Poland and Japan: 107 Years of Diplomatic Relations, a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Signed in April 2026, and a Bilateral Relationship That Both Countries Are Only Beginning to Exploit

The Poland-Japan Relationship Has a Humanitarian History That Most People in Both Countries Have Never Heard of. It Is the Foundation on Which Everything Else Is Built.

Japan and Poland established diplomatic relations on March 22, 1919, months after Poland regained its independence in November 1918. The relationship began in the turbulent aftermath of the First World War and Poland's reemergence as a sovereign state after 123 years of partition. But the most remarkable chapter of early Polish-Japanese relations came in the years immediately following.

Between 1920 and 1922, Japan helped Polish orphans in Siberia by transporting 765 children to Japan, which were later handed over to Poland. These children were the sons and daughters of Poles who had been exiled to Siberia by the Tsarist and then Soviet regimes. They were in desperate condition when Japanese humanitarian organisations, primarily the Polish children's rescue committee working with Japanese Red Cross support, arranged for their evacuation through Vladivostok to Japan, where they were housed, fed, and educated before being transported to Poland. The Japanese public responded to their arrival with extraordinary warmth. Decades later, the descendants of those 765 children formed the Polish-Japanese Children's Friendship Association and maintain active ties with Japanese counterparts. It remains one of the most emotionally significant bilateral humanitarian gestures in the history of either country.

The second defining humanitarian event came two decades later. Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat famous mainly for the help he provided to Poles and several thousand Jews who wanted to escape from the territory of Lithuania after the occupation by the Red Army began on June 15, 1940. His actions were illegal and inconsistent with the main policy of the Japanese government. Sugihara issued thousands of transit visas to Jewish and Polish refugees fleeing Nazi and Soviet occupation, in direct defiance of instructions from Tokyo. He continued issuing visas from his train window as he departed Kaunas. He is recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations and is honoured in Poland as one of the few foreign diplomats who actively saved Polish citizens during the most dangerous period of the 20th century. The Sugihara story is taught in Japanese schools and is a foundation of the positive emotional connection that many Japanese feel toward Poland.

Prime Minister Tusk Visited Tokyo on 15 April 2026. A Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Was Announced. A Social Security Agreement Was Signed. Poland and Japan Are Partners on Equal Terms for the First Time.

In a joint press conference in Tokyo, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi unveiled the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement, which follows a similar one Poland signed with South Korea a few days earlier and concludes a Polish government delegation's trip to Asia. The timing of the announcement reflects a deliberate Polish foreign policy strategy of deepening ties with major Asian democracies simultaneously, building a network of strategic partnerships that positions Poland as a Central European hub for Asian investment and technological cooperation.

Tusk said that Poles have long viewed Japan as a symbol of success, modernity and high aspirations, but added that his country has made great strides and is now Japan's partner on equal terms. Takaichi acknowledged Poland's steady economic growth and the growing ties between their nations. According to IMF figures, Poland's GDP per capita, measured in purchasing power parity terms, is now almost equal to Japan's following decades of rapid Polish economic growth since emerging from communism in 1989. In 2024, Poland's GDP per capita at PPP stood at USD 51,263, just behind Japan's USD 52,039. This near-parity in living standards is a remarkable data point in a bilateral relationship that began with Japan evacuating Polish war orphans from Siberia while Poland was a newly independent state emerging from 123 years of partition.

Takaichi said the social security agreement would further facilitate economic exchanges between the two countries, and noted that Japanese firms had already established around 400 branches in Poland. She added that both leaders had concurred in deepening economic cooperation including infrastructure that contributes to enhancing regional connectivity and advanced technologies such as AI. Both countries also pledged closer cooperation in the realm of security. The Social Security Agreement is practically significant for the hundreds of Japanese employees working in Poland and Polish employees working in Japan, eliminating double social security contributions that had been a friction for bilateral employee mobility.

Trade Between Poland and Japan Is Governed by the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement Since 2019, the 1980 Double Taxation Convention, and the 2015 Strategic Partnership Framework.

Poland, as an EU member state, does not negotiate bilateral trade agreements independently. Trade with Japan is governed by the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which entered into force on 1 February 2019. The Free Trade Agreement entered into force between the European Union and Japan in 2019, and it has greatly contributed to the increase in trade between our countries, confirmed JETRO's Executive Vice President at a Poland-Japan investment conference. The EPA eliminated tariffs on the vast majority of goods traded between Japan and EU member states including Poland, covering 99% of EU exports to Japan and 97% of Japanese exports to the EU by value over a phase-out period extending to 2033 for the most sensitive categories.

For investment protection, Poland and Japan rely on the 1980 Double Taxation Convention signed in Tokyo, which governs the taxation of income earned by residents of either country in the other's territory. There is also an agreement on avoiding double taxation in the field of income taxes, signed in Tokyo on 20 February 1980. A dedicated bilateral investment treaty in the conventional sense does not exist between Poland and Japan, which is unusual for two OECD member states with significant bilateral investment flows. The EPA's investment chapter provides some protection, and ICSID arbitration is available for investor-state disputes, but the absence of a standalone BIT is a gap in the bilateral legal framework that the April 2026 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership may eventually address through further agreements.

Japan Exports USD 1.21 Billion to Poland. Poland Exports USD 912 Million to Japan. Japan Runs a Modest Trade Surplus. Both Flows Are Dominated by Industrial and Technology Products.

Japan Imports from Poland was USD 1.21 billion during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database. Poland Exports to Japan was USD 912.96 million during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database. The total bilateral trade of approximately USD 2.1 billion places Japan well outside Poland's top ten trading partners, which are dominated by European countries and China. Japan ranks approximately 20th among Poland's import sources and export destinations. The relationship is commercially meaningful but significantly below the level that the depth of political ties and the scale of Japanese investment in Poland would suggest.

400 Japanese Company Branches in Poland. Japan Is the Second Largest Source of FDI in Poland by Investment Value. Toyota, Canon, Bridgestone, and Panasonic Are Among the Most Significant Investors.

According to PAIH, by value of investment Japan is second in Poland among foreign investors. That figure is striking: Japan, despite being geographically the most distant of Poland's major investors, has committed more investment capital to Poland than France, Italy, or the United States by total value. The most visible Japanese investment is Toyota's PLN 6 billion commitment to its engine manufacturing plants at Walbrzych and Jelcz-Laskowice in Lower Silesia, which Fides Polonia profiled in detail in a dedicated Toyota article. But Toyota is the headline rather than the whole story.

Canon has operated production facilities in Wroclaw since the 1990s, producing printer cartridges and office equipment that are distributed across Europe. Bridgestone, the world's largest tyre manufacturer, operates a major production facility in Poznan. Panasonic has manufacturing and research operations in Poland. NSK, the precision bearings manufacturer, operates in Poznan. Yazaki, a major automotive wiring harness producer, has Polish facilities. The concentration of Japanese manufacturing investment in Lower Silesia and the greater Wroclaw area reflects the same logic that attracted Toyota to Walbrzych: a highly skilled industrial workforce, competitive labour costs, excellent logistics connectivity to German and Western European customers, and a regional government that has consistently prioritised industrial investment promotion.