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Julian Ryall

As Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi heads to the G7 meeting in France next week, she is expected to hear rumblings of discontent over Tokyo’s apparent diplomatic outreach to Moscow.
With European Union member states and most Nato nations united in their resolve to push back on Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine and isolate Moscow, Japan’s very different approach to Vladimir Putin’s regime has not been overlooked.
Senior officials from Japan’s foreign and trade ministries travelled to Moscow for a two-day visit in May and held talks with their Russian counterparts, with representatives from the Japan Business Federation also present. Five of Japan’s largest business conglomerates were also invited but none joined the mission.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi dismissed criticism of Tokyo’s outreach to Moscow, saying it was important to maintain contact even in times of conflict.
European governments will also have noted that Muneo Suzuki, a politician from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Hokkaido, has been attempting to arrange a meeting between the foreign ministers of Japan and Russia in July and was in Moscow for discussions last month.

Local media reported on Thursday that Japan was close to reaching an agreement with the US to extend an exemption that would allow Tokyo to continue importing crude oil and liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Sakhalin 2 project. With the conflict in the Middle East flaring up again, Japan is desperate to continue importing Russian energy.
And Mikhail Shvydkoy, Putin’s special representative for international cultural cooperation, was in Tokyo in May, points out James Brown, a professor of international relations specialising in Russian affairs at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
“Officially, Shvydkoy was in Japan for the opening of the Russian festival of culture, which in itself is controversial,” Brown told This Week in Asia. “Japan says culture should continue to be shared, but of course Moscow uses this sort of soft power to win over Japanese people.”
Besides taking part in cultural events, Shvydkoy met Suzuki and Japanese government officials to discuss energy projects, Brown noted.
“This all points to Japan beginning to explore limited cooperation with Russia again, mainly in the area of energy because of what has happened in Iran, and it is perhaps not all that surprising other G7 members are not all that comfortable.”
Brown is quick to point out that Japan retains many sanctions on Russia and there is no indication Takaichi is seeking to return to the close relationship former prime minister Shinzo Abe cultivated with Putin, primarily to convince Russia to return a chain of islands off northern Hokkaido that Soviet forces seized in the closing stages of World War II.
Japan still hopes that will happen, but it looks a distant prospect at present.

“For Europe, Russia is perceived as a major security threat, but much less so for Japan,” said Andrei Lankov, a Russian-born professor of history and international relations at Kookmin University in South Korea.
“Europe wants to maintain a united front – although that has become more difficult given the position of the US administration – but attempting to diplomatically isolate Russia is normal behaviour in this sort of situation,” he said.
“But Japan has a long tradition of relations with Russia, so Moscow probably wants to work on Japan as a weak link.”
Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University, believes that while Europe may be concerned by Tokyo’s outreach, the leaders will quickly set the matter aside to preserve unity.
“Japan has kept sanctions in place but yes, talking with Putin sends a bad signal and Europe is not happy, but there are far bigger issues that need to be addressed,” he said.
And while it could be argued that Takaichi takes a hawkish line towards China and a pragmatic approach to Russia because it needs Siberian energy, Dujarric says the Japanese leader displays different shades of pragmatism for its two vast and very close neighbours.


“Russia is much less hostile than China is to Japan and I get the impression that there are business lobbies in Japan that want to go back to Russia and do deals right away,” he said. “There are also factions within Takaichi’s party who were with Abe on Russia and are also probably lobbying her to act.
“But right now, I just don’t think that Russia is in the forefront of her mind.”
Brown concurs, pointing out that Takaichi has said remarkably little about Russia since taking power, but adds the situation will change when the Ukraine war ends.
“Japan clearly sees China as a threat and has long been concerned about an alliance that brings together China with Russia and North Korea,” he said.
“Under Abe and other administrations, Japan attempted to drive a wedge between China and Russia. That effort failed at the time, but after the Ukraine war ends, I expect the idea of the wedge will return.”


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Japan

Why Japan’s Russia outreach could fuel G7 concern over unity: ‘bad signal’

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi listens to a question in the House of Councillors budget committee session at the National Diet in Tokyo on June 5. Photo: AFP

A tanker in waters off Imabari, Japan’s Ehime prefecture, carrying crude oil produced from the Sakhalin 2 oil and natural gas development project in the Russian Far East. Photo: Kyodo

A French police officer walks past G7 logos in Evian-les-Bains, eastern France, on Thursday, ahead of the G7 summit next week. Photo: AP

Japan prepares to drop its pacifist mask as the right rises

Japan Ground Self-Defence Force soldiers walk in front of a Type 88 surface-to-ship missile launcher during military drills in the Philippines on May 6. Photo: Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been pushing to revise Article 9 of the country’s constitution. Photo: Kyodo

Protesters hold lights and placards shaped like the number 9, referring to Article 9 of Japan’s constitution, during a rally against the government’s military expansion policies in Tokyo on May 29. Photo: Reuters

Japanese troops conduct combat exercises at Camp Narashino, Chiba prefecture, in January 2024. Photo: AFP

Russia’s military activity has Japan fearing a dual-front war

F-15J Eagle fighter aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defence Force prepare for take-off at Chitose Air Base, Hokkaido prefecture, in 2017. Photo: AFP

Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi holds a press conference on May 19. He has called Russia’s military posture around Japan “a cause for serious concern”. Photo: Kyodo

An F-15J Eagle fighter jet of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at Chitose Air Base, Hokkaido prefecture, in 2017. Photo: AFP

A Japanese coastguard vessel and small boats sail alongside an activists’ fishing boat near the disputed Diaoyu Islands, which Tokyo administers and calls the Senkakus. Photo: AP

Russian MiG-31 fighter jets equipped with hypersonic “Kinzhal” ballistic missiles are seen in this still image taken from a handout video last year. Photo: Russia Defence Ministry Press Service/EPA

Why Japanese politician’s goal to reset ties with Russia is ‘a long shot’

Honour guards hold the national flags of Japan and Russia before a welcome ceremony for then Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu in Tokyo in 2019. Photo: AFP

Then deputy cabinet secretary Muneo Suzuki (centre) visits the construction site of a Japanese-funded bridge in Qantara, Egypt, in 1998. Photo: Reuters

Japanese politician Muneo Suzuki is trying to arrange a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi in the Philippines in July. Photo: Maxim Shipenkov/Pool via Reuters

A tanker sails near an oil refinery in Kawasaki, Japan, in March. Japan is keen to expand its energy supplies amid the Middle East conflict. Photo: Reuters

Russian hypersonic missile jets buzz Japan’s coast in ‘thinly veiled threat’

Footage of a Russian fighter jet carrying Kinzhal hypersonic missiles conducting exercises over the Sea of Japan, or East Sea. Photo: Handout

A launch vehicle for the long-range Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Guided Missile is unveiled at the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force’s Kengun Garrison in Kumamoto City on Tuesday. Photo: Jiji Press / AFP

US President Donald Trump with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a visit to the US Navy’s Yokosuka base on October 28, 2025. Photo: Reuters

Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has been outspoken on social media in recent weeks regarding the challenges facing Japan. Photo: AFP

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Energy needs have driven Tokyo to explore cooperation with Moscow again, which could make Europe ‘uncomfortable’


Energy needs have driven Tokyo to explore cooperation with Moscow again, which could make Europe ‘uncomfortable’.


Why Japan’s Russia outreach could fuel G7 concern over unity: ‘bad signal’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Energy needs have driven Tokyo to explore cooperation with Moscow again, which could make Europe ‘uncomfortable’

Energy needs have driven Tokyo to explore cooperation with Moscow again, which could make Europe ‘uncomfortable’