Chronology

Name of an era Christian year Events of the Japanese-French relations Events of the world
Edo Period 1600
  • The Battle of Sekigahara
  • Foundation of the English East India Company
1602  
  • Foundation of the Dutch East India Company
1603
  • Foundation of the Tokugawa shogunate
 
1604
  • Foundation of the French East India Company
 
1615
  • The Summer Campaign of Osaka
  • The Hasekura mission landed on Saint-Tropez
 
1618  
  • Outbreak of the Thirty Years' War
1636
  • Missionary Guillaume Courtet infiltrated into Japan and the following year was martyred
 
1642  
  • Beginning of the Puritan Revolution
1648  
  • The Peace of Westphalia
1661  
  • Beginning of the direct rule by Louis XIV
1662  
  • Overthrow of the Ming dynasty
1688  
  • The Glorious Revolution
1689  
  • The Treaty of Nerchinsk
1702
  • The Forty-Seven Ronin Incident
 
1716
  • Beginning of the Kyoho Reforms
 
1765  
  • Steam engine improvement by James Watt
1776  
  • The United States Declaration of Independence
1782  
  • Completion of the Siku Quanshu
1787
  • Northeast Asian Expedition by Jean François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
  • Beginning of the Kansei Reforms
 
1789  
  • The French Revoluion and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
1791  
  • The Constitution of 1791
1792
  • The Imperial Russian delegate Adam Laxman visited Japan
 
1804  
  • Promulgation of the Code Napoleon
  • Beginning of the First French Empire
1808
  • The Phaeton Incident
 
1811
  • Tokugawa shogunate founded the translation department at the astronomical observatory
 
1815  
  • The Hundred Days of Napoleon and beginning of the Restauration
1823
  • Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold came to Japan
  • Issuance of the Monroe Doctrine
1824
  • Order for the Repelling of Foreign Ships
 
1830  
  • The July Revolution
1837
  • The Tempo Uprising
 
1839
  • Imprisonment of the Companions of Western Studies
 
1840  
  • The First Opium War
1841
  • Beginning of the Tempo Reforms
 
1844
  • The French battleship Alcmene visited to Ryukyu Islands
 
1848  
  • The February Revolution
1851  
  • Outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion
  • President Louis Napoleon launched a coup and the following year established the Second French Empire
1853
  • US naval officer Matthew Calbraith Perry sailed to Japan and the following year the Kanagawa Treaty was signed
  • Outbreak of the Crymian War
1856  
  • Outbreak of the Arrow War
1857
  • Tokugawa shogunate founded the Institute for the Investigation of Western Books
 
1858
  • Tokugawa shogunate concluded the Treaties of Amity and Commerce with the US, France, etc.
  • The Ansei Purge
 
1859
  • Opening of the port of Kanagawa, Nagasaki and Hakodate
  • Charles Robert Darwin published On the Origin of Species
1860
  • Sakuradamongai Incident
 
1861  
  • Outbreak of the Civil War
1862
  • Tokugawa shogunate dispatched a delegation to Europe
 
1863
  • Choshu fired on Western ships
  • The Kagoshima Bombardment
  • The Institute for the Investigation of Western Books was reorganized into Kaisei-jo
 
1864
  • Tokugawa shogunate dispatched a delegation to France
  • MURAKAMI Eishun published Futsugo meiyō, the first full-blown French-Japanese dictionary
  • Léon Roche came to Japan as the French Minister
  • Shimonoseki Bombardment
 
1865
  • Conclution of the contract for contruction of the Yokosuka Shipyard between Tokugawa shogunate and France
 
1867
  • The first French military advisors came to Japan
  • Tokugawa shogunate dispatched the delegation headed by TOKUGAWA Akitake to the Paris International Exposition
  • Return of Political Rule to the Emperor
 
1868
  • FUKUZAWA Yukichi founded the Keio Gijuku
  • Kobe Incident and Sakai Incident
 
Meiji Era 1868
  • The Boshin Civil War
  • Opening the city of Tokyo and establishment of the Tsukiji Hotel
 
