By Katsuhiro Asagiri
ASTANA/Tokyo (INPS Japan) — Built on the vast steppes of Central Asia, Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, is often described as a city of the future. Its glass-and-steel towers and monumental architecture reflect the aspirations of a young state determined to define its place.
For Japan, Astana is more than a distant capital. The city’s master plan was shaped in part by the late Kisho Kurokawa, one of Japan’s leading architects, whose vision sought to combine Kazakhstan’s nomadic heritage, harsh natural environment and state-building ambitions with forward-looking urban design. Today, that historical connection is expanding into cooperation on smart cities, green technologies, energy security and the shared pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons.
On May 22, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in Astana to discuss cooperation in smart city development, digital technologies, finance, education, emergency response and sustainable urban management. Tokyo, one of the world’s most densely populated metropolitan areas, has developed advanced systems in public safety, disaster preparedness, transportation and administrative services. For rapidly growing Astana, Tokyo’s experience offers a valuable reference point.
Tokayev praised Tokyo as one of the world’s safest and most efficiently managed cities and expressed Kazakhstan’s interest in Japan’s smart city initiatives. Cooperation between Tokyo and Astana points to a broader form of urban diplomacy, in which cities work directly together to address shared challenges such as climate change, disaster risk, administrative efficiency and energy use.
Yet the deepening relationship cannot be explained by urban cooperation alone. Behind it lies a more urgent geopolitical concern: instability in the Middle East and the resulting anxiety over energy security.
Japan has long depended heavily on the Middle East for crude oil. Tensions around Iran and instability in the Strait of Hormuz pose risks that directly affect Japan’s economy and daily life. For Tokyo, diversifying resources and transport routes has become not merely a trade issue but a central element of economic security.
In this context, Kazakhstan has gained renewed importance. The country is rich in oil, natural gas, uranium and critical minerals, while also serving as a logistical hub linking Central Asia and Europe. At the “Central Asia plus Japan” summit held in Tokyo in December 2025, strengthening critical mineral supply chains and supporting the Trans-Caspian Corridor — a route connecting Central Asia and Europe without passing through Russia — were placed at the center of regional cooperation.
For Japan, rare earths, lithium and other critical minerals are essential to batteries, electronics and next-generation industries. Diversifying sources of supply and transport routes is therefore an energy policy, an industrial policy and a security policy at once. Amid this realignment, Astana is emerging as an important platform for Japan’s engagement with Central Asia.
Astana’s urban landscape reflects this convergence of ambition, resources and technology. The Baiterek Tower symbolizes Kazakhstan’s independence and hopes for the future, while Nur Alem, the spherical landmark inherited from Expo 2017 Astana, stands as a symbol of renewable energy and sustainability.
During Koike’s visit, a Kazakhstan-Japan business event brought together Japanese companies specializing in decarbonization, renewable energy, drone technologies and carbon credit solutions. On the Kazakh side, interest in Japanese expertise has been growing in renewable energy, artificial intelligence and digital transformation. Urban development, environmental technologies, resource cooperation and logistics infrastructure are increasingly becoming parts of one broader strategic framework.
There is, however, a deeper layer to the Japan-Kazakhstan relationship: the memory of nuclear suffering.
Japan is the only country to have suffered atomic bombings in war, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kazakhstan endured severe radiation damage from repeated Soviet nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site, where more than 450 nuclear tests were conducted between 1949 and 1989, leaving long-term consequences for local communities and public health.
In 1991, Kazakhstan closed the Semipalatinsk test site. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it gave up one of the world’s largest nuclear arsenals that remained on its territory and chose the path of a non-nuclear-weapon state. That decision has become a defining feature of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy.
Japan and Kazakhstan both know, not as an abstract matter of security theory but through historical experience, what nuclear weapons can inflict on human beings, communities, the environment and future generations. This shared memory gives the bilateral relationship a distinct ethical foundation.
That memory has shaped sustained cooperation among governments, civil society and international organizations. INPS Japan has reported on nuclear disarmament-related conferences and events involving Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Center for International Security and Policy, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and Soka Gakkai International.
At a regional conference held in Astana on August 29, 2023, participants discussed the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, victim testimony from nuclear testing, and victim assistance and environmental remediation under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Unlike debates that frame nuclear weapons mainly in terms of deterrence or national prestige, the conference placed affected people, their families, communities and environment at the center.
A documentary on Kazakhstan’s nuclear test victims, I Want to Live On: The Untold Stories of the Polygon, has also brought the testimonies of second- and third-generation victims in the Semey region to international audiences. Together with workshops involving the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and discussions on strengthening cooperation among nuclear-weapon-free zones, such initiatives have helped keep the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons at the center of global disarmament debates.
In 2025, Tokayev delivered a lecture at the United Nations University in Tokyo, warning that nuclear risks were again on the rise. Referring to Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Semipalatinsk, he stressed that Japan and Kazakhstan are both countries that understand the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons.
His remarks captured the essence of the bilateral relationship. Cooperation between the two countries is not built solely on interests related to resources, transport routes or technology markets. As societies shaped by nuclear suffering, they share a deeper question: what kind of security should the world choose in an age of growing instability?
Japan and Kazakhstan do not occupy identical positions. Japan continues to rely on the United States’ nuclear deterrence as part of its security policy, while Kazakhstan, having renounced nuclear weapons, is a member of the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. Yet both countries share common ground in seeking to transform the memory of nuclear harm into action for international peace.
It is because of this foundation that practical cooperation in smart cities, green technologies, energy transition, critical minerals and the Trans-Caspian Corridor carries meaning beyond ordinary transactions. The relationship between Astana and Tokyo is also an effort by two societies that have lived through the nuclear age to explore a safer and more sustainable future.
At a time when crises in the Middle East are shaking the global energy order and nuclear risks are again moving to the forefront of international politics, the relationship between Astana and Japan is no longer merely a story of friendship. It has become a relationship that reflects Japan’s own choices in an age of uncertainty: how to bring together cities, resources, technology and peace in pursuit of a more secure and sustainable future.