Viet Nam and Japan established diplomatic relations on September 21, 1973 and lifted the bilateral ties to strategy partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia in March 2014.

Japan has become one of Viet Nam's top partners and the first G7 country to recognize Viet Nam's market economy status (in October 2011).

The Northeast Asian country is also the biggest ODA provider, the third largest investor, and the fourth trade partner of Viet Nam.

The two-way trade reached US$427 billion last year and US$11.2 billion in the first three months of 2022, up 11 percent against the same period last year.

As of March 20, 2022, Japanese investors pledged to pour US$64.410  billion in 4,828 projects.