Franco-Japanese relations
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The history of Franco-Japanese relations (日仏関係 Nichi-Futsu kankei?) goes back to the early 17th century, when a Japanese samurai and ambassador on his way to Rome landed for a few days in Southern France, creating a sensation.
After nearly two centuries of seclusion by "Sakoku" Japan, the two countries became very important partners from the second half of the 19th century in the military, economic, legal and artistic fields. The Bakufu modernized its army through the assistance of French military missions (Jules Brunet), and Japan later relied on France for several aspects of its modernization, particularly the development of a shipbuilding industry during the early years of the Imperial Japanese Navy (Emile Bertin), and the development of a Legal code.
France derived part of its modern artistic inspiration from Japanese art, essentially through Japonism and its influence on Impressionism, and almost completely relied on Japan for its prosperous silk industry.
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[edit] Chronology of Franco-Japanese relations
[edit] 16th-17th century
- 1615. Hasekura Tsunenaga, a Japanese samurai and ambassador, 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. La Perouse (1741-1788) navigates in Japanese waters in 1787. He visits the Ryukyu Islands (now Okinawa), and the strait between Hokkaidō and Sakhalin, giving it his name.
[edit] 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 Cecille arrives in Nagasaki, but is denied landing.
- 1855. Following the opening of Japan by the American Commodore Perry, France obtains a treaty with Okinawa on November 24, 1855.
- 1858. The first treaty 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.
- 1862. The Shogun sends First Japanese Embassy to Europe, led by Takenouchi Yasunori.
- 1863. Second Japanese Embassy to Europe
- 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 arsenal.
- 1865. Shibata Takenaka visits France to prepare for the construction of the Yokosuka arsenal and organize a French military mission to Japan.
- 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 Francois Coignet is sent to Japan and is put in charge of the gold mines of Ikuno in 1868.
- 1868. Kobe incident (January 11th). A fight erupts in Akashi between 450 samurai of the Okayama fief and French sailors, leading to the occupation of central Kobe by foreign troops.[1]
- 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 Shogun loyalists of Enomoto Takeaki, against Imperial troops in the Battle of Hakodate.
- 1870. Henri Pelegrin directs the construction of Japan's first gas-lightning 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, Sakura tsuneshichi, Inoue Ihee and Yoshida Chushichi 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 is sent to 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.
- 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 Navy engineer Emile Bertin reinforces the Japanese Navy, and directs the construction of the arsenals of Kure and Sasebo, contributing to the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese war.
- 1898. The first automobile (a Panhard-Levassor) is introduced in Japan.
[edit] 20th century
- 1909. The first Japanese mechanical flight, a biplane tracted by an automobile, occurs in 1909 in Ueno through the collaboration of Shiro Aihara and Le Prieur, French military attaché in Tokyo.
- 1910. Captain Tokugawa Yoshitoshi, trained in France as a pilot, makes the first self-propelled flight onboard 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)
- 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.
- 1941. Imperial Japan pressures the South-East Asian colony of French Indochina, which is controlled by Vichy France, into making important military concessions, but leaves the French army and administration intact.
- 1945. On March 9, 1945, Japan rapidly attacks and takes full control of French Indochina, which it maintains until its defeat several months later in September 1945.
- 1952. First Air France flight to Japan.
[edit] Franco-Japanese relations today
Recently France has been very involved in trade and cultural exchange initiatives with Japan. Some people see this as being a result of former French president Jacques Chirac being a Japanophile. Chirac has visited Japan over 40 times, probably more than any other world leader outside of Japan, and is an expert on the country. France has started the export promotion campaign Le Japon, c'est possible and the international liaison personnel exchange program JET. Together they built the Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris.
France and Japan have also worked together to improve dire health situations from HIV and underdevelopment in Djibouti, Madagascar, Uganda, and other countries.
Japan and France are also known to share ideas with each other in the realms of art and cooking. Japan has been heavily influenced by French cuisine within the past few decades, as seen on the television show Iron Chef. Anime is popular in France, and French historical figures and settings from medieval, Renaissance, Napoleonic, and World War eras have served as models for certain popular stories in Japanese entertainment. The purity of Japanese painting and illustration, and likewise the modernity and elegance of French visual arts has resulted in hybrid styles in those creative fields.
The two countries have been collaborating closely in the area of nuclear energy generation.
In June 2005, France and Japan announced a collaboration to build the next generation supersonic commercial aircraft, a successor to the Concorde.[citation needed]
[edit] French in Japan
- Léon Roches
- Jules Brunet
- Léonce Verny
- Gustave Emile Boissonade in Japan from 1873 to 1895
- Paul Claudel French embassador in Tokyo from 1922 to 1928
[edit] Japanese in France
- Hasekura Tsunenaga
- Fukuzawa Yukichi as a translator in the 1862 mission
- Shibata Takenaka (1823-1878)
- Tsuguharu Foujita (in France from 1913 to 1931)
[edit] See also
- o-yatoi gaikokujin - foreign employees in Meiji era Japan
- Foreign cemeteries in Japan
- Foreign relations of Japan
[edit] References
- "日仏交流の黄金期 Soie et Lumière, L'Âge d'or des échanges Franco-Japonais" (French and Japanese), Christian Polak, Hachette Fujingaho
[edit] External links
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