetables, fish, wine, and cork. Natural cork in particular has a high market share in Japan.^[12]

In February 2011,Nissan started construction of a plant to producelithium-ion batteries forelectric vehicles inAveiro, Portugal. This will be located on the site ofRenault's transmission assembly plant, and production is scheduled to begin in December 2012. This is a large-scale business deal in which Nissan Europe will invest approximately 17.5 billion yen.^[13]

In 2016, with an overnight spending of 29.7 million euros, Japanese tourists accounted for a share of 0.23% of foreign tourists in Portugal.^[14]

Although the economic relationship between the two countries has diminished since Japan'sisolation, there are still relatively large ties in terms of culture and academics, especially within Japan. Portugal was the first European nation to have direct negotiations with Japan, and the cultural artifacts imported at that time, such as buttons,playing cards, wine and severalJapanese sweets andfoods (such astempura,konpeito, andcastella), are still called by names of Portuguese origin and have left a legacy that has become entrenched in Japanese society. Likewise, some words of Japanese origin have also made their way into Portuguese vocabulary, and several pieces of Japanese culture like food,anime,manga, and Japanese technology are also popular in Portugal.

In terms of academics, Jesuit missionaryLuís Fróis has left behind valuable records that provide a glimpse intofeudal Japan, such asThe First European Description of Japan, published in 1585, andHistoria de Iapam ("History of Japan" in old-fashioned Portuguese). Another person worth mentioning isWenceslau de Moraes, a diplomat who lived in Japan from 1899 to 1929 and died inTokushima after Japan opened up in the 19th century after isolation during theEdo period. He left behind essays about Japan and the Japanese people. In some parts ofYamaguchi Prefecture (such as Shunan City), there is a surname of Portuguese origin called Tobacco Dani.

The Portuguese cultural instituteInstituto Camões is active in Japan, represented with a cultural center in Tokyo and a large number of lectureships at various Japanese universities.^[15] There are also a number of Portuguese-Japanese friendship societies, such as theSociedade Luso-Nipónica.

In addition, many Japanese immigrants came to Brazil from the end of the 19th century, a former colony of Portugal where Portuguese is still the official language, and from the 1980s their descendants began working in Japanese manufacturing factories. As a result, opportunities for Japanese people to come into contact with Portuguese increased. Many Brazilian players participated in theJapan Professional Football League, which was launched in 1993.^[16] Football terms such as "volante" became established in Japan. It has been pointed out that there are significant differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar betweenPortugal's Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, and much of the Portuguese taught in Japan is Brazilian, but there is generally no problem in communication itself, which also applies to Portuguese people.

The Portuguese directorPaulo Rocha lived in Japan from 1975 to 1983, and he featured Japan several times in his films. Particularly worth mentioning is "Koi no ukishima - A Ilha dos Amores" in 1982 and "Portugaru San – O Sr. Portugal em Tokushima" shot in 1993, a film about the Portuguese diplomat and author Wenceslau de Moraes. In 1996,João Mário Grilo made "Os Olhos da Ásia", a film about the history of the Portuguese Jesuits in Japan. 20 years later,Martin Scorsese revisited the story inSilence (2016), but limited himself to theoriginal novel byEndō Shūsaku.^[17] In 2016, the Portuguese directorCláudia Varejão portrayed the everyday life of three women who have been diving together in a small fishing village on theShima Peninsula for 30 years with her documentaryAma-San. The film screened at a number of film festivals, where it also won several awards, including the LisbonDoclisboa, the CzechKarlovy Vary International Film Festival, the RussianSt. PetersburgMessage to Man Film Festival and the KosovoDokufest. In 2017João Botelho directedPeregrinação, an adaptation of the book of the same name, byFernão Mendes Pinto.^[18] In 2024, the TV seriesShōgun aired, based on theoriginal novel byJames Clavell.

