India and Japan: News and Discussion

[Yagnasri]

I wonder if Japanese actions in Andaman Nicobar islands will be discussed and a formal apologe will be asked or not. No one asking that till date.

[SSridhar]

I wonder if Japanese actions in Andaman Nicobar islands will be discussed and a formal apologe will be asked or not. No one asking that till date.

I believe that before we seek such an apology from the Japanese [rightly so], we must first get it from those who claim that the Britishers should have handed over India to them on August 15 1947, then the British themselves, followed by TSP in a temporal sequence. The Japanese would probably come fourth. There is a time for everything. We should not assume we are a superpower as soon as we take baby steps in that direction. Let's play realpolitik now.

[Arihant]

I wonder if Japanese actions in Andaman Nicobar islands will be discussed and a formal apologe will be asked or not. No one asking that till date.

Japanese action in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands during WWII involved the removal of British occupation forces and the transfer of control to the Indian National Army, which renamed these the "Swaraj" Islands.

Not sure that the Japanese need to apologize for these actions.

[Yogi_G]

Looks like the Hakkaido also has separatist undercurrents in Japan, which country doesn't?? Apart from the confederate stuff in US there is also a movement in Hawaii islands not to mention Puerto Rico.

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Question is, why dont India and Japan exploit the Uighur and Tibetan problems to the hilt?

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I have always wondered if the Rajnikanth fan following had a mock factor to it, maybe Rajnikanth is popular in Japan just as "power star" Sreenivasan is popular for the mock factor. Not very knowledgeable in this aspect, so I can be corrected here if my opinion is wrong.

[member_19686]

Hokkaido does not have any substantial "separatism" worth mentioning.

It was a holdout province of the Ainu never under full Japanese control until the Meiji era.

The Shogunate asserted partial control but the interior was unknown & the Ainu there had autonomy.

But then the Japanese heard about the expansion of the Russian Empire including colonization of the Kamchatka peninusla & some of the Kuril islands, they also heard that the Ainu were easily converted to Christianity through trinkets and they saw that as an even bigger danger. So the newly formed Meiji gov't began to bring in Japanese settlers after fully annexing Hokkaido before the Russians could, many Ainu died due to diseases for which they had no immunity, the remaining one's intermarried and assimilated into the Japanese. There are no "pure" Ainu left today, there are about 25,000 self identified Ainu I think and estimates of partial Ainu of varying degrees go up to 200,000 (Hokkaido's total population is 5.6 million)

This is different to the Ryukyu islands which are still majority Ryukyu though the younger generation is substantially influenced by mainland Japanese and the majority do not support independence.

[SSridhar]

India-Japan Look to Bolster Defence Ties - The Hindu

New Delhi: Japan and India have broken new ground by discussing the contours of a defence relationship, which will include joint development and production of defence equipment.

The two sides, during meetings here this week, attempted to take forward the initiative taken during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Tokyo visit in May this year, when Japan bent its strict rules prohibiting international trade in defence equipment by offering to sell India the ShinMaywa US-2, a highly sophisticated amphibious plane.

The business end of the conversation on India and Japan joining hands to produce defence equipment took place during a meeting between National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and visiting Japanese Senior Vice-Minister of Defence Akinori Eto. The two discussed the existing defence relationship that primarily involves joint exercises, innumerable rounds between the Coast Guards and plans for an expanded second-ever interaction between the navies later this year.

They also discussed how to take this defence relationship forward to include transfer of defence equipment and technology. While India has taken the route of joint development in defence with a few nations, primarily Russia and Israel, the initiative will be different and unique in the case with Japan.

This is because in 1967 Japan voluntarily relinquished international trade in defence equipment under the “Three Principles on Arms Exports.” These principles are: no exports of arms to communist countries; no exports of arms to countries under U.N. sanctions; and, no exports of arms to countries engaged in international conflicts. Nine years later, Japan added a ban on arms-related facilities and technologies to the list.

Relaxation of these norms has been slow in coming and, if it plays its diplomatic cards right, India could become the second country after the U.S. to gain from this. Australia and some European countries are already serenading Japan after it announced some exemptions in overseas transfer of defence equipment in 2011.

India would like to test the waters with the US-2 plane. Instead of simply purchasing the finished product, both sides will be looking at transfer of technology of some of the parts to Indian companies. The intention is to replicate a Maruti-Suzuki kind of venture. New Delhi feels the move to provide some of the inputs from India would benefit both sides because costs are high in Japan.

