<P> Relations resumed in the 19th century, with the establishment of the Declaration of Amity and Commerce between Japan and Siam in 1887, during the reigns of two icons of modernization, king Chulalongkorn in Siam and Emperor Meiji in Japan . </P> <P> Numerous Japanese experts were dispatched to Thailand to help modernize the country, in areas such as law, education and sericulture . </P> <P> Siam was allied with Japan during World War II, following numerous pre-war diplomatic exchanges and the beginning of a Japanese invasion of Thailand . </P> <P> The Japanese had won from Phibun a secret verbal promise to support them in an attack on Malaya and Burma . However, the Thai Prime Minister was fickle and he was quite ready to forget this promise if circumstances changed . His government also asked both the British and Americans for guarantees of effective support if Thailand were invaded by Japan . </P>

Siam in asia and ethiopia in africa were similar in the 19th century in that