The award-winning short filmTóquio Porto 9 horas by the Portuguese director João Nuno Brochado uses black and white split-screen technology to compare everyday life in the two cities of Tokyo andPorto, which are separated by a time difference of nine hours. Japanese director Hiroatsu Suzuki and Portuguese director Rosanna Torres worked together in 2012 to makeO Sabor do Leite Creme, a documentary about an old couple in a Portuguese mountain village. The Japanese cameraman Takashi Sugimoto has worked several times for Portuguese productions. The Portuguese film instituteCinemateca Portuguesa showed film cycles on Japanese film several times, around 2012.^[19] Japanese directors are more frequent guests at Portuguese film festivals. Occasionally they also receive awards there, such as Atsushi Wada, who won the award for best animation at the most important Portuguese short film festivalCurtas Vila do Conde in 2011 for "Wakaranai Buta". In 2014,Hiroyuki Tanaka won "Miss Zombie" at theFantasporto film festival in Porto.

Infootball, professional Portuguese footballer,Cristiano Ronaldo, is also renown among Japanese football fans. Japanese football players also play more frequently in Portugal, including international players such asTakahito Sōma orDaizen Maeda (bothMarítimo Funchal),Nozomi Hiroyama atSporting Braga orJunya Tanaka atSporting Lisbon. ThePortimonense SC club particularly frequently signs players from Japan, includingMū Kanazaki,Shoya Nakajima,Takuma Nishimura,Shiryū Fujiwara,Kōki Anzai and most recently Kodai Nagashima andHiroki Sugajima.Kazuya Onohara has been playing forUD Oliveirense since 2020, andKaito Anzai has been playing for Sporting Braga since 2019.

TheJapan women's national football team participated in the2011 Algarve Cup and finished in 3rd place.

In basketball, Isabel Lemos was the first Portuguese coach ever working in a profissional league inRizing Zephyr Fukuoka senior male team of theB.League, as well as the first woman ever working as coach in professional basketball man league in Japan.

As a result of the Portuguese arrival to Japan, after a continuous influx of trade between Portugal and Japan, Japanese vocabulary absorbedwords of Portuguese origin as well as Portuguese of Japanese. Among its great part, these words mainly refer to products and customs that arrived through Portuguese traders.

Portuguese was the first Western language to have a Japanese dictionary, theNippo Jisho (日葡辞書, Nippojisho) dictionary or "Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam" ("Vocabulary of the Language of Japan" in old-fashioned Portuguese orthography), as well as the oldest extant complete Japanese grammar, theArte da Lingoa de Iapam ("Art of the Japanese Language"), compiled by Jesuits such asJoão Rodrigues, published in Nagasaki between 1603 and 1608.

Judo has been practiced in Portugal since a demonstration by two officers of theImperial Japanese Navy while anchored in Lisbon in the early 20th century. Since its founding in 1959, the Portuguese umbrella organization Federação Portuguesa de Judo has been organizing Japanese martial arts in Portugal. The country hosted the2008 European Judo Championships and finished eighth with one gold and three bronze medals. At the1995 World Judo Championships in Japan, Portugal won a bronze medal, as well as in 2003, while in 2010 it brought home a silver medal from Japan. Judo is one of the sports of theJogos da Lusofonia, the games of thePortuguese-speaking world.

Other Japanese martial arts are also practiced in an organized manner in Portugal, particularlyJiu Jitsu, Karate andAikidō.

Portuguese and culture has also been introduced to Japan through music and martial arts, andFado has fans in Japan as well, with Portuguese musicians and singers such asAmália Rodrigues,Maria João Pires,Dulce Pontes andCarlos do Carmo having become known among music lovers in Japan, both through performances and publications. The Japanese conductorTakuo Yuasa worked several times in Portugal. Most recently, he led the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, the 96-piece symphony orchestra of theCasa da Música inPorto, in the two sold-out New Year's concerts there on 3 and 4 January 2020.

Multiple cities in both countries are in partnership or are striving to do so. The first Japanese-Portuguesetown twinning was established in 1969 betweenTokushima andLeiria.

