On 17 November 2022, visiting Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and Thai prime minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha agreed to elevate bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to reflect the deepening as well as broadening of bilateral ties over the last decade. While Japan and Thailand also signed a first bilateral defence agreement in May 2022, the partnership remains, first of all, an economic one, as the Joint Statement of both prime ministers made clear. Prime Minister Kishida had already stressed the economic importance of the relationship in an article published in a Thai newspaper during his inaugural visit to Thailand in May 2022. In it, he pointed out that six thousand Japanese companies had invested in the country, which eighty thousand Japanese are calling home, and also mentioned the substantial Japanese investments in infrastructure. This view is shared by the Thai public according to a survey by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2021. Thais perceive Japan as an economic power and technological leader but also a country with beautiful nature and appealing traditional and popular culture.

This mutually beneficial economic partnership is faced with challenges, as acknowledged in the Joint Statement, because of demographic and technological change, and the pressure to make both economies and the supply chains connecting them more sustainable. Clearly, China's influence has also increased in Thailand. According to the 2021 survey and ISEAS's State of Southeast Asia survey 2023, Japan remains the most trusted international partner of Thailand, but China is already seen today as the most important one.

The trajectory of Thailand-Japan relations in their multiple dimensions makes clear that while Japan will not be Thailand's single-most important partner anymore, the relationship will remain an important and beneficial one for both countries in the foreseeable future.