Tag - france-japan relations

 
 

FRANCE JAPAN RELATIONS

Chef Kei Kobayashi is France's only Japanese chef with three Michelin stars.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 15, 2025
In Paris, chefs Chizuko Kimura and Kei Kobayashi make their mark
One is the world’s first Michelin-starred female sushi chef, while the other is France’s only three-Michelin-starred Japanese chef.
Natixis has hired Makoto Kawamura, formerly head of JPMorgan Chase Bank’s Japan treasury and chief investment office in Tokyo, and Hideaki Sugahara, who was a director at Societe Generale, for its new banking business in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2025
Seeing growth potential, Natixis plans to double banking staff in Japan
The move comes as Paris-based Natixis starts a new banking branch in Tokyo, in the latest sign of a global financial firm vying for business opportunities in Japan.
Guillaume Ollagnier, director general of strategic, security and disarmament affairs at the French Foreign Ministry, says that the global nonproliferation architecture should be further strengthened — lest a nuclear arms race erupt.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2025
France doubles down on opposition to new nuclear states, top official says
With Pyongyang and Beijing ramping up their nuclear capabilities, calls are growing louder in Seoul and elsewhere to develop their own nukes.
In France, a state-of-the-art rare earths plant to extract key minerals like dysprosium and terbium is being built with French and Japanese support — the first of its kind outside China. Its significance goes beyond the project itself.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 5, 2025
New rare earth plant shows strength of Japan-France cooperation
In France, a state-of-the-art rare earths plant is being built with French and Japanese support, showing the way for those who see the benefits of working together and not alone.
Rear Adm. Jacques Mallard (right), commander of the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier strike group, speaks during a ceremony aboard the carrier at a naval base in Toulon, France, last September.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 18, 2025
French carrier group chief draws lessons from first Pacific deployment in 60 years
The deployment helped deepen the French Navy's operational understanding of the region, and learn from and boost interoperability with partner nations, a top commander says.
The U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (foreground), the Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Kaga (center) and the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier conduct a joint drill in the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2025
Japan, U.S., France hold joint naval exercise in Pacific
The drill is the first involving MSDF vessels along with U.S. and French aircraft carriers.
Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear power station in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2025
Kansai Electric proposes doubling Fukui-France nuclear waste shipments
It remains to be seen whether the prefectural government will support the revised plans. Fukui has long called for spent nuclear fuel to be taken out of the prefecture.
The Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2025
Kansai Electric to ship more spent nuclear fuel to France
The move comes as Fukui Prefecture, home to several nuclear plants, urges Kansai Electric to address shrinking storage capacity for spent nuclear fuel, the sources said.
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (left) describes a detail of a mawashi presented as a gift to French President Jacques Chirac at the Elysee Palace in 1999.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 5, 2025
No Paris Syndrome for Japan’s national sport
Despite an up and down history, sumo and France remain amorous.
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (right) alongside David Rothschild, the promoter of an upcoming tournament in Paris, on Sunday in Tokyo
SUMO
Jan 19, 2025
Top sumo pros to enter the ring in Paris in June 2026
It will be the third such event in the French capital and the first since 1995.
U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling environmental activist Paul Watson talks to journalists after he was released from prison in Greenland's capital Nuuk after five months in detention, at the Place de la Republique in Paris on Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2024
Freed activist Paul Watson vows to 'end whaling worldwide'
The 74-year-old returned to France after spending five months in detention in Greenland due to an extradition demand from Japan.
U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling environmental activist Paul Watson, who was released from prison in Greenland's capital Nuuk after five months in detention, arrives with Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, near Paris, on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 21, 2024
Freed anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrives in France
Watson, 74, was released after Denmark refused the Japanese extradition request over a 2010 clash with whalers.
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 17, 2024
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
“The Indo-Pacific is the world’s new center of gravity," Rear Adm. Guillaume Pinget told The Japan Times during a visit to Tokyo.
Protesters take part in a demonstration in support of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson in Paris on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 25, 2024
Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson requests French nationality
France is pushing for Watson's release from a Greenland jail where he is being held pending possible extradition to Japan.
A visitor tries sake during an event for Japanese food products held on the outskirts of Paris on Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2024
Japanese prefectures showcase food products in France
Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit by a major earthquake on Jan. 1, offered curry specially arranged for the European market at the event.
At France's Kura Master competition, top honors went to "Shirayuki Daiginjo Itami Morohaku" (left) and "Araroka Matsufuji."
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 3, 2024
Award ceremony for Japanese alcohol held in Paris
1,223 sake products and 197 shōchū and awamori products were put up for the competition.
The H3 rocket, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, lifts off from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Feb. 17.
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2024
Mitsubishi to provide H3 rockets for France's Eutelsat from 2027
The deal is a major overseas win for Japan's ¥220 billion ($1.55 billion) state-backed H3 rocket project.
French Ambassador Philippe Setton says that, despite previous differences over whether Japan should host a NATO liaison office, Paris aims to deepen ties with Tokyo "in all security areas."
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 18, 2024
France-Japan military pact expected by year-end, envoy to Tokyo says
Concerns over the worsening security situation in the Indo-Pacific are speeding up negotiations on a visiting-forces pact between France and Japan.
A portrait taken on May 26, 1979, shows French actor Alain Delon during the filming of "Le toubib" directed by Pierre Granier Deferre, in Sissonne, central France.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Aug 20, 2024
Alain Delon: A 'god' in Japan
The French actor, who died on Aug. 18, held special appeal for his Japanese fans, as he embodied a "thirst" that postwar youth could identify with.
French President Emmanuel Macron is "following the situation closely" and "intervening with the Danish authorities," according to his Elysee palace office.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2024
Macron urges against anti-whaling activist's extradition
Japan is one of the last three countries in the world to permit commercial whaling along with Iceland and Norway.

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