[SSridhar]

Japan's Ruling LDP Expected to Take Over Upper House - Business Line

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is expected to win in Sunday’s upper house election, regaining the control it lost six years ago, as the opposition has fragmented.

In the first national election since political power changed hands in December, the LDP and its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito, stand to control a majority of 122 seats or more in the upper house, major polls showed.

The upper house has elections for half of its 242 seats every three years, and this year 433 candidates are competing for the 121 seats up for grabs. The ruling coalition is expected to win 63 or more of those seats, which they need for a majority.

“By winning a comfortable majority, we will build a self-respecting Japan under political stability,” said Abe, the seventh premier in as many years.

A weekend survey conducted by the Kyodo News agency showed 30.6 per cent of those polled said they would vote for the LDP, while support rate for the DPJ stood at 7.4 per cent and the New Komeito had 7 per cent.

“The LDP is expected to increase its seats in the upper house, however, the number of votes the party will gain may decline once again,” Akikazu Hashimoto, professor of political science at JF Oberlin University in Tokyo, said.

The premier appealed to voters to support his economic policies as he vowed to pull the world’s third-largest economy out of 15 years of deflation.

Since the start of the year, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average has jumped about 40 per cent and the yen has fallen 15 per cent against the dollar. The depreciation makes Japanese goods more competitive overseas and improves repatriated revenues.

But Hashimoto said Abe’s economic policies “have not helped improve people’s livelihood.” On Friday, the government said the ratio of non-regular workers, including part-time and contract workers, rose to a new record high of 38.2 per cent in 2012. Analysts said one of the most serious issues the country faces today is precarious employment, especially among women and young people.

[SSridhar]

Japan PM Heads for Election Victory Amid Policy Concerns - Reuters, ToI

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc looks set for a handsome upper house election win on Sunday, cementing his grip on power and setting the stage for Japan's first stable government since the charismatic Junichiro Koizumi left office in 2006.

The victory would give the hawkish leader a stronger mandate for his recipe to revive the economy and spell his personal political redemption after he led his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a humiliating defeat in a 2007 upper house election.

The ensuing parliamentary deadlock allowed the opposition to block legislation and led to Abe's resignation two months later. That "twisted parliament" has hampered policies for most of the six years since and led to a string of revolving-door leaders.

"I want to see a stable government. That's the Liberal Democratic Party," said 76-year-old Hiroshi Miyamoto, after casting his ballot for Abe's pro-business, conservative party in the western Tokyo suburb of Hachioji.

Abe, 58, who returned to power after a big win in December's lower house poll for his LDP and coalition partner New Komeito, has said he will remain focused on fixing the economy with his "Abenomics" mix of hyper-easy monetary policy, fiscal spending and structural reforms.

But some worry that Abe's resolve for economic reform could weaken in the face of a resurgent LDP. A landslide victory could bolster opposition to regulatory reform from LDP lawmakers with close ties to industries that would suffer from change.

Critics also worry Abe will shift his focus to the conservative agenda that has long been close to his heart, and concentrate on revising the post-war pacifist constitution and recasting Tokyo's wartime history with a less apologetic tone.

Such a shift, along with moves to strengthen Japan's defense posture, would further fray ties with China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's past militarism run deep. Tokyo is already engaged in tense territorial rows with Beijing and Seoul over tiny, uninhabited islands.

"I have the impression that Prime Minister Abe wants to revise the constitution, though I don't think it will be easy," said apparel firm employee Etsuko Yamada, 35, who voted for the opposition Japanese Communist Party.

"I want him to show Japan's presence through diplomacy with strong negotiating power, not though military power by spending money to rearm."

YASUKUNI SHRINE TEST

Abe has declined to say he whether as premier he will visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, where Japanese leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as war criminals are also honoured. A visit on the August 15 anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War Two would spark outrage in the region.

A Reuters poll showed Japanese firms generally want the LDP to win the election but worry that a landslide victory will allow Abe to prioritise nationalist policies over the economy, as critics say he did during his troubled 2006-2007 term.

Voting began at 7 a.m. (2200 GMT) and closes at 8 p.m. (1100 GMT), when media will project the outcome based on exit polls. Final results will be known late on Sunday or early on Monday.

Media forecasts show the LDP and New Komeito are on track to win more than 70 of the 121 seats up for grabs in Sunday's poll for the 242-seat upper house.

