Japan-Iraq Relations
Diplomatic Relations
1939
-- Japanese Legation in Baghdad Opens
1942 -- Japanese Legation in Baghdad Closes
1955 -- Iraqi Legation in Tokyo Opens
1956 -- Japanese Legation in Baghdad Reopens
1960 -- Both Legations Raised to the Status of Embassies
1991 -- Japanese Embassy in Baghdad Closes
2003 -- Japanese Embassy in Baghdad Reopens
Summary of Japan-Iraq Relations, 1880-2005
The
first Japanese traveler to Baghdad was the Foreign Ministry
official Masaharu Yoshida, who visited the city as part of
an inspection of the Persian Gulf region. By the turn of the
20th century, other travelers, lured by interesting accounts
of the Baghdad Railway, also began to appear.
Japan
was passive in the peace conferences that followed the First
World War, but still may have a hand in the creation of Iraq
as an ally of Britain until 1922. When Japanese-British relations
soured in the 1930s, some Japanese gained an interest in the
anti-British nationalist movement. When the Rashid Ali Movement
broke out in May 1941, the sympathies of the Japanese public
were strongly with the Iraqi nationalists.
After
Japan’s defeat in the war, a quieter period began. Iraq
became an important oil supplier for Japan by the 1960s. When
oil tankers the Persian Gulf were threatened by air attacks
during the Iran-Iraq War in the mid-1980s, this became a major
issue for Tokyo as well.
The
Persian Gulf War of 1991 was a major event in Japanese history,
which led to a weakening of Japanese pacifism under pressure
from their American allies. After 1991, Japanese policy toward
Iraq was tightly connected to Washington policy, so that even
the American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was supported
by the Japanese government, in spite of general public disapproval.
In March 2004, the GSDF was deployed to Samawa in Iraq, primarily
to show solidarity with US policy. This too was a major turning
point in Japanese history.
Also:
Japan-Iraq War Timeline
State Visits
1985
-- Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz Visits Tokyo
1989 -- Vice-President Taha Mohidin Maruf Visits Tokyo
1990 -- Oil Minister Isam Abd al-Rahim Chalabi Visits Tokyo
Economic and Trade Relations
In
2005, economic and trade relations between Japan and Iraq
were rather small, although there was promise that trade could
rebound quickly if the political situation in Iraq would stabilize.
In that year, Japan’s exports to Iraq were valued at
about US$131 million; and Japan’s imports from Iraq
totaled about US$445 million, most of it oil.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship League
Fumio
Kyuma
House of Representatives (Nagasaki 2nd District)
Liberal Democratic Party
MOFA Webpage
Japan-Iraq
Relations
Embassy Webpage
Embassy
of Japan in Baghdad: NA
Embassy
of Iraq in Tokyo
Local News in English
Azzaman
Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan
Al-Sabah
Newspaper
SEJJIR
Articles
The U.S.-Japan Security
Alliance and the Decision to Deploy the GSDF to Iraq
Asahi Shinbun Analogy: The British
Mandate in Iraq and the State of Manchukuo
Japan’s Position in Near
Eastern Countries: Our Plan for Development (1926)
Travel in Iran and Iraq: From Tehran
to Baghdad (1941)
2005
Newsletters
3
-- Seminar Series to Understand the Middle East and Islam
12 -- Seventh
GSDF Group Deployed to Samawa
15 -- Arabian
Oil Company Signs Contract with Iraqi Oil Ministry
18 -- Baghdad
Government Praises GSDF Mission / Pirates Raid Supertanker
23 -- Samawa
Explosion Shakes Tokyo
26 -- Tensions
High over Samawa Mission / Interview with Iraqi Ayatollah
33
-- Deteriorating Security in Samawa
35
-- Iraqi Group Claims Responsibility for GSDF Attack in Samawa
44
-- GSDF Mission in Samawa to be Extended
49
-- The SDF in Iraq
51
-- Demonstrations in Samawa / Japan and the Occupation-Reconstruction
58
-- The Balance Shifts against an Extension of the Samawa Mission
60
-- Samawa Protests Escalating / We Need Electricity, Water,
and Order!
62
-- Diet Elections and the GSDF Mission in Samawa
67
-- The Hashida Family and the Illusory “Non-Combat Zones”
in Iraq
77
-- The SDF in Iraq: Withdrawal or Extension?
