On the basis of this bilateral treaty, a Belgian vice consulate was established in Yokohama on 28 March 1867, headed by the Dutch businessman Maurice Lejeune.

In the late 1860s, Belgium was represented by the Dutch minister-resident Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, who was also able to negotiate bilateral trade treaties with Japan.

[3] T'Kint de Roodenbeek was succeeded by Emile Moulron in July 1872, who continued to act as vice consul in Yokohama till October 1878.

Charles de Groote left for Belgium in March 1878 but returned to Yokohama as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in December 1879.

The relationship of Charles de Groote with the Japanese authorities turned sour in 1881 due to the so-called Hota case.

The new minister resident of the King of the Belgians to Japan, Baron Albert d'Anethan [fr], arrived in Yokohama in October 1893.

[13] Albert de Bassompierre was succeeded as Belgian ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Japan by Pierre Attilio Forthomme in November 1939.

[14] After the surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) took over Japanese sovereignty till April 1952.

[citation needed] Baron Guy Daufresne de la Chevalerie became the Belgian military representative in Tokyo in October 1946.

[16] During the tenures of Herremans and du Bois, Japan and Belgium prepared the legal framework for the further growth of their economic relations, leading to the Benelux-Japan Commercial Agreement of 8 October 1960 and an additional protocol of 30 April 1963.

[19] During the 1970s and 1980s, the Belgian ambassadors R. Dooreman (1974–77), Herman Dehennin (1978–1981), J. Verwilghen (1981–85), and Marcel Depasse (1985–88) [6] witnessed the strong growth of the Japanese economy, despite two oil shocks in the 1970s.

[20] By the time Baron Patrick Nothomb started his 9-year term of office in 1988,[6] Japan had established itself as the world's second-largest economy.

This trend, with some ups and downs, basically remained the same during the tenures of the next Belgian ambassadors, Gustaaf Dierckx (1997–2002), Jean-Francois Branders (2002–2006), and Johan Maricou (born 2006),[22] even though the bubble economy in Japan was followed by the Lost Decade in the 1990s.

The Japanese press kept its focus on Belgium for 7 months, resulting in an unexpected free promotion platform favouring the relations between the two countries.

[25] During Jean-François Branders’ term Belgium participated to the World Expo 2005 in Aichi from March to September 2005,[26] and Johan Maricou had to oversee the construction of a new embassy building in Tokyo (2007–2009).