With the coalition's uncontested 59 seats, that would hand it a hefty majority, solidifying Abe's grip on power and raising the chances of a long-term Japanese leader for the first time since the reformist Koizumi's rare five-year term ended in 2006.

Forecasts also show the LDP has a shot at winning an upper house majority in its own right for the first time since 1989, although analysts and politicians say it is unlikely to dump its coalition partner, on which it relies to help get votes.

But the LDP and two smaller parties that back Abe's drive to revise Japan's pacifist constitution to legitimise the military looked likely to fall short of the two-thirds majority needed to take revisions of the charter to a public referendum. Those parties already have two-thirds of the lower house seats.

Media also forecast that the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which surged to power in 2009 to end more than half a century of almost non-stop LDP rule only to be ousted last year, could suffer its biggest drubbing since its founding in 1998. That would raise concerns about prospects for a competitive two-party democracy.

"I don't want the LDP to derail and do whatever it wants, just because it is popular," said Hideo Houri, a 61-year old civil servant who voted for the Democrats.

[Suraj]

The Japanese election results are somewhat curious. Normally, this should not happen because Abe's economic moves go against the narrow interests of the older voters who seek retirement stability. For example, he wants pension funds to invest more in stocks. However, the population seems to have determined that Japan needs to make united actions, and will accept short term pain for the stability of a strong government to conduct such actions.

[Suraj]

Yes, I'm familiar with that ethos of theirs myself, not so much from a business setting as from a domestic one. They're a very collectivist greater-common-good society, and it's an admirable trait. Much lessons for India here too.

Abe now has a substantial responsibility to act. Not doing so would mean further cynicism and a cycle of revolving chair PMs and governments that would harm Japan's long term interests. It's all very 'wish we had such ethos in India'...

[SSridhar]

Shinzo Abe wins big in Upper House poll - Business Line

The projected victory means both chambers will be under governmental control, unblocking the bottleneck that has hampered legislation for the last six short-term premiers.

That will strengthen Abe’s hand as he tries to push through painful, but necessary, structural reforms aimed at dragging Japan out of two decades of economic malaise.

“A majority of voters wanted politics that can make decisions, and wanted stability in politics,” Masahiko Komura, vice president of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, told national broadcaster NHK. “That must have brought about this result.”

Exit polls by NHK showed the LDP and its junior partner New Komeito claimed at least 71 of the 121 seats that were being contested, and possibly as many as 80.

Other television stations predicted a similar margin of victory.

There are 242 legislators in the upper house, serving six-year terms. Elections are held for half of the seats every three years.

Since romping to power in December’s vote for the more powerful lower house, the hard-charging Abe has unleashed a wave of fiscal spending and pressured the central bank to flood the market with easy money.

The moves – the first two “arrows” of a project dubbed “Abenomics” – sent the yen plunging, to the delight of exporters, and the stock market soaring.

This, coupled with some feel-good figures on GDP growth, powered 60-percent-plus public approval ratings for the prime minister, whose disastrous first turn in the top job until September 2007 has paled in the public mind.

The third arrow of Abe’s policy programme remains a little hazy, but will include corporate tax breaks, special business zones, plans to boost female participation in the workplace and Japan’s participation in a mooted free trade area that encircles the Pacific.

However, observers say these reforms will be tough.

Superannuated farmers tending tiny plots make up a powerful lobby group that has already made clear its unease about the extra competition this free trade pact would bring.

The fact that these rural voters also form the backbone of support for Abe’s LDP could prove a problem for the premier.

Pundits say a big public endorsement will protect the prime minister from the powerful vested interests inside the party that will agitate against the structural changes which economists agree the country badly needs.

Japan’s dishevelled opposition barely put up a fight in the election. The main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, is in disarray after three years of confused governance were capped with a drubbing in December’s poll.

They and other smaller parties had united around one thing – the need for Japan to graduate from nuclear power generation, a popular stance in a country badly scarred by the 2011 disaster at Fukushima.

But even Abe’s pro-nuclear stance, and his vow to switch back on Japan’s 48 mothballed reactors when they have passed rigorous new safety checks, was not enough to dampen enthusiasm for his economic trump card.

Ruling Bloc Takes Control of Upper House - Japan Times

According to a preliminary vote tally, Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, New Komeito, won at least 74 of the 121 seats that were up for grabs. They needed at least 63 to secure a simple majority.

This, combined with the 59 seats they already held, brought the ruling bloc’s total in the 242-seat chamber to at least 130.