87
-- Japan in Iraq in Japan: A Perspective
97
-- Implications of the Zawahiri Letter
104
-- The Situation in Iraq and the SDF Withdrawal Issue
123
-- Tokyo Pulled Deeper and Deeper into the Iraq Vortex / Military
Contribution
128
-- Iraqi Politicians Provide Cover for Koizumi on Samawa Mission
136
-- GSDF Mission Extended for Year / Koizumi’s Statement
/ Collapsed Friendship
141
-- Tokyo’s Weapons of Mass Delusion / JCP Chair Urges
SDF Withdrawal
2006
Newsletters
177
-- Japan in Iraq: The Long Kiss Goodbye / Rumsfeld Asked for
Security Work
202
-- The Post-Samawa Mission in Iraq Taking Shape
204
-- Alleged Killer of Shosei Koda Captured in Iraq
217
-- A Flashback to March 2003: Tokyo and the “Coalition
of the Willing”
228
-- Things that Happened and Things that Didn’t
237
-- Japan in Iraq: Still in Search of a Policy
248
-- Japan: A Delicate Balance
256
-- Ties with the Middle East
277
-- A June-July Pullout from Samawa / Basra Explodes / Saddam
Husain’s Novel
306
-- The Samawa Mission -- Deadline? What Deadline?
313
-- Sayonara, Samawa! / Koizumi’s Statement / Reactions
/ Airlift Support
319
-- Japan’s Persian Gulf Policies in the Koizumi Era
320
-- InterAction Council Meeting in Jordan
321
-- Samawa Pullout Begins with a Bang / Suicides among GSDF
Iraq Returnees
338
-- Japanese Trade with the Islamic World in 2005
343
-- GSDF Mission in Iraq is Now History / Goodbye Troops, Hello
Aid
348
-- GSDF Controlled News from Samawa
352
-- FM Aso in Baghdad as Tokyo Eyes Iraqi Oil / Commitment
Must Not Waver
355
-- The Process and the Completion of the Samawa Orphanage
Project
363
-- Iraqi National Security Adviser in Japan
374
-- ASDF Airlifts in Support of the UN in Iraq to Begin Soon
378
-- Five Years of Japan and the “War on Terrorism”
404
-- The Debate over the Samawa Mission Continues / A Report
from Samawa
410
-- Media Battled Defense Officials for News on Iraq
421
-- Tokyo Bets on Iraqi Oil / MOFA Officials “Not Very
Optimistic” / We Lost Him
431
-- Oil Field Development: Substituting Iraq for Iran?
434
-- U.S. Elections Expose the Hollowness of Abe Administration
Iraq Policies
460
-- Kyuma’s Folly / ASDF Mission Extended through July
2007
465
-- Japanese Press Criticizes ASDF Mission in Iraq
470
-- GSDF in Samawa Cost about US$627 Million / Business in
Iraqi Kurdistan
2007
Newsletters
476
-- Japanese Reactions to the Execution of Saddam / Two More
Years for ASDF?
483
-- The Tokyo Time Warp: 2003 or 2007? / Asahi on the US Surge
493
-- Japanese Journalist Making Iraq War Tour in the United
States
497
-- Kyuma’s Folly: Take Two
501
-- Bush State Department to Tokyo: Criticism of Our Iraq Policy
is Verboten!
508
-- Is Tokyo “Going Wobbly” on Iraq?
511
-- Ozawa Joins the Act / Wages of Servitude / Asahi on Iraq
War Criticism
518
-- Cheney to Snub Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma / Shots Fired
at Embassy
529
-- Cheney in Tokyo / Prince Pickles / Comparing American Occupations
/ New Aid
535
-- Masayuki Yamauchi on Japanese West Asian Strategy
550
-- Future of the ASDF Mission Cloudy / JICA Trains Diplomats
/ Aid Fact Sheet
553
-- Four Years of Useless Bloodshed in Iraq and Still the Deceptions
Continue
558
-- Abe Signals ASDF Extension / Strategic Partnership / Protests
/ Asahi on War
569
-- Cabinet Extends ASDF Mission / Newspaper Editorials / VP
Hashimi in Tokyo
579
-- Asahi on “Confusion in the Middle East”
580
-- The Strategic Partnership: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
in Tokyo
583
-- Inpex Prepares Bid for Northern Iraqi Oil Field / Japanese
Critic of Policy
608
-- Al-Maliki Suggests that ASDF Mission Will End in 2007 /
Aso’s Speech
613
-- Bring the Troops Home from Iraq
640
-- Japanese Military Kept Files on Antiwar Groups / Yemeni
Newspaper on Iraq
655
-- Tokyo’s Empty Policies on Iraq to Continue Indefinitely
/ Samarra Mosque
685
-- Japanese Conservatives Threaten to Pull Iraq Support over
“Comfort Women”
702
-- Ozawa Ups the Ante: Targeting the ASDF Mission in Iraq
703
-- Naoto Amaki Interview: Tokyo is a 100% Supporter of America
and Israel
718
-- Governor Hassani Assassinated / Defending Sea of Japan
in Mesopotamia
733
-- Seven Scenarios: The Future of Japan’s War on Terrorism
737
-- Is the MSDF Secretly Providing Fuel for America’s
Iraq War Efforts?
