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Japan–Poland relations refers to thebilateralforeign relations betweenJapan andPoland. Both nations enjoy historically friendly relations, embracing close cooperation and mutual assistance in times of need. Both are members of theOECD,World Trade Organization andUnited Nations.
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The first non-clergymen Poles to arrive in Japan were the famous adventurerMaurycy Beniowski and his close companion Antoni Straszewski, who arrived in 1771 after a daring escape from Russian exile inKamchatka.[1] It was also the first Polish ship to arrive in Japan, as they sailed under the Polish flag aboard a seized Russiangaliot.[1] Beniowski's expedition was warmly received by the Japanese, an exchange of gifts took place, and sailing southward, Beniowski stopped at several Japanese islands.[1]
Japanese novelistTokai Sanshi wrote about thePartitions of Poland and the Polish independence movement.[2] The Japanese poemPorando kaiko byOchiai Naobumi aboutFukushima Yasumasa travelling in 1890s mentions the Polish struggle for freedom.[3][4][5] Fukushima established contacts with members of the Polish resistance movement andexiles to Siberia in order to obtain detailed information about the common enemy of the Poles and the Japanese—Russia.[2]
Polish travelersKarol Lanckoroński and Paweł Sapieha, as well as ethnographersBronisław Piłsudski andWacław Sieroszewski, among others, wrote about Japan.[2] Translations of Japanese literature, works on Japanese history and culture were published in partitioned Poland.[2] Japanese culture and art were popularized among Poles by Feliks Jasieński, an enthusiast and collector of Japanese art.[2]
In 1904, Japanese writerNitobe Inazō dedicated his bookBushido: The Soul of Japan to the Polish nation, indicating that it was a "samurai" nation. Very soon, in 1904, a Polish version was published inLwów, and Nitobe wrote a special preface addressed to Polish readers. He emphasized the similarities between Poles and Japanese - he wrote that both nations love honor and attachment to ideals above all else, and a reader from the Vistula River would easily understand whatbushido is. He called the Poles abrave and chivalrous nation, and valued Polish devotion to history and patriotism.[6] The Polish edition was "corrected" in several places by censorship of itsoccupiers, but the book still enjoyed popularity among the Poles.
UntilWorld War I,Japanese Taiwan imported many Polish goods, i.e. metal products, leather products, haberdashery and soap from Warsaw, cotton products fromŁódź, etc.[7]
During World War I, the Japanese government declared war onGermany and at the same time the Japanese elite financially supported the creation of a sovereign Polish government in exchange for professionally teaching Japanese spies to break Russian codes. GeneralAkashi Motojiro and other Japanese financially supported Poles striving to break away from Russia. During the war, Poles from theRussian Partition of Poland conscripted to the Russian Army and Japanese were amongAllied prisoners of war held by the Germans in aPOW camp inStargard in modern northwestern Poland.[8]
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Japan and Poland established diplomatic relations on March 22, 1919, months after Poland regained its independence in November 1918.[9] In the 1920s, a trade treaty was signed and military cooperation was established.[2] Japanese-Polish friendship societies were formed in both countries, and literature was translated and publications were issued on topics related to the cultures of both countries.[2] As a token of Poland's friendship with Japan, over 50 Japanese officers were awarded theVirtuti Militari, Poland's highest military decoration, for their achievements during the Russo-Japanese War.[2]
DuringBolshevik rule inRussia, the Japanese Red Cross undertook a rescue operation to help Polish children deported toSiberia. Japanese ships transported Polish children toTokyo, where theJapanese Red Cross gave them protection and then helped them return to Poland. The Japanese government moved swiftly in response to the call for help, asking the Japanese Red Cross Society to undertake coordination of the project. Japanese Army soldiers had been deployed in Siberia after the Russian Revolution and were there to help. In the end, a total of 765 Polish orphans scattered throughout many Siberian regions were rescued during the period from 1920 to 1922. The orphans were transported by military ships fromVladivostok to the port of the city ofTsuruga in Japan'sFukui Prefecture. They were then cared for in childcare institutions in Tokyo andOsaka.
