He graduated from the Department of Western European Languages and Literature at Tbilisi State University in 1971 and worked there until 1974.

He served as Deputy Chair of the National Security Council from November 1992 to June 1994, and as Ambassador of Georgia to the United States, Canada and Mexico from July 1994 to March 2002.

[1] After the bloodless Rose Revolution, which brought Eduard Shevardnadze's presidency to an end, Japaridze served as a foreign minister in the new government from November 30, 2003, to March 18, 2004.

After leaving the government service, he was secretary-general of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) from November 2004 to April 2005 and president of the U.S.-Caucasus Institute in Tbilisi.

After this he joined the ranks of the opposition Georgian Dream party, founded by the tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili.