The French and Japanese have had warm diplomatic relations for around five hundred years. The introduction of Japanese ambassador Hasekura Tsunenaga roughly around the year 1616 to the French land was an accidental visit that initiated the foreign relations of France with Japan. The founder and Director General Francois Caron of the French East India Company first visited Japan a few years later. During this period, he worked as an ordinary employee in the Dutch East India Company in Japan, and over the time became the director of the company before founding the French East India Company.

The foreign relations of France with Japan had remained strained for a period of over one hundred years following the assassination of a French priest assumed to reach Japan with the intention of spreading Christianity. The diplomatic relations resumed and grew only during the second half of the nineteenth century, when the treaty between the two countries was agreed and signed in the year 1858. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the bilateral relations between France and Japan developed as there were embassies sent by both the countries to each other states.

Several agreements between these two countries led the way to developments in diverse segments which include, but are not limited to: the military, the automobile industry, aerospace, agro based industries and metallurgy. This was the reason that the first automobile on Japanese soil was brought from France, the first tram in Japan came from France and the first high tech silk manufacturing plant was set up in Japan with the help of a French engineer. Though there were several progressive steps taken together by both countries, there were considerable frictions with the local groups that however minimized with time.

The trends of exchange of ideas, technology and support to each other continued further to strengthen the foreign relations of France with Japan. In the twentieth century, major transfer of technology took place from France to Japan in the field of aerospace. This included both the passenger aircraft and fighter jets. In the second half of the twentieth century and later, a cultural exchange between France and Japan started in the fields of cuisine, music, art, painting and cinema. Some of the latest creations of art in Japan show a strong influence of French culture. Also, there have been bilateral ties for the development of supersonic aircraft and power generators run through nuclear reactors.
The foreign relations of France with Japan have developed not only on economical and cultural front but also in the area of social causes. Both countries have also come together to eradicate AIDS from underdeveloped and poor countries around the world.