Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, accompanied by officials and leading business people, flew out of Don Muang military airport on Sunday morning for an official visit to Japan at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Accompanying the prime minister on the Feb 8-10 trip are his wife Naraporn Chan-o-cha, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn, Transport Minister Prajin Juntong and Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul.
Gen Prayut will be granted an audience with Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and hold bilateral talks with the Japanese prime minister over economic cooperation, rail system development, the Dawei Special Economic Zone in Myanmar and increased Thai exports to Japan.
The Thai prime minister will also hold talks with the chief of the Thailand-Japan Business Forum and the president of the Japanese Business Federation (Keidanren) in Tokyo.
He will also meet with high level executives of important economic organisations in Osaka.
Gen Prayut will witness the signing of a memorandum of intent on cooperation in the development of the rail system between the transport ministers of the two countries and a memorandum of cooperation to promote reciprocal business.
The second memorandum will be signed by the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), the Joint Committee of the Thai Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Thai Industries and Thai Bankers' Association.
The Thai prime minister will ride a high-speed Shinkansen train from Tokyo to Osaka. He will also be given a chance to check out the bullet train's operating system.