One Party Rule Back but Abe Could Blow it - Japan Times

But even though the ruling bloc secured a majority in the Upper House, the first time since the LDP’s defeat in the 2007 election during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s first stint at the nation’s helm, he is not expected to rush into revising the pacifist Constitution, experts said, noting his priority will instead be boosting the fragile economy.

The LDP-New Komeito bloc secured a majority in the chamber but not the two-thirds majority it will need to revise any clause in the Constitution before the agenda is put to a national referendum, as stipulated under Article 96. Abe hopes to revise the article — if he can garner enough votes — so that only a simple majority would be needed to amend the national charter.

Abe has a full agenda without including the constitutional revision, said Sadafumi Kawato, a University of Tokyo professor of political science. “Abe has three years to achieve his (right-leaning policy) goals.”

But Abe said Sunday night after the polls closed that he will gradually start discussions on amending the Constitution.

“We need a majority in both Diet chambers to revise” Article 96, Abe said. “Since we were granted political stability, we will calmly deepen the debate.”

Indeed, Abe needs the cooperation of the opposition camp, namely Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) and Your Party, because New Komeito, which is backed by the pacifist Buddhist lay group Soka Gakkai, opposes his quest to revise Article 96 because this would make it easier for him and the LDP to amend the war-renouncing Article 9.

Proponents of the constitutional revision including the LDP, Nippon Ishin and, previously, Your Party, currently have 63 uncontested seats in the Upper House but need another 99 to have the necessary two-thirds vote to revise Article 96. However, Your Party dropped its support for revising the article just before the campaign kicked off, saying there are other priorities.

Koichi Nakano, a professor of political science at Sophia University, said Abe may try to break up the Democratic Party of Japan, which suffered another devastating defeat Sunday after being ousted from power in the Lower House election last December, by getting some DPJ members to support a constitutional revision.

The DPJ opposes revising Article 96 but does not have a unified stance on Article 9, which bans the use of force to resolve international disputes.

“DPJ lawmakers such as (former Prime Minister Yoshihiko) Noda were once called the LDP Noda faction, as their views are very similar to the LDP’s, especially on the Constitution and on collective self-defense,” said Nakano. “It is possible Abe may try to split the party by bringing the constitutional revision to the table.”

Even though Abe as LDP president has seen his party win two landslide election victories in a row, he faces an uphill battle in tackling key economic issues, including keeping momentum in his economic policies dubbed “Abenomics,” deciding whether to raise the consumption tax next spring and steering the negotiations for the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.

Any one of these issues could shatter Abe’s power base and his support rate, which is around 60 percent in media polls.

[Prem]

Engage, don’t disdain, Shinzo Abe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html

His victory means that U.S. policymakers finally have a pro-American partner in Japan who is capable of making tough decisions at home and abroad, backed by a parliamentary majority that can keep him in power for several years.Rather than welcoming this development, however, the Obama administration is widely perceived here as being ambivalent. The problem appears to be Abe himself; specifically, his reputation — cemented during his earlier tenure as prime minister — as a right-wing nationalist with revisionist views about Japan’s wartime history. The administration’s fear is not only that Abe will at some point pursue provocative policies, such as revisiting Japan’s past apologies for its wartime conduct. It’s also that, even in the absence of such actions, tensions between Japan and its neighbors are likely to fester under Abe — most troublingly with the other key U.S. partner in the region, South Korea.These are legitimate concerns. What’s unclear, however, is whether the Obama administration has a strategy to defuse them.
This is not the first time President Obama has had to deal with the elected leader of an important ally, in a critical part of the world, whose cooperation on major national security challenges is essential but whose instincts and worldview he distrusts.. But some lessons from the White House’s mishandling of its relationship with Jerusalem are applicable toward Tokyo now. The first is that, rather than keeping Abe at arm’s length and telegraphing passive-aggressive disdain for him, the wiser approach would be for Obama to draw the Japanese prime minister close. The more robust, extensive and personalized interactions are between the two administrations and their top leaders, the greater Washington’s ability will be to preempt crises and influence Tokyo’s behavior. Abe’s performance over the past six months suggests that this shouldn’t be a diplomatic mission impossible. To his credit, the prime minister has governed as a forward-looking pragmatist, focused on resuscitating Japan’s economy rather than on relitigating its past. After Sunday’s election, the odds are good that his agenda will remain mostly positive and pragmatic, with the bulk of his political capital devoted to pushing the structural reforms necessary for Japan’s revitalization, including U.S. priorities such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. Moreover, Abe clearly desires a close working relationship with the United States and with Obama personally. This is also something that the overwhelming majority of the Japanese people consider important. It nonetheless falls to the White House to take advantage of this dynamic by making clear, both publicly and privately, that it is ready and eager to take our alliance to the next level — and to frame warnings about historical revisionism and the need for Tokyo to try to improve relations with Seoul in this context. Unfortunately — and ironically, given the Obama administration’s much-trumpeted rebalance toward Asia — there appears to be no Cabinet-level official personally invested in the vital work of managing the Japan alliance, a role that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton performed very effectively during the first term. Nor has the administration done much to forge a bond with the Japanese public. Obama notably passed up the chance for a stand-alone meeting with Abe at the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland last month, and Secretary of State John Kerry did the same this month with his Japanese counterpart at an ASEAN meeting in Brunei. Perhaps Vice President Biden’s meeting with Abe in Singapore this week will mark the beginning of a course correction.Ultimately, working with Abe will inevitably involve its share of frictions and frustrations. But that is also part and parcel of making an alliance work. Whatever the challenges, it’s worth recognizing that a strong and confident Japan with which we occasionally disagree is vastly preferable to a weak and dysfunctional Japan. The former is a manageable challenge. The latter is a potentially catastrophic threat to the United States’ strategic position in Asia.

