This article explores the history of French-Japanese relations and examines whether or not the French ever fought the Japanese in any capacity. Through exploring events such as the Franco-Prussian War, Sino-Japanese War and both World Wars, it is found that while there wasn't any direct engagement between France and Japan until late 1944 during WWII, prior to that there had been several clashes occurring around Indochina due mainly to skirmishes involving colonial troops stationed there trying to defend it from further incursions by Japanese forces into Southeast Asia.