On 23 June 2023, IRSEM Director Marjorie Vanbaelinghem, accompanied by Carine Pina (China researcher) and Océane Zubeldia (Drones, Industry and Innovation researcher) had the honour of welcoming a Japanese delegation, MP Hiroyuki Miyazawa and Lieutnant General Masahito Goto, along with four Japanese other participants. The meeting, organised at the request of the Japanese embassy in Paris, provided an opportunity to discuss changes in threat perceptions in France and Japan, including the impact of the war in Ukraine, Japan's new strategic security and defence priorities, the strengthening of European defence, the Indo-Pacific, and the continuity of the Franco-Japanese partnership.

IRSEM works closely with its Japanese counterpart, the National Institute for Defence Studies (NIDS), with which it has a thriving partnership which consists of joint publications and regular exchanges of researchers. Recent IRSEM publications on Japanese defense include three articles: "The Japanese and their self-defence forces today" by Marjorie Vanbaelinghem and Alice Ortega; "Japan’s increasingly active self-defense strategy: what are the implications for France?" by Guibourg Delamotte et CV François Duhomez and "Japan's nuclear latency: a dual-use diplomatic lever?" by Timothée Albessard.