Japan–Kosovo relations are foreign relations between Japan and

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

declared its independence from

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

on February 17, 2008, and Japan recognized it on March 18, 2008. According to the

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organi ...

, Japan and Kosovo established diplomatic relations on February 25, 2009.Japan–Kosovo Relations (Basic Data)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

History

Dr.

Sadako Ogata , was a Japanese academic, diplomat, author, administrator, and professor emerita at the Roman Catholic Sophia University. She was widely known as the head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 1991 to ...

, the late Japanese-born UN High Commissioner for Refugees, issued an official statement in November 1998, which revealed the violence and abuse that civilians in

faced every day and an estimated 175,000 people remained displaced inside Kosovo. She demonstrated on the report a lasting commitment to protect Kosovar refugees and returnees and to seek solutions to relevant problems there. In order to cease the appalling violence and to regain peace and prosperity in Kosovo as soon as possible, the

Government of Japan The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary stat ...

declared in April 1999 to provide assistance to international organizations and the neighboring countries which accepted numerous Kosovar refugees, including the UNHCR,

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

and Macedonia. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, and Japan recognized it on March 18, 2008. Japan is the third

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

country which recognized the Republic of Kosovo after

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. Embassy of Kosovo was opened in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

on July 16, 2010. On the other hand, Japan had no embassy in

Prishtina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

until January 1, 2020.

Japanese Prime Minister The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

, the most long-standing Prime Minister in the entire history of Japan, proposed the launch of the ''Western Balkans Cooperation Initiative'' on his visit to several

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...

an countries in January 2018. Despite the fact that he did not visit Kosovo at that time, the scheme emphasized that Japan would strengthen bilateral assistance, support regional cooperation and establish new embassies to the Western Balkan countries including the Republic of Kosovo. As a part of the initiative, two years later, Embassy of Japan was opened in Prishtina.

High-level visits

High-level visits from Japan to Kosovo

* December 1999: Foreign Minister

Yōhei Kōno is a Japanese politician and a former President of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from November 2003 until August 2009, when the LDP lost its majority in the 2009 election. Kōno served as sp ...

Japan–Kosovo Relations
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, dated June 2009 * April 2005: Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs

Itsunori Onodera is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). He served as the Minister of Defense from 2012 to 2014 and again from 2017 to 2018. Early life and educat ...

* May 2006: Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Akiko Yamanaka * September 2009: Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Kazuyuki Hamada * February 2018: Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs

Manabu Horii is a Japanese politician and former speed skater. He won an Olympic bronze medal in 1994, and also competed in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics. He ended his speed skating career in 2002. Horii represents Noboribetsu in the Hokkaido prefectural asse ...

* February 2019: State Minister for Foreign Affairs

Toshiko Abe is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Miyagi Prefecture, she attended Miyagi Gakuin Women's Junior College and Mitsui Memorial Hospit ...

High-level visits from Kosovo to Japan

: (February 2000:

UNMIK The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is the officially mandated mission of the United Nations in Kosovo. The UNMIK describes its mandate as being to "help the United Nations Security Council achieve an overall ...

Special Representative Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

Bernard Kouchner) * April 2004:

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Bajram Rexhepi Bajram Rexhepi (3 June 1954 – 21 August 2017), was a Kosovar politician who served as the first elected post-war prime minister and later as interior minister of Kosovo and as a member of the Kosovo Assembly. He was a member of the second large ...

* December 2011:

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

Enver Hoxhaj Enver Hoxhaj (born 4 October 1969) is a Kosovar politician.https://www.kuvendikosoves.org/shq/kryesia/ He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo and a Former Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo. Career Hoxhaj ser ...

and Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Dardan Gashi * June 2012: Prime Minister

Hashim Thaçi Hashim Thaçi (; born 24 April 1968) is a Kosovar Albanian politician who was the president of Kosovo from April 2016 until his resignation on 5 November 2020 to face a war crimes tribunal. He was the first prime minister of Kosovo and the For ...

with Minister of Foreign Affairs Enver Hoxhaj, Minister of Education, Science and Technology and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Bedri Hamza * September 2013: Bernard Nikaj with Chief Executive at Investment Promotion Agency Valdrin Lluka * October 2013: Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ramë Buja * April 2014: Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi with Minister of Finance and Minister of Trade and Industry Bernard Nikaj * March 2018: First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Behgjet Pacolli Behgjet Isa Pacolli ; sh, Behđet Isa Pacoli. (born 30 August 1951) is a Kosovar Albanian politician and businessman who served as the first deputy prime minister of Kosovo and minister of foreign affairs from 2017 to 2019 under the Ramush Hara ...

with Valdrin Lluka * March 2019: Chairman of Kosovo Assembly

Kadri Veseli Kadri Veseli (born 31 May 1967) is a Kosovar politician, former Chairman of the Assembly of Kosovo and the Kosovo Intelligence Service. He is the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo. Veseli was one of the founders and leaders of the Kosovo ...

* September 2019:

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Hashim Thaçi * October 2019: President Hashim Thaçi * July 2021: President

Vjosa Osmani Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu (born 17 May 1982) is a Kosovar Albanian jurist and politician serving as the 5th and current President of Kosovo since 4 April 2021. Born in former Yugoslavia and raised in the city then known as Titova Mitrovica, today th ...

Sports

Judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

, a Japanese origin

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

, included into the Summer Olympic Games as an official sport for men in 1964 and for women in 1992. Kosovo Judo Federation was accepted into the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

and the

European Judo Union The EJU consists of 51 national Judo federations/associations, and is itself recognised by the IJF as one of five continental unions. The organisation of the administration of Judo is based on a pyramid system of regulations, with the IJF the wo ...

in 2012. Kosovar-Albanian judoka

Majlinda Kelmendi Majlinda Kelmendi (; born 9 May 1991) is a Kosovan-Albanian former judoka and judo coach. In 2014, Majlinda topped the IJF Women's Prestige World Ranking List. On 7 August 2016, she became the first Kosovan athlete to win a medal at the Olymp ...

achieved a great success and victory by winning the first gold medal for Kosovo at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. Kosovan judoka

Distria Krasniqi Distria Krasniqi (; born 10 December 1995) is a Kosovar judoka. She received a gold medal in the women's 48-kg judo competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In August 2021, she was awarded the Honor of the Nation Decoration of Alban ...

won the gold medal in women's under 48kg competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 due to the global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

; it is the first gold medal for Kosovo at the

Tokyo 2020 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

and the second for Kosovo at the Olympic Games.Tokyo 2020 - Krasniqi and Takato Open the Ball

References

External links

Embassy of Japan in Kosovo

Embassy of Kosovo in Japan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Japan-Kosovo relations Japan