The highs of Indo-Japan ties

In the ancient times, an average Japanese man knew India as the birthplace of Lord Buddha. They called the neighbouring country as Tenjiku (an East Asian name for ancient India derived from the Chinese transliteration for Hindu in Persian). Citing such instances from the past to explore the future of Indo-Japan ties, one of this year's Padma Shri recipients-professor Tomio Mizokami of Osaka University of Foreign Studies observed that the diplomatic relationship between both the countries was on an upswing since 2014. He made these observations while presenting his research paper on 'Indo-Japan ties-history and perspective' at the Platinum Jubilee Distinguished Lecture Series of Utkal University recently.

The professor claimed that for a commoner in ancient Japan, world comprised three countries only: India, China and Japan. His lecture consisted of references from various time periods. At one point, he referred to the poor condition of Japan after the end of second world war. Japan was then subjected to seven years of military occupancy by the United States after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"Between 1880 and 1886, American General, Douglas MacArthur, was trying to end Communism and Militarism in the country and carrying out widespread political and economic reforms to turn it into a democracy. The most significant incident from that period that strengthened Indo-Japanese ties was the trial conducted against war criminals by International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Besides India, judges from 11 other countries were part of the tribunal. About 28 key Japanese leaders and bureaucrats were held accused of committing war crimes. During the trials, the then Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Radhabinod Pal, had observed that the accused were innocent. He was the only judge who supported the Japanese leaders," the professor shared.

The professor stated that the visit of incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Japan in 2014 gave an unprecedented momentum to the bilateral relations of both the countries. "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto to welcome his Indian counterpart. The Prime Minister had never travelled to any other city to welcome a national guest before this," he said.

Moreover, the Indo-Japanese bilateral cooperation is now carried out under the framework of a “special strategic and global partnership” after Abe's visit to New Delhi. The professor opined that the signing of India-Japan civil nuclear agreement and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project with Japan's technological assistance were significant steps towards bolstering of the bilateral ties.

Meanwhile, professor Brahmananda Satpathy of Utkal University said Japan had always been a friendly nation to India. "Recently, the Odisha Government had identified 600 acres near Khurda for Japanese companies. It's a positive move. However, the number of Indian students studying in Japan must increase. According to a 2017 data, only 9,000 Indian students are there in Japan," he opined.

"Due to environmental problems, there has been a huge gap created between the young and the older generation in Japan. It lacks young workforce. This is where India can step in for mutual benefits. Indian youngsters can get employment in Japan and help the country," said a student of Utkal University, Gyanendra, who had represented India at an educational programme of Japan.