Politics, Security and Human Rights

Finding solutions together
© Chris Stowers, Panos

Establishing the preconditions for inclusive, open societies and multilateral cooperation are among the cornerstones of Dutch foreign policies. To this end, we work together with national governments, international multilateral platforms, non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) and local public and private initiatives in Japan.

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For information on our LGBTIQ+ policy, click here

Indo Pacific Cooperation

PM Dick Schoof and PM Shigeru Ishiba meeting to discuss the 2025 JP-NL action plan
The Netherlands has major economic and geopolitical interests in the Indo-Pacific region. Upholding the international legal order, promoting free trade, protecting human rights, and finding solutions for global challenges such as climate change can only be effectively tackled in conjunction with this region. Against the backdrop of the increasing geopolitical importance of the Indo-Pacific, the Netherlands issued its own Indo-Pacific Guidelines. In order to realize the goals of these guidelines, the Netherlands is actively engaging and cooperating with the government of Japan, both through the EU and bilaterally. For more information, click here

NL/Minato and Shibaura House

The Embassy of the Netherlands partners with Shibaura House to form NL/Minato, an educational platform in Tokyo to organise events for and with the local community. Shibaura House, a private initiative, aims to offer a safe space where people can openly share their thoughts and creativity about topics such as creating an inclusive society, LGBTI, gender and media. For more information, visit the website of NL/minato.

Pride House Tokyo Legacy

The Embassy of the Netherlands is a special supporter of Pride House Tokyo, a diversity pop-up information center for LGBTI-people and other sexual minorities during the Olympic Games 2020/2021 in Tokyo. In cooperation with its partners, Pride House Tokyo aims to create a permanent safe space for the next generation of LGBTI youth. For more information, go to Pride House Tokyo’s website

Shared history and commemoration of World War II

The Netherlands and Japan work together to commemorate and facilitate reconciliation regarding the World War II-history. Dutch prisoners of war endured great hardship or lost their lives while interned in Japanese camps. In order to stimulate of reconciliation, the government of Japan annually invites a group of former POWs to visit Japan. The Embassy of the Netherlands supports that initiative.

In addition, the Embassy works with local partners to highlight the story of Jan Zwartendijk and Chiune Sugihara. During World War II, a Dutch and Japanese diplomat played a vital, yet often overlooked, role in saving thousands of Jews from persecution in Lithuania. At great personal risk and sometimes having to ignore diplomatic instructions and rules Jan Zwartendijk and Chiune Sugihara provided these refugees with visas that allowed them to escape Nazi-persecution.