[SSridhar]

Diet Supplement for India-Japan Ties - Sandeep Dikshit, The Hindu

India should be pleased with the outcome of elections to the Upper House in Japan, likely as it is to speed up cooperation in four areas — economics, defence and security, political and people-to-people exchanges. On a civil nuclear deal though, New Delhi seems happy to wait for the Japanese to choose the right political climate to resuming talks.

Japan’s progress to a closer relationship with India is bound to accelerate with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-led coalition winning a majority in the Upper House, strengthening the Lower House victory it recorded in December last year.

This will reverse the political instability that has prevailed since 2006, coincidentally the same time that India-Japan ties took off. After the end of the Junichiro Koizumi Government that year, Japan has had seven Prime Ministers including Shinzô Abe, now in that office for the second time.

The main Opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) — which went through three Prime Ministers during its three-year reign that ended in December last year — was also committed to closer ties with India. But its political philosophy was less antagonistic towards China than that of Mr. Abe and his LDP. As a result, it took a more conservative view of opening up the civil nuclear and defence sectors to India.

In contrast, soon after taking over as Prime Minister for the second time, Mr. Abe set about overhauling Japan’s long-held notions about defence trade by reviewing its military policy; barring the United States, it has, since 1967, frowned upon ties with other countries in this sector.

Defence ties

By the time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Tokyo in May this year, the Japanese were ready to sell India a civilian-military use amphibious plane by bending some of their rules prohibiting defence sales. And before this year-end, in a joint exercise that will be bigger than the first ever India-Japan exercises in June last year, the two navies will be in a better position to understand each other’s way of operations.

The Japanese Embassy in New Delhi will have three defence attachés by the end of the year — there is a single official at present — for a more intensive interaction at the levels of operations as well as trade. From India’s point of view, closer defence ties with Japan are a vital element of its Look East policy, as it provides a security component in ties with countries on its eastern flank.

Nuclear sector

The civilian nuclear sector is another key area of interest for India; talks with Japan had progressed smoothly till the Fukushima nuclear accident happened. Mr. Abe would be more than eager to resume talks on an India-Japan civilian nuclear agreement. But New Delhi would want Japan to set the pace, especially after it has tried to accommodate Indian interests without being asked. For instance, Japan has reduced its export control list for India which today stands at just 10 entities. {The joint statement issued by the two Prime Ministers at the end of man Mohan Singh's May visit to Japan, said that the two leaders have instructed their respective officials to ‘accelerate’ the nuclear deal.}

Tokyo has offered to take four of them off the list without being asked. A civilian nuclear agreement will offer Japan Steel Works massive opportunities in India; the initial impetus for opening India-Japan talks on the subject came from the Japanese industry. It should be a matter of time before the industry begins encouraging Mr. Abe to reopen talks for an agreement.

New Delhi hopes Mr. Abe, with the tailwind of majorities in both Houses of Diet behind him, will be able to implement his Abenomics of opening up business opportunities for Japanese corporates, essentially away from the Chinese mainland. For India that would mean Tokyo may speed up investment decisions in industrial corridors for the north and south.