740
-- Richard Armitage on Japanese-Islamic West Asia Relations
754
-- MSDF Iraq Story Starting to Come into the Light
760
-- Indian Ocean Mission: The Battle for Policy and Public
Opinion
763
-- Indian Ocean Mission: Divergent Views and Predictions
775
-- Indian Ocean Mission: Stumbling to the Edge of Defeat
785
-- Indian Ocean Mission: Credibility Gaps
786
-- Iraq on the Backburners
807
-- Is There a Japan-Iraq Strategic Partnership?
810
-- Indian Ocean Mission: Life after Death?
818
-- A New Dawn: Arabs Looking East / Human Security in the
Arab World
819
-- Satoshi Ikeuchi on the Role of the Middle East in Japanese
Politics
821
-- Japan and West Asia: Insights Inspired by Zbigniew Brzezinski
828
-- The ASDF Mission in Iraq / Iraqi Refugees / Former Iraqi
Minister
837
-- Report on the Arab-Japan Conference in Alexandria
840
-- Egyptian Ambassador Abdelnasser Comments on Arab-Japanese
Ties
843
-- Steven Clemons on Koizumi’s Iraq Policy and Bad Normalism
865
-- Masayuki Yamauchi on Arabs Looking East
2008 Newsletters
891
-- The Japan-Iraq Occupation Analogy Lives On
947
-- Tokyo Yawns: The Fifth Anniversary of the Iraq War
952
-- AJAMES on ‘Japan and the Middle East before World
War II’
957
-- GSDF Legacy in Samawa / Strategic Partnership / Aid
965
-- Two Recent Japan-Arab Events in Tokyo
973
-- Chances Remain for Yomiuri Shinbun / Iyad Allawi Speaks
977
-- Crushing Dissent: Lessons from Japan
981
-- Nagoya High Court Declares ASDF Iraq Mission Unconstitutional
983
-- The Rulers and the Ruled
988
-- Fallout from the Nagoya Ruling / Iraqi Oil
996
-- Kiroku Hanai on the Tensions between the Alliance and
the Law
1001
-- A Stronger Focus for the Japan-Arab Conference?
1002
-- Other Views on the SDF in Iraq, the Alliance, and the Law
1014
-- Clarification on the Japan-Arab Economic Forum
1023
-- Craig Martin on the Potential Military Threat to Democracy
1039
-- Martyrs for Peace: The Tachikawa Fliers Case
1046
-- A Former Japanese Judge on the Nagoya Ruling
1056
-- Japan-Iraq Business Forum / Diplomatic Visits / Briefs
1059
-- METI Minister Amari Makes a Surprise Visit to Baghdad
1069
-- Japan’s Response to the Iraq War
1076
-- Japan and the Iraqi Revolution of 1958
1137
-- ASDF Mission Will End This Year / Diplomacy and Aid
1152
-- Aso Meets Talabani in New York / JICA Kurdistan Office
1194
-- It’s Obama!
1211
-- The Order Comes Down: ASDF to Withdraw from Iraq / Briefs
1216
-- Nippon Oil Hunting for Iraqi Oil Contracts / Aso ASDF Statement
1225
-- ASDF Planes Leave, But Controversy Remains
1228
-- From Iraq to Afghanistan
1231
-- Samawa Power Plant Delivered to Iraq / Media Criticism
1234
-- Richard Armitage as a Critic of the Bush Administration
Information
for the “Japan-Iraq Relations” page was compiled
by Michael Penn.
