[2] In 1887, the sailing route for steamships between Yokohama and Vancouver was opened,[4] with vessels in the ocean service of the Canadian Pacific Railway making regular voyages.

[5] One of these Canadian ships, the RMS Empress of Australia and her captain, Samuel Robinson, RNR gained international acclaim because of rescue efforts undertaken after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

Two fighter squadrons of the Royal Canadian Air Force also saw active service over the Aleutians, and claimed one aerial victory over a Japanese aircraft.

Canadian representatives returned to Tokyo in 1946 in the wake of Japan's unconditional surrender to allied forces after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It was at Canada's initiative that Japan was admitted membership to the Colombo Plan conference that convened in Ottawa in 1954, the same year the bilateral Agreement Concerning Commerce was sealed.

Similarly, Canada demonstrated strong support for Japan's admission to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1963.

[11] Since the 1950s, Japan and Canada have concluded a number of bilateral agreements concerning fishery, trade, aviation, postal service, atomic energy, and culture.

After the 1960s, Prime Ministers Nobusuke Kishi, Hayato Ikeda, Kakuei Tanaka, Masayoshi Ohira, Zenko Suzuki, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Noboru Takeshita, Toshiki Kaifu, Tomiichi Murayama, Ryutaro Hashimoto, Keizo Obuchi, Yoshiro Mori and Junichiro Koizumi visited Canada.

Canadian Prime Ministers John Diefenbaker, Pierre Trudeau, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, and Paul Martin visited Japan.

[11] During this period, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney offered an apology in the House of Commons for the unjust treatment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II.

As a response to Japanese-Canadian internment, Prime Minister Mulroney and the National Association of Japanese Canadians' President Art Miki signed the Redress Agreement to settle past historical issues in 1988.

[11] In 2008, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was received at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, marking the 80th anniversary of the start of formal diplomatic relations between Canada and Japan.

[12] In March 2011, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper writes and sends condolences book to millions of Japanese people and Prime Minister Naoto Kan, following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, in Chubu, Kanto and Tohoku region including Tokyo was affected and blackout.

Both countries are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, CPTPP, G7 and G20 major economies, OECD, United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and among others.