Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is scheduled to visit South Africa on 4 May as part of an Africa tour. The trip aims to strengthen ties amid global instability and secure critical minerals supply chains. Japan’s ambassador Fumio Shimizu highlighted recent high-level exchanges between Tokyo and Pretoria.
Japan and South Africa are intensifying relations against a backdrop of global turbulence. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi’s visit on 4 May forms part of a tour including Zambia, Angola, and Kenya. Japan’s ambassador to South Africa, Fumio Shimizu, described the trip as essential for bolstering ties with the Global South “to strengthen and maintain the international order based on the rule of law” amid shifting power balances.
Shimizu pointed to recent high-level exchanges, including President Cyril Ramaphosa’s attendance at Ticad 9 in Yokohama in August, Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s March visit to Japan, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s trip to Johannesburg in November for South Africa’s G20 summit. Cooperation focuses on critical minerals and green energy, with memorandums signed in September 2023 on green hydrogen and ammonia, and in November 2025 on decarbonisation. Joint ventures include the Northern Cape Green Hydrogen Project and a hydrogen plant in Gqeberha.
Tokyo seeks predictable supply chains for minerals, where Japanese firms already engage deeply in trade. Shimizu acknowledged South Africa’s beneficiation priorities but noted no specific projects yet, though the topic featured in Ticad 9 and G20 statements. Japanese companies, numbering about 260 including auto manufacturers, invested R70-billion in 2024 despite concerns over infrastructure and crime.
On trade, South Africa eyes greater agricultural exports to Japan, though tariff hurdles persist on wine and citrus. Defence ties continue through peacekeeping exchanges and joint drills, such as the July 2024 naval exercise in Cape Town. Shimizu stressed Japan’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, values he said resonate with South Africa.
