In the previous papers of this Journal no. 22(March 2014), no.31(March 2018), and no.41(March 2021), the author discussed the development of bilateral relations between Japan and Vietnam from 2002 to 2013, from 2014 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2017 respectively.

Following them, the First Section of this paper describes the major events in 2018, including President Tran Dai Quang’s state visit to Japan as well as various events commemorating the 45^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In the Second Section, the author describes the major events in 2019, including PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Japan to attend the G20 Osaka Summit. In the Third Section, the author describes various contacts between the two nations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the previous papers of this Journal no. 22(March 2014) and no.31(March 2018), the author discussed the development of bilateral relations between Japan and Vietnam from 2002 to 2013 and from 2014 to 2015 respectively.

The first section of this paper summarizes what the author has discussed in the previous papers. In the second section, he describes the major events in 2016, including Vietnam’s new Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Japan in May. And in the third section, he describes the major events in 2017, including Japanese Emperor and Empress’ visit to Vietnam in February–March.

In the concluding section, the author points out some major factors which have contributed to the recent development of close relationship between the two nations.