1869
  • Shizuoka Domain established the Numazu Military School
  • Completion of the Suez Canal
1870
  • Establishment of the Ministry of Engineering
  • SAMESHIMA Naonobu was dispatched to France
  • SAIONJI Kimmochi was ordered to go to France for study
  • Beginning of the Franco-Prussian War
1871
  • Establishment of the prefectural system
  • The Ministry of Finance published Kaishaben and Tachiai ryakusoku
  • The Iwakura Mission started and the following year reached France
  • Formation of the German Empire and the Paris Commune
1872
  • The second French military advisors came to Japan
  • Opening of the Tsukiji Seiyoken
  • The Education Order of 1872
  • Opening of the first railway (Shinbashi-Yokohama) and telegraph cable (Tokyo-Osaka)
  • The Ministry of Justice set up the Civil Code Council and invited Georges Hilaire Bousquet as a consultant
  • Completion of the Tomioka Silk Mill
  • Installation of gas lamps in Yokohama
  • Three workmen of Nishijin traveled to Lyon as the apprentice of Kyoto Prefecture
  • Establishment of the Taireifuku (court dress, full-dress uniform) by reference to French clothes
 
1873
  • Gustave Émile Boissonade came to Japan
  • The Conscription Ordinance of 1873
  • SHIBUSAWA Eiichi established the Dai-ichi Kokuritsu Ginko (First National Bank)
 
1874
  • The Petition for the Establishment of a Popularly elected Assembly
  • The Saga Rebellion
 
1875
  • FUKUZAWA Yukichi published Bunmeiron no gairyaku
  • The Imperial Edict of Incremental Establishment of the Constitutional Government
 
1876
  • Émile Guimet and Félix Régamey traveled in Japan
  • Ministry of Engineering established the Kobu Bijutsu Gakko
 
1877
  • Ministry of Engineering established the Akabane Engineering Agency
  • The Satsuma Rebellion
  • Eight apprentices of Kyoto Prefecture led by Léon Dury traveled to France
  • The Iwai Village Winery dispatched two apprentices to France
 
1878
  • The Paris International Exposition
  • Tokumei zenken taishi beiou kairan jikki was published
  • KAWASHIMA Chunosuke published Hachijūnichikan sekai isshū (Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours)
  • The Congress of Berlin
1879
  • Teremaku kafuku monogatari (Les Aventures de Télémaque) translated by MIYAJIMA Harumatsu came into publication
 
1880
  • Establishment of the Banshu Vineyard
 
1881
  • SAIONJI Kimmochi, NAKAE Chomin and others launched Tōyō jiyū shinbun
  • The Political Crisis of 1881 and the Imperial Mandate for Establishing the Diet
  • Inauguration of the Liberal Party
 
1882
  • NAKAE Chomin published Min'yaku yakkai
 
1883
  • Establishment of the Rokumeikan
 
1884
  • KURODA Seiki traveled to France
  • HAYASHI Tadamasa and WAKAI Kenzaburo established Wakai-Hayashi Company in Paris
  • TAKASHIMA Hokkai went to France for forest survey
  • Charles Leroux came to Japan as a member of the third military advisers
  • The Sino-French War
1885
  • Abolishment of the Ministry of Engineering
  • Pierre Loti visited Japan and cohabited with the model of Madame Chrysanthème
  • The wind-instrument music Fusō ka was composed by Charles Leroux and in later years was designated as the march of the Army
  • Judith Gautier published Poëmes de la libellule illustrated by YAMAMOTO Hosui
 
1886
  • The Foreign Minister INOUE Kaoru led to hold the International Conference on Revision of the Unequal Treaties
  • The Private Notification of the Women Clothes by the Miniser of Imperial Household
 
1887
  • Establishment of the Kyoto Weaving Company
  • MATSUOKA Hisashi traveled to France
  • Establishment of the French Indochina
1888
  • TAKASHIMA Hokkai received the Officier d'académie
 
