Japan-Bangladeshdiplomatic relations mainly began since the establishment of Japanese Embassyin Dhaka in March 1972.1Following that, in July 1972, Bangladesh also opened its embassy in Tokyo.Prior to that, on 10th February 1972, Japan recognized Bangladesh as a sovereign independent countryand played a significant role inBangladesh’s independence struggle during 1971. 23InOctober 1973, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman first made his historic statevisit in Japan that led the foundation of bilateral relations between Japan andBangladesh.
4 Following his visit, laterother government officials of both countries visited in each country. Even inFebruary 1975, the then Crown Prince Akihito, now His Imperial Majesty theEmperor of Japan visited Bangladesh.5Since1973 both countries maintained a warm relation and their cooperation andpartnership increased in the economic development field. Though the mainpurpose of Bangladesh’s government officials’ visit in Japan was to convinceJapan to provide assistance in Bangladesh’s development project at the sametime Japanese high officials also came in Bangladesh to fulfill their politicaland strategic goals. 1Harun Ur Rashid, ‘Bangladesh-Japan together at 40’.
The Daily Star, 8 February, 2012. http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-221467 (accessed 10 November 2017).
2Syed AshrafurRahman, ‘Japan’s Political and EconomicGoals in Bangladesh’.Asian Affairs,Vol. 27, No. 4:41-50, October-December, 2005.
http://www.cdrb.org/journal/2005/4/3.pdf(accessed 18 November 2017).3 Jalal, Sheikh A. 2001.
‘Japan’s Contribution in theIndependence of Bangladesh’, pp. 13–16 in Monir H. Moni and SayefullahBhuyan,eds, Bangladesh–Japan Relations: Socio-Cultural Perspectives. Dhaka: JapanStudy Center, University of Dhaka.4 Ashraf ud Doula, ‘Japan-Bangladesh relations: Wayforward.
Daily Star. 4 November,2010. http://www.thedailystar.
net/news-detail-161150 (accessed 10 November 2017).5’Long history of bilateral relations’, The Japan Times. 29 November 2010. http://classified.
japantimes.com/nationalday/pdfs/20101129-bangladesh-visit.pdf (accessed 25 November 2017).