• Atami–Cascais
• Hitoyoshi–Abrantes
• Nagasaki–Porto
• Nishinoomote–Vila do Bispo
• Ōita–Aveiro
• Ōmura–Sintra
• Tokushima–Leiria

• 1541 – A Portuguese ship washes ashore inBungo Province.
• 1543 – A Portuguese ship washes ashore onTanegashima.Guns were introduced to Japan.
• 1549 –Francis Xavier arrives inKagoshima and introduces Christianity.
• 1553 –Bernardo the Japanese is the first Japanese to visit Europe.
• 1556 – Diplomatic relations are established between Portugal and theOtomo clan.Luís de Almeida builds the first hospital, with Western medicine, inŌita.
• 1557 – Portugal obtains permanent residency inMacau from theMing dynasty.
• 1560 –Yoshiteru Ashikaga's sanction forGaspar Vilela to preach Christianity inKyoto.
• 1563 –Luís Fróis arrives in Japan.
• 1565 –Battle of Fukuda Bay, the first recorded naval clash between Europeans and the Japanese.
• 1571 –DaimyōŌmura Sumitada assists the Portuguese in establishing the port ofNagasaki. KingSebastião I of Portugal issues a decree prohibiting the holding of Japanese in slavery without justifiable reason.
• 1576 – Japan's first cannon is presented toŌtomo Sōrin by Portugal.
• 1577 –João Rodrigues arrives in Japan.
• 1580 – Ōmura Sumitada cedes Nagasaki "in perpetuity" to theJesuits. Portugal enters in adynastic union withSpain.
• 1582 –Tenshō embassy to Europe departs from Nagasaki.
• 1584 –Mancio Itō arrives inLisbon with three other Japanese, accompanied by a Jesuit father. He was the first Japanese envoy to Europe.
• 1587 –Toyotomi Hideyoshi issues adocument declaring the expulsion of Portuguese missionaries and freedom of trade.
• 1603 –Nippo Jisho Japanese to Portuguese dictionary is published by Jesuits in Nagasaki, containing entries for 32,293 Japanese words in Portuguese.
• 1610 – Destruction of theNossa Senhora da Graça near Nagasaki, leading to a 2-year hiatus in Portuguese trade.
• 1613 – TheEdo Shogunate (Tokugawa Ieyasu) issues a ban on Christianity throughout Japan.
• 1620 – Pingshan Changchen Incident.
• 1636 – ShogunTokugawa Iemitsu's fourthnational isolation order restricts Portuguese trade in Japan toDejima.
• 1637 –Shimabara Rebellion by Christian peasants.
• 1639 – The fifth national isolation order completely prohibits trade with Portugal and Portuguese ships from entering the port and Japan.
• 1640 –1640 Macau embassy to Nagasaki
• 1647 – KingJoão IV of Portugal sends an envoy to Japan to resume trade.
• 1649 – Portuguese envoys arrive in Nagasaki, but the shogunate refuses trade.
• 1685 – A Portuguese ship returns Japanese castaways to Nagasaki, but trade is refused to resume.
• 1860 – On 3 August, the Edo Shogunate and the Kingdom of Portugal sign theTreaty of Peace, Amity and Commerce. Formal diplomatic relations are established.
• 1862 –First Japanese Embassy to Europe stops at Lisbon.
• 1866 – ThePortuguese embassy in Japan is established.
• 1868 –Meiji Restoration. The new Meiji government inherits diplomatic relations with foreign countries including Portugal.
• 1910 –5 October 1910 revolution in Portugal. Abolition of the monarchy and establishment of theFirst Portuguese Republic.
• 1914 –World War I (−1918). Japan (Empire of Japan) enters the war on theAllied side.
• 1916 – Portugal enters the war on the Allied side. The Department of Portuguese is established at Tokyo School of Foreign Studies (currentlyTokyo University of Foreign Studies, Department of Portuguese).
• 1922 – TheNine-Power Treaty is concluded at theWashington Naval Conference.
• 1924 – Supreme Council of the Allied Reparations Commission.
• 1932 – Portugal supports theLeague of Nations'Lytton Commission Report. Japan opposes the move and withdraws from the League of Nations.
• 1933 – The dictatorship ofAntónio Salazar begins in Portugal (Estado Novo).
• 1937 –Brussels International Conference.
• 1939 – The outbreak ofWorld War II. Both countries declare neutrality, but Japan takes policies closer toNazi Germany and Portugal takes policies closer to Britain.
