Yugoslavia was invited, but did not participate, in the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1951 as Belgrade believed that there is no any open issue between the two states and that the state of war can be ended by simple exchange of notes without any reparations. Two countries reestablished their bilateral relations in 1952 and Japan opened its representation in Belgrade that same year. Yugoslavia was the first communist country to establish diplomatic relations with Japan. Representations of both countries were upgraded to the level of embassies in 1957. In 1965, the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange was asked by the United Nations to enter a limited competition for the redevelopment of Skopje, capital of the Yugoslav constituent Socialist Republic of Macedonia, after devastating 1963 Skopje earthquake.