1889
  • Promulgation of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan
  • At the Paris International Exposition MAEDA Masana managed Japanese delegation and the Eiffel Tower was completed
  • Beginning of the Civil Code controversy
  • ASAI Chu and other formed the Meiji Bijutsukai
  • TAKASHIMA Hokkai went to France again
 
1890
  • Promulgation of the Old Civil Code
  • The first general election of the member of the House of Representatives and establishment of the Imperial Diet
  • INABATA Katsutaro established the Inabata Dyestuff Company
 
1891
  • KURODA Seiki made the painting Dokusho (Reading)
  • Edmond Huot de Goncourt published Outamaro
  • IWAMURA Toru went to France to study
 
1892
  • Postponement of the enforcement of the Old Civil Code was determined
 
1893
  • Tomioka Silk Mill was surplused to the Mitsui Conglomerates
 
1894
  • Beginning of the Dreyfus Affaire
  • Exhibition of the works of Paul Renouard was held in Paris by HAYASHI Tadamasa
  • The Japanese-Sino War of 1894−1895
1895
  • Gustave Émile Boissonade returned to France
  • The Tripartite Intervention
  • The Treaty of Shimonoseki
  • Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the Cinematograph
1896
  • Partial promulgation of the New Civil Code
  • MORITA Shiken started to serialize the translation of Jules Verne's Deux ans de vacances on the magazine Shōnen sekai
  • KURODA Seiki and others formed the Hakubakai
 
1897
  • The first public viewing of the Cinematograph by INABATA Katsutaro
  • OKADA Saburosuke traveled to France
 
1898
  • Full promulgation and enforcement of the New Civil Code
  • Émile Zola released J'Accuse claiming Alfred Dreyfus' innocence
  • The Spanish-American War
  • The Fashoda incident
  • The Boer War
1900
  • ASAI Chu traveled to France
  • At the Paris International Exposition HAYASHI Tadamasa managed Japanese delegation and KAWAKAMI Otojiro and Sadayakko put a play on the stage
  • The Boxer Rebellion
1901
  • NAKAMURA Fusetsu and KANOKOGI Takeshiro traveled to France
  • YOSANO Akiko published poems Midaregami illustrated by FUJISHIMA Takeji
  • Meijibijutsukai dissolved
 
1902
  • KUROIWA Ruiko serialized the translation of Victor-Marie Hugo's Les Misérables on the newspaper Yorozu chōhō
  • Taiheiyogakai and Tomoekai were formed
  • The Japanese-Anglo Alliance
1903
  • OGIWARA Morie, NUMATA Ichiga and NAGAI Kenshi went to France to study
 
1904
  • Ito Kochoen released lead-free powder
  • The Japanese-Russo War
1905
  • ARISHIMA Ikuma and FUJISHIMA Takeji traveled to France
  • UEDA Bin published the anthology of translated poems Kaichōon
  • The Bloody Sunday
  • The Treaty of Portsmouth
1906
  • KOMATSU Kosuke composed the first Japanese opera Hagoromo
 
1907
  • NAGAI Kafu traveled to France
  • The Fine Arts Exhibition sponsored by Ministry of Education (Bunten) launched
 
1909
  • Banning of NAGAI Kafu's Furansu monogatari
 
1910  
  • Japan's annexation of Korea
1911
  • Execution of KOTOKU Shusui and other inmates of the High Treason Incident of 1910
  • Hakubakai dissolved
  • The Xinhai Revolution and formation of the Republic of China
1912
  • YOSANO Akiko traveled to France
 
Taisho Era 1912
  • Beginning of the controversy over the Emperor-as-Organ-of-the-State Theory
  • YOROZU Tetsugoro, KISHIDA Ryusei and others formed the Hyuzankai
 
1913
  • ISHIKAWA Sanshiro traveled to France
  • SHIMAZAKI Toson traveled to France
  • NAGAI Kafu published Sangoshū
  • Joseph Cotte founded the Athenee Francais
 
1914
  • YOSANO Tekkan and Akiko published Pari yori
  • Foundation of the Takarazuka Girl's Revue
  • Outbreak of the First World War
1915  
  • Japan posed the Twenty-One Demands to China
1917
  • KURODA Jutaro traveled to France
  • The Russian Revolution
1918
  • Japan's Siberian Intervention and the Rice Riots of 1918
 
