Trade relations between Japan and Finland have a long tradition. Early 1920’s already the Japanese silk and pottery were known in Finland and in 1930’s some Finnish industrial products like pulp found their ways to Japan. The Finnish forestry products had been known through import agencies since 1960’s but when the Finnish paper industries founded their own offices in Japan in 1970’s the business started to mount. Soon more companies joined with their offices or joint ventures and today there are around 40 Finnish enterprises established in Japan.

The business people from Finland who had come to Japan to operate their respective companies found it necessary to meet colleagues and to exchange their experiences and other useful information.This way activities of the Finnish Business Executives club started through get-together luncheon meetings in the early 1980’s. This informal activity was reorganized in 1992 to become the Finnish Business Council (FBC). Although the council had its own by-laws and rules, it was not an official legal entity in Japan, and thus lacked official status, and consequently the power to act on issues involving governmental bodies.

As Finland joined EU in 1995 it also became a part of the European Business Council in Japan (EBC). To be active in this cooperation required additional resources, as well as a formal status. This led to the decision of the board of FBC to propose to the members to develope the council to a chamber of commerce. The members supported this idea and the formal decision to go ahead with establishing FCCJ was taken at the FBC annual meeting in December 1998.