Vietnam's top leader, To Lam, arrived in Tokyo on Sunday for a four-day official visit to Japan, opening a trip aimed at deepening cooperation between the two countries on security, trade and technology.

Lam, who is General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President of Vietnam, travelled with his wife, Ngo Phuong Ly, and a high-level Vietnamese delegation. They were welcomed at Haneda International Airport by Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nakasone, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki and Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu, along with officials from the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Japan.

The visit runs from 8 to 11 November, at the invitation of the Japanese government. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would be Lam's first official visit to Japan as a current officeholder. Vietnamese officials have also described it as the first visit to Japan by a Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary in 11 years.

During the stay, Lam is to make a state call on Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, who will host a court luncheon in his honour. He will also hold talks with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, meet the presidents of both houses of Japan's parliament, and meet leaders of Japanese economic organisations and major companies.

He is also due to speak at a Vietnam-Japan public-private forum on economic and science-technology cooperation and to visit a high-technology enterprise, according to the programme set out before the trip by Vietnamese officials.

The visit returns an earlier exchange. Takaichi visited Vietnam in May, when she met Lam in Hanoi and invited him to visit Japan during 2026. The two leaders agreed at that time to coordinate the timing of a visit, and the Japanese foreign ministry said the November trip would be a meaningful opportunity to strengthen cooperation under the two countries' Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World.

That partnership covers security as well as economic and economic-security matters, according to the ministry. The visit comes at a time when both countries have been placing greater emphasis on supply chains, advanced technology and regional stability, and when Japan has been working to deepen ties with Southeast Asian partners.

Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic relations on 21 September 1973. Over more than five decades, the relationship has moved from aid and basic trade towards investment, manufacturing, technology and people-to-people exchanges, with large Vietnamese and Japanese business communities now active in each other's countries.

Vietnamese officials said before the trip that the visit carried three main strategic aims: setting the overall direction for relations in the period ahead, strengthening regional cooperation and economic security, and expanding exchanges between the two peoples. They said leaders would identify long-term cooperation priorities that matched the development needs of both countries.

For Japan, the visit is also part of a wider diplomatic calendar in the region. Takaichi's government has sought to maintain close contact with Southeast Asian leaders, while Vietnam has been building partnerships that support its industrial and technology ambitions.

What is agreed in Tokyo, and what emerges from the business forum, will show how far the two sides are prepared to turn the partnership into concrete projects. For now, the arrival itself marks the start of the most senior Vietnamese visit to Japan in more than a decade, and a further step in a relationship both governments describe as a comprehensive strategic partnership.