From the beginning of 2008, Ukrainian-Japanese relations have improved significantly, with regular exchanges between the two countries sponsored by groups such as InvestUkraine, the Ukrainian-Japanese center and the Japan External Trade Organization. On March 25, 2009, Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine, visited Japan and met with Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan. In a joint statement, they welcomed cooperation in trade, investment and energy conservation, and discussed the effect of the recent economic crisis among other topics. The balance of trade between Ukraine and Japan is heavily weighed in favor of Ukraine, with Japan exporting steel pipe and automobiles and importing aluminum and food products. In a different form of trade, on July 15, 2008 Japan, a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, agreed to buy greenhouse-gas emission allowances from Ukraine to reach a target set under the U.N. climate-change treaty. The deal was finalized on March 26, 2009 Japan also has assisted Ukrainian educational and cultural institutions financially in the amount of more than US$4.3 million in the 1998 till 2009 period. Moreover, Japan provided Ukraine with grants of more than $151.8 million.
Japan's support for the integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine
Japan has reflected that they are a staunch ally to Ukraine in the midst of the 2014 Crimean Crisis. The Japanese government placed sanctions on Russia, although it has been noted that the sanctions were designed in a way to have no real effect and that the Japanese government did not want to jeopardize its relations with Russia. Tokyo criticized Russia, saying that Russia is violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. In addition, the Japanese government has stated that they are willing to provide Ukraine with US$1.5 billion in financial aid when Kyiv agrees to accept and enact various IMF reforms.
President Viktor Yushchenko visited in July 2005, where he discussed among other things the Chernobyl clean-up program. On October 30, 2011, the Japanese government raised the number of workers at the Japanese embassy in Kiev from 30 to 36, in order to learn more about how Ukraine was dealing with the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, as Japan is still in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