1919
  • The Bunten was reorganized into the Imperial Fine Arts Academy Exhibition
  • SAIONJI Kimmochi, MAKINO Nobuaki and others were dispatched to the Paris Peace Conference and signed the Treaty of Versailles
  • The Samil Independence Movement and the May Fourth Movement
1920
  • TAKEBAYASHI Musoan traveled to France
  • NAGAI Kafu published Edo geijutsuron
  • Formation of the League of Nations
1921
  • SATSUMA Jirohachi debuted the society of Paris
  • Paul Claudel assumed his duties as Ambassador to Japan
  • NUMATA Ichiga went to France to study again.
 
1922
  • SHIMAZAKI Toson published Etoranzē
  • The exhibition of French contemporary arts started
  • Konchūki (Souvenirs Entomologiques) translated by OSUGI Sakae came into publication
  • OSUGI Sakae traveled to France on a false passport and the following year returned to be deported and published Nippon dasshutsuki
  • The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922
  • Establishment of the Fascist Italy
1923
  • The Tokyo Earthquake of 1923 and the killing of OSUGI Sakae and his family by military police
 
1924
  • Foundation of the Maison Franco-Japonaise
  • Immigration Act of 1924
1925
  • HAGIWARA Sakutaro composed Ryojo
  • HORIGUCHI Daigaku published Gekka no ichigun
  • KUKI Shuzo started to post poems on Myojō from Paris
  • Enactment of the General Election Law and the Peace Preservation Law
  • FUJISHIMA Takeji received the Officier de l'instruction publique.
 
Showa Era 1927
  • Foundation of the Franco-Japanese Institute of Kansai
  • Construction of the Japan House funded by SATSUMA Jirohachi
  • Paul Claudel left Japan and published Hyakusenchō
  • The Takarazuka Girl's Revue put their first revue Mon Paris on the stage
 
1928
  • TSUJI Jun and Makoto traveled to France
  • KANEKO Mitsuharu and MORI Michiyo started to roam around Asia and Europe
  • The Kellogg-Briand Pact
  • Start of the First Five-Year Plan in Soviet Union
1929
  • OKAMOTO Ippei, Kanoko and Taro traveled to France
  • Foundation of the Casino Folies
  • The World Crisis
1930
  • OKADA Saburosuke and Yachiyo traveled to France
  • KUKI Shuzo published Iki no kōzō
  • Konchūki (Souvenirs Entomologiques) translated by HAYASHI Tatsuo and YAMADA Yoshihiko came into publication
  • The Takarazuka Girl's Revue put Parisette on the stage
  • The London Naval Conferences
1931
  • HAYASHI Fumiko traveled to France
  • René Clair's Under the Roofs of Paris released in Japan
  • Foundation of the Moulin Rouge Shinjukuza Theater
  • NUMATA Ichiga receved Légion d'honneur.
  • The Manchurian Incident
1932
  • Lucienne Boyer's record Parlez-moi d'amour released in Japan
  • The May 15th Incident
 
1933
  • The Kyoto University Incident of 1933
  • Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations
  • René Clair's Quatorze Juillet released in Japan
  • Establishment of the Nazi Germany
  • Start of the New Deal program
1934
  • MATSUO Kuninosuke and others launched the magazine France-Japon in Paris
 
1935
  • The Emperor-as-Organ-of-the-State Theory Incident
 
1936
  • The February 26th Incident
  • YOKOMITSU Riichi traveled to France
  • The Berlin Olympic Games
1937  
  • The Marco Polo Bridge Incident and outbreak of the Japanese-Sino War of 1937−1945
1938
  • Enactment of the National Mobilization Law
  • Julien Duvivier's Un carnet de bal released in Japan
 
