Indo Japan Relations

This e-book is a compilation of the papers presented by the speakers during a two-day International Conference, curated around the theme ‘India and Japan: Growing Partnership and Opportunities for Cooperation’, organised by CPPR – Centre for Strategic Studies, Kochi in collaboration with the Consulate-General of Japan in Chennai on February 26–27, 2019 at Riviera Suites in Kochi. It consists of eight chapters providing a comprehensive outlook on India-Japan relations.

India and Japan traditionally have strong relations, and have been guided
by shared cultural traditions, including the heritage of Buddhism, and
a strong commitment towards the ideals of democracy, tolerance and
pluralism.  It is the 19th and early 20th century period that brought India
into the consciousness of Japan as the fountainhead of Buddhism,
and in terms of looking beyond China.
In discovering the source, Japan discovered the rich intellectual heritage
in India. The report thus looked at the many parallels between
the cultural traditions of Japan and India, from which arose the sense
of a shared Asian culture, led by India and Japan, which needed to be
explored further.

India and Japan have upgraded their cordial relations to a special strategic partnership. The deepening of this relation is particularly evident since 2014, when Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India, thus leading the nation to embark on a new journey of consolidating regional influence and establishing itself as a regional power amid the rise of China and regional transformations. India is very keen on furthering the special partnership with Japan, which not only allows Indian presence in regional strategic and security architecture, but also does not hinder the Indian autonomy. This paper, through the analysis of India's Japan strategy, security and infrastructure agreements, especially since 2014, seeks to address how India's foreign policy towards Japan has undergone changes to allow for India's greater role in Asia and what factors have led to these changes in India's Japan policy. The paper argues that realist perspective of balance of power in the backdrop of the rise of China as well as constructivist perspective of India's principle of nonalignment (despite strategic friendships), have been the base of India's Japan policy under Modi government, to pursue and promote greater Indian presence in geo-political and geo-strategic spheres. The paper analyses the India-Japan partnership as a response to emerging regional security challenges, explores the prospects of the partnership and charts the course of changing Indian diplomacy towards Japan.

This paper uses Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as submitted by India to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a research tool to assess the success of India’s path towards renewable energy. It maps the blueprint India has been following to achieve its NDCs and traces the shortcomings and challenges for the same. This analysis has then been compared with Japan’s evolution of Energy Policy, with specific emphasis on post Fukushima disaster energy transition, and in lieu of Japan’s own NDCs. By using a comparative analysis framework, it has been shown how and in which broad policy areas there emerges a mutual scope for cooperation between the two countries, which are not only on the same path of diversifying their energy mix but are also looking at the role of green leadership in future in the Asian region as well as globally.

Food security problem has become an important concern for the entire world. The problem of chronic hunger which has increased over the decades in the world clearly indicates that the world does not have sufficient amount of food to feed the people. The problem is further exacerbated by factors like effects of climate change, unstable global economy, low agriculture production, rising poverty and unstable food prices. Therefore, these factors have brought new challenges to the world for producing and supplying continuous staple food to the people. However, the food security problem in Japan is different from the world. Food security for Japan is increasing the self-sufficiency ratio by increasing the domestic production so as to meet the demand for both types of food belonging to the traditional Japanese meal and the western meal. Thus, this paper, besides understanding the problem of food security in Japan also makes a suggestion of increasing self-sufficiency of food that are part of the traditional Japanese meal.

T disruptive forces resulting from China’s reemergence as a global power has challenged the existing order in the Indo-Pacific. As its political, economic, and military capabilities have developed, China has become increasingly assertive along its maritime periphery in the East and South China Seas. Furthermore, it has begun to project power into the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. This study demonstrates how these developments have resulted in hedging behavior from key Southeast Asian states, which has facilitated the emergence of an Indo-Japanese nexus in the region implicitly aimed at managing China’s rise. In other words, the behavior of small and middle powers in Southeast Asia has been crucial to the increased presence of extra-regional powers like India and Japan in the region. Additionally, this study aims to make a theoretical contribution by refining the concept of hedging as an optimal strategic behavior during periods where immediate existential threats are not pre...

Hotta Yoshie in his maiden work hiroba no kodoku (1951) refers to India’s efforts to bring peace in the conflicting East Asian Region. Five years later, he visited India to attend the first conference of Asian Writers’ Association. He got opportunity to interact with many Indian literati and to travel around as well. After returning to Japan he published INDO DE KANGAETA KOTO  (1957). This writing attempts to break the stereotype image of India that existed among the Japanese people. He named one of the chapters of this writing as, “India is not a Poor Country”. He goes beyond mere commenting on the cultural aspects and applauds India’s efforts in building up of the nation. Furthermore, he recommends comparing the duo countries’ intelligentsia in the following words, “Nehru’s approach to his country, self-criticism, and the approach of Sōseki and Ōgai should be set in similar parameter. And I believe that it is very significant to do a comparative study of them.” (Chapter 4) This paper examines Hotta's view about India and compare it with the historical facts.

India and Japan have upgraded their cordial relations to a special strategic partnership. The deepening of this relation is particularly evident since 2014, when Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India, thus leading the nation to embark on a new journey of consolidating regional influence and establishing itself as a regional power amid the rise of China and regional transformations. India is very keen on furthering the special partnership with Japan, which not only allows Indian presence in regional strategic and security architecture, but also does not hinder the Indian autonomy. This paper, through the analysis of India's Japan strategy, security and infrastructure agreements, especially since 2014, seeks to address how India's foreign policy towards Japan has undergone changes to allow for India's greater role in Asia and what factors have led to these changes in India's Japan policy. The paper argues that realist perspective of balance of power in the backdrop of the rise of China as well as constructivist perspective of India's principle of nonalignment (despite strategic friendships), have been the base of India's Japan policy under Modi government, to pursue and promote greater Indian presence in geo-political and geo-strategic spheres. The paper analyses the India-Japan partnership as a response to emerging regional security challenges, explores the prospects of the partnership and charts the course of changing Indian diplomacy towards Japan.