• 1941 – Portugal imposes economic sanctions against Japan, including asset freezes. At the outbreak of thePacific War, Japan enters the war on the side of theAxis powers. East Timor, a Portuguese colony, is occupied by the Dutch army (Dutch East Indies Army) and the Australian army.
• 1942 – Japan defeats the Dutch and Australian armies and occupies the entire island of Timor. Portugal remains neutral while tacitly accepting the Japanese occupation.
• 1943 – Japan makes Macau a protectorate.
• 1945 – Japan surrenders, ending World War II. TheJapanese army that occupied Timor is disarmed, and Portuguese colonial rule was restored in Macau and East Timor.
• 1953 – Japan and Portugal restore diplomatic relations.
• 1959 – TheJapanese Embassy in Portugal is established.
• 1968 – The Japan Portugal Association is established in Japan.
• 1970 – WriterKazuo Dan stays in Santa Cruz north of Lisbon (−1972).
• 1974 –Carnation Revolution in Portugal. The new government decides to withdraw from all overseas colonies, but continues to rule Macau.
• 1975 – East Timor declares independence from Portugal. Immediately afterward, the Indonesian military invades and occupies the country (East Timor conflict). Portugal condemns the occupation, but Japan virtually acquiesces.
• 1981 – The Portugal-Japan Friendship Association is established in Portugal.
• 1986 – Portugal joins theEuropean Economic Community (EEC).Rosa Mota wins theTokyo International Women's Marathon.
• 1989 –Mário Soares becomes the firstPortuguese president to visit Japan for the Great Funeral Ceremony forEmperor Showa.
• 1993 – Portugal participates in the establishment of the European Union (EU). 450th anniversary of Japan–Portugal relations. President Soares visits Japan andPrincess Takamado visits Portugal.
• 1996 – Published "Modern Portuguese Dictionary" (Mutsuo Ikegami, Norio Kinana, etc.).Carlos Queiroz becomes manager of theNagoya Grampus Eight of theJapan Professional Football League (J League) ( -1997).
• 1998 –Emperor Akihito andEmpress Michiko visit Portugal for theLisbon Expo '98 (the first visit by an Emperor and Empress to Portugal). Former Portugal representativePaulo Futre joinsYokohama Flugels of the J League (left the same year).
• 1999 – Portugal returns Macau to the People's Republic of China. Portuguese territory in Asia virtually disappears. Portugal introduces theeuro.
• 2002 –2002 FIFA World Cup. ThePortuguese national team plays all three matches in this tournament in South Korea and did not visit Japan. After the tournament,Nozomi Hiroyama joinedSC Braga as the first Japanese player in thePrimeira Liga (−2003).
• 2004 – The then princeNaruhito travels to Portugal.
• 2005 – Portugal participates inExpo 2005 and PresidentJorge Sampaio visits Japan.
• 2010 – Portuguese film festival commemorates the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations and friendship between Portugal and Japan since the 19th century.
• 2011 –Japan women's national football team participates in the2011 Algarve Cup for the first time (3rd place).
• 2020 – Portuguese festival commemorates the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations and friendship between Portugal and Japan since the 19th century.

• Japan has an embassy inLisbon. Japan also has an honorary consulate inPorto.
• Portugal has an embassy in Tokyo. Portugal also has honorary consulates inKōbe,Kyoto,Nagasaki,Nagoya,Osaka andTokushima.

• 
  Residence of the embassy of Japan in Lisbon
• 
  Embassy of Portugal in Tokyo

• Japan–Spain relations
• A Ilha dos Amores
• Arte da Lingoa de Iapam
• Christianity in Japan
• Hidden Christians of Japan
• History of Roman Catholicism in Japan
• Kirishtan
• List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin
• Medical School of Japan
• Nanban trade
• Nippo Jisho
• Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)

• Embassy of Portugal in JapanArchived 2 August 2020 at theWayback Machine
• Embassy of Japan in Portugal(in Portuguese and Japanese)

• Japan–Portugal relations
• Bilateral relations of Portugal
• Bilateral relations of Japan

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