As Türkiye left behind 2024, marking the 100th anniversary of its diplomatic relations with Japan, it not only held various events and official visits but also set a new export record of $717.6 million (TL 27.27 billion).
The goal for 2025 is to further strengthen these relations through joint efforts.
Türkiye completed the first century of its diplomatic relations with Japan – classified under its "Far Countries Strategy" – by enhancing cooperation in trade, investment and tourism.
In recent years, mutual visits and economic cooperation meetings between the two countries have increased. Last year, Japan’s Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko paid an official visit to Türkiye as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of Turkish-Japanese diplomatic ties. Following this visit, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş also visited Japan last month.
Amid this acceleration of high-level diplomatic exchanges, trade diplomacy has also gained momentum.
In this context, the 27th Türkiye-Japan Business Council Joint Meeting was held in Tokyo last year. Consequently, a flurry of these engagements has been reflected in Türkiye’s export figures to Japan, which increased in the past five years.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Turkish exports to Japan stood at $441.2 million. By 2022, this figure had increased to $664.4 million. And last year, exports surged by 62.6% compared to 2020, reaching a record-high of $717.6 million.
On the other hand, imports from Japan slightly declined last year, dropping to $4.7 billion. As a result, the trade volume between the two countries reached approximately $5.5 billion in the centennial year.
At the same time, as Türkiye and Japan focus on strengthening tourism cooperation, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Türkiye has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
In 2018, some 81,931 Japanese tourists visited the country, and this figure rose to 103,320 in 2019. However, due to the pandemic, it dropped to a modest 19,122 in 2020 and further declined to 7,153 in 2021.
With the easing of pandemic restrictions, the number rebounded to 30,610 in 2022 and further increased to 78,782 in 2023. Last year, the number of Japanese visitors reached 134,697, marking the highest figure in the previous decade.
Ahmet Çalık, the president of the Türkiye-Japan Business Council of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the Far Countries Strategy aims to increase Türkiye's share in Japan’s supply chains and imports.
Highlighting the importance of strengthening partnerships between Turkish and Japanese companies, Çalık noted that enhancing the perception of Turkish brands and reinforcing the quality image of Turkish products in Japan would contribute to this goal.
He pointed out that when "re-export" is factored into trade relations, the trade balance between Türkiye and Japan is not as skewed as it appears.
Çalık emphasized that both countries are already collaborating in sectors such as construction, infrastructure, health care, automotive, food, steel, tunnels and roads.
"There is a common interest and demand from Turkish and Japanese parties for joint projects to be carried out both in our country and in third countries. Japanese companies are also highly interested in this issue. Japanese public representatives frequently share with their Turkish counterparts their interest in carrying out joint projects and strengthening cooperation in geographies such as Europe, Ukraine, the Middle East and Central Asia and Africa," Çalık said.
Also, drawing attention to the fact that Türkiye exports mainly to Europe, he said: "We estimate that our country, which strengthens its European ties with the Customs Union, can become a logistics, production and service center for Japanese companies."
Providing information on the investments, he said there is "approximately $3.5 billion of investments of more than 250 Japanese companies in Türkiye."
"Efforts are ongoing to make more Japanese investments in Türkiye. The conclusion of the Economic Partnership Agreement, which is currently under negotiation between Türkiye and Japan, in a way that is in the interest of both countries, will make a significant contribution to mutual investment decisions," he added.
"We believe that the upcoming period is of critical importance for new investment decisions. It is important for Japanese investors to evaluate Türkiye in strategic and high value-added, intensive technology and R&D-focused areas. We frequently tell our Japanese counterparts that Türkiye has high potential in these areas," he further said.
Çalık also stated that various meetings will be held in 2025, with plans to have the 28th term Türkiye-Japan Business Council joint meeting in October and that the Türkiye-Japan Energy Forum is also planned to be held in Türkiye.
He also touched upon the launch of All Nippon Airways (ANA) direct flights from Tokyo to Istanbul, describing it as the "most important development in tourism recently."
"The fact that ANA flights have also started operating together with Turkish Airlines will contribute to the arrival of more Japanese tourists and business people in our country. Therefore, there is a lot of potential in many tourism branches such as culture, gastrotourism and history between the two countries," he noted.