1939  
  • Outbreak of the Second World War
1940
  • France's occupation by Nazi Germany and establishment of the Vichy France
  • Charles de Gaulle founded the Free French Forces and the French Resistance started action
  • Japanese occupation of North Indochina
  • Foundation of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association
  • The Tripartite Pact by Japan, Germany, and Italy
1941
  • Japanese occupation of South Indochina
  • The Attack on Pearl Harbor and outbreak of the Pacific War
 
1944
  • The Liberation of Paris
 
1945
  • Agreement of the Potsdam Declaration
  • Beginning of the American Occupation reforms
  • Surrender of Germany and Japan
  • Establishment of the United Nations
1946
  • Promulgation of the Constitution of Japan
  • Beginning of the Indochina War
1949  
  • Foundation of the People's Republic of China
1950
  • MORI Arimasa traveled to France as one of the first French government-sponsored fellows in the postwar
  • Beginning of the Korean War
1951
  • KATO Shuichi traveled to France for a research fellowship
  • The chanson café Gimpari opened
  • The San Francisco Peace Treaty
1952
  • Marcel Carné's Les Enfants du Paradis released in Japan
 
1953
  • NAITO Aro published the translation of Le Petit Prince
 
1955  
  • The Bandung Conference
1956
  • KATO Shuichi published Zasshu bunka
  • Japan's admission to the United Nations
  • Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences
  • The Suez War
  • Japanese-Soviet Joint Declaration
  • The Hungarian Rising
1959
  • French government returned the Matsukata Collection to Japan
  • The Cuban Revolution
1960
  • Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle released in Japan
 
1962  
  • The Cuban Crisis
1963
  • Alain Delon visited Japan
  • The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
1964
  • The Tokyo Olympic Games
 
1965  
  • Beginning of the bombing of North Vietnam
  • Japan-Korea Treaty of 1965
1966
  • Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir visited Japan
  • The China's Cultural Revolution
1967  
  • The 1967 Arab–Israeli War
1968  
  • The Prague Spring and the May 1968 events in France
1969  
  • Lunar landing of the Apollo 11 rocket
1970
  • The Japan World Exposition, Osaka 1970
  • Roland Barthes published L'empire des signes
  • The fashion magazine, an・an Elle Japon was launched
  • TAKADA Kenzo debuted in the Paris Collection
  • Becoming law of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
1972
  • Paul Bocuse visited Japan
  • Okinawa's reversion to Japanese administration
  • IKEDA Riyoko's comic, The Rose of Versailles was started
  • US President Richard Nixon visited China and Japan-China Joint Communique of 1972 was released
1973
  • Close down of the Ikuno Mine
  • KANEKO Mitsuharu published Nemure pari
  • The 1973 Arab–Israeli War and the Oil Crisis
1974
  • Takarazuka Revue Company performed The Rose of Versailles for the first time
 
1975
  • KATO Shuichi published Nihon bungakushi josetsu (A history of Japanese literature)
  • The Rambouillet Summit
  • The end of the Vietnam War
1978  
  • The Japan-China Peace and Amity Treaty
1979  
  • The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
1980  
  • The Iran-Iraq War
1986
  • The Sumo Stand in Paris
 
1987
  • Katakura Industries closed down the Tomioka Silk Mill
 
Heisei Era 1989  
  • The Tiananmen Square Incident
  • Democratization of Eastern Europe and collapse of the Berlin Wall
1990
  • OTOMO Katsuhiro's comic, Akira became popular in France
 
1991  
  • The Gulf War
  • Dissolution of the Soviet Union
1992  
  • The Treaty of Maastricht
1994
  • Opening of the Chanel Ginza
 
1995
  • In Japan protests against the nuclear test conducted by France were raised
 
1996
  • Franco-Japanese Forum started
 
1997
  • Opening of the Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris
 
1999
  • Renault affiliated Nissan
 
2000
  • Japan expo started
 
2001  
  • The 9.11 terrorist attacks and the War in Afghanistan
2003  
  • The Iraq War
2007
  • Release of Michelin Guide Tokyo
 
2008
  • 150th anniversary of Japanese-French relations
 
2014
  • The Tomioka Silk Mill was registered on the World Heritage List