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Japan had also expressed interest in the He 116 early on, as the aircraft's excellent range performance offered good operational opportunities in the Pacific region. Two machines were purchased for the Manchurian Aviation company Manchu Koku Kaisha, while negotiations to purchase a further three aircraft failed because the Japanese wanted a declaration from the German Lufthansa that they would use the He 116 on the postal route to Tokyo. Since the DLH rejected this at the time of negotiations in October 1937, there was no further order from Japan (16). With the first of the two He 116s, J-BAKD "Nogi", a Japanese crew took part in the so-called "3rd Italian Sahara Flight", which took place from February 17th to 28th, 1938 in what was then the Italian Colony of Libya .. On February 15th, the machine, known internally as "Japan I", left Rostock-Marienehe Towards Tempelhof. During the competition, the route of which ran largely over the uninhabited desert, the Japanese were eliminated on the third stage in the Jalo oasis due to propeller failure. The change of engine and propeller was carried out by Heinkel fitters on site .
The second aircraft, J-EAKF "Togo", was accepted by a Japanese commission on March 16, 1938 in Marienehe . It probably had the serial number 1531, for which flights are documented in early March 1938 . Both aircraft were flown by Japanese crews between April 23 and 29, 1938 on the Berlin-Tokyo route with six stopovers in Rhodes, Basrah, Karachi, Calcutta, Bangkok and Taiwan. The landing took place on the days of the imperial birthday after a pure flight time of around 56 hours. The aircraft each had four Hirth HM 508 H engines and were in service until the end of the war. successfully in use, with the "Nogi" also completing a long-distance flight of 5000 km from Bangkok to Tokyo via Taipei in January 1939 at a record speed of 18 hours and 36 minutes.

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