The most sizeablePolish community of early 20th-century Japan (including the interbellum) lived in theKarafuto Prefecture, which further grew since 1925, as many Poles fled Soviet Russian persecution in northernSakhalin.[10][11][12] Following theSiberian intervention, Japan supported and subsidized Polish institutions in northern Sakhalin in the early 1920s.[10] Poles in Karafuto engaged in unrestricted social, cultural and economic activities, and a Polish library was established inToyohara.[13] In 1924, Karafuto was visited by Polish ambassador to JapanStanisław Patek, and many local Poles were granted Polish citizenship and passports.[11] In 1930, two Catholic churches were built in Toyohara andOdomari, co-funded by Poles from Poland and Karafuto.[14] Only a handful of Poles lived in other parts of Japan.[15] Also, very few Japanese lived in Poland in the interbellum, including ten in Warsaw and three inLwów, according to the 1921 Polish census.[16][17]
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Both countries formed a silent alliance against theSoviet Union and agreed upon sharing intelligence they obtained. In theinterwar period, Japanese cryptologists visited Poland, where Polish specialists wrote the methods of Russian phrases. Onodera claimed that until 1939 the center of the Japanese intelligence aimed at Russia was located in Warsaw. The Japanese relied heavily on the new Polish secret service for training in decryption and continued their close military co-operation even after the Germaninvasion of Poland, which startedWorld War II.
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A statue of Polish anthropologistBronisław Piłsudski stands in Japan, who was a researcher of the local culture in Japan and married an Ainu woman who was a citizen of Imperial Japan.
In 1930, Polish monksMaksymilian Kolbe andZeno Żebrowski began their mission in Japan, and the latter remained in Japan until his death in 1982, bringing aid to orphans, the elderly, the poor and the disabled.[2]
During World War II, Poland and Japan found themselves on opposing sides. In 1941, Poland declared war on Japan as an expression of solidarity with the United States and Great Britain. Polish forces were never sent to fight the Japanese forces. This was due to the distance being too great and the fact that the Poles were preoccupied with the war in Europe. However, the American forces fighting Japan included Polish volunteers like Witold Urbanowicz and American citizens declaring Polish descent. The Polish government severed official relations with the Japanese government. During the war, several Polish spies received assistance from Japanese diplomats in Europe, but only from those who did not support Hitler and had held pro-American views before the war.
The Japanese agents also sheltered Polish-Jewish refugees fleeingoccupation from both German and Soviet forces, though at first it was done without proper authorization from the Imperial government inTokyo. Therefore, Chiune Sugihara had to prove to the authorities that the refugees would be traveling through Japan only as a transit country to the United States and not be staying permanently, which eventually led to him gaining full legal approval and assistance from the Government of Japan.[citation needed]Tadeusz Romer, ambassador of Poland in Japan, helped the Polish-Jewish refugees after they arrived to Japan.[18] Throughout the secret alliance, Polish agents never disclosed information about their Western allies and shared information only pertaining to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union.[19]
In 1957, it signed an agreement on the normalization of relations, which ended state of war — and this had legal force in international relations. Adouble tax avoidance agreement was signed between the two countries in Tokyo in 1980.[20]
Since 1990, the number of official visits by top government officials to both countries has increased.[2] In 1994, the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw was established. In 2011, thePolish Institute in Tokyo was founded.[21]
In 1995, there came a time when Poland had the chance to give back to Japan for the rescue of Polish orphans from Siberia in the early 1920s. Poland was kind enough to invite Japanese children stricken with great loss from the 1995Great Hanshin earthquake. The children, many fromKobe and nearby areas of western Japan, went to Poland and stayed from 1995 to 1996, while the chaos and loss caused by the earthquake was sorted out. Poland repeated this kindness after theGreat East Japan Earthquake in 2011. On November 20, 2018, a school in the suburbs of Warsaw was named after the Japanese Army operations that rescued Polish orphans: “Siberia Orphans Commemoration Elementary School.”
The two states celebrated 90 years of relationship in 2009 and the 100th anniversary in 2019.[22][9] Trade, business, and tourism between both countries continues to thrive.LOT Polish Airlines provides daily non-stop flights between Tokyo and Warsaw. Both countries are full members of theOECD, but modern relations are limited to mostly trade and cultural activities, although both countries see each other as vital partners in global commerce. In 2017, Japan became the second largest foreign investor in Poland in terms of total investment value, only behind the United States.[23]
For short stays, Japanese nationals do not require visas to enter Poland, and Polish nationals do not require visas to enter Japan.[24][25]
In Poland, there is a museum devoted to Japanese art and technology – theManggha inKraków. Several other museums also possess collections of Japanese art and artifacts, including theNational Museum in Warsaw,[26]District Museum in Toruń andNational Museum in Szczecin.[27] In Tokyo, there is aPolish Institute.
Japanese cultural exports to Poland includinganime,video games,music andfood have made a significant impact on young Poles. Additionally,Japanese is taught in many Polish schools.[citation needed]
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