People-to-people links

While it will be smooth sailing for India in economics and defence with the civil nuclear field likely to follow, New Delhi would be looking at a more forthcoming Tokyo with respect to greater people-to-people exchanges. Also, Japan has a rapidly ageing population and requires immigrants as caregivers. The India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) did envisage such a movement of people and New Delhi would be trying to gently persuade the conservative Japanese Government to open up its market to skilled personnel.

The Upper House majority for the LDP and its allies means that Mr. Abe will not have to worry about numbers in either House of Parliament for the next three years. His political position has been bolstered by seats won by two parties further on Mr. Abe’s right. Provided Mr. Abe manages to survive the machinations within his own party and maintains his anti-China posture, India-Japan ties seem set to make progress.

[Neshant]

these Japanese move at the speed of snails.

nobody in India is going to give a damn by the time they are ready for defence co-operation.

their economic power will be history by then.

[SSridhar]

these Japanese move at the speed of snails.

Neshant, don't you think the Japanese and the Indians are 'made for each other' in that case ?

[SSridhar]

IIT-H's Project with Japan Gets CCEA Nod - PTI, The Hindu

A joint project which aims at value-addition for the IIT at Hyderabad has been approved by the Union government, along with an academic and industry interface between the institute and Japan.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which met here on Friday, approved the ‘collaboration of IIT-Hyderabad and Japan’, to be executed via an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan from the Japanese government and the Union HRD Ministry.

The project cost of Rs. 1,776.50 crore will be met through the ODA loan of Rs. 1,501.72 crore, while the balance of Rs. 274.77 crore will be borne by grants from the HRD Ministry over a period of four years between 2013—14 and 2016—17.

“The project would add value through collaborative interactions between academics and with the industry of Japan and (by) exchange of students and faculty. This will enhance cooperation between the two nations in the area of science and technology and human resource development,” a government statement said.

The project would also help create of a number of basic infrastructure facilities and faster scaling up of the IIT with benefits for the Indian economy, it added.

[SSridhar]

Japanese Companies delegating Complete Autonomy to Local managers in India - Writankar Mukherjee, Economic Times
Excerpts

Over the last 6-8 months, Canon, Toshiba, Toyota and Hitachi, besides Panasonic, have all appointed and promoted senior Indian managers in their top deck. . . The change in Japanese culture is in stark contrast to successful Korean conglomerates LG, Samsung and Hyundai where Koreans still control the operations in India.

Japan Inc has identified India as the next preferred destination to grow at a time when their biggest markets Japan, US and Europe are down with low consumer spending. The signing of the free-trade agreement between India and Japan two years ago gave a fillip to grow business in India.

India this year graduated as the fourth-largest market for consumer electronics major Sony globally. Panasonic has ambitions to become the country's largest consumer electronics company by 2018. Hitachi, which last December held its first ever board meeting outside Japan in New Delhi, is targeting a three-fold increase in revenue in India to 20,000 crore by 2015 with plans to invest more than 4,700 crore.

A Hitachi India spokesman says it plans to increase its social infrastructure business in India, where the construction machinery and home appliance business accounts over 50% of the revenue.

Company officials say Japanese firms have a culture of promoting internal talent and have groomed many Indians over the years.

[Suraj]

Japan unveils largest warship built since World War 2

Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a huge flat-top destroyer that has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier.

The ship, which has a flight deck that is nearly 250 meters (820 feet) long, is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters. Japanese officials say it will be used in national defense — particularly in anti-submarine warfare and border-area surveillance missions — and to bolster the nation's ability to transport personnel and supplies in response to large-scale natural disasters, like the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Though the ship — dubbed "Izumo" — has been in the works since 2009, its unveiling comes as Japan and China are locked in a dispute over several small islands located between southern Japan and Taiwan. For months, ships from both countries have been conducting patrols around the isles, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyutai in China.

Though technically a destroyer, some experts believe the new Japanese ship could potentially be used in the future to launch fighter jets or other aircraft that have the ability to take off vertically. That would be a departure for Japan, which has one of the best equipped and best trained naval forces in the Pacific but which has not sought to build aircraft carriers of its own because of constitutional restrictions that limit its military forces to a defensive role.

Japan says it has no plans to use the ship in that manner.

The Izumo does not have catapults for launching fighters, nor does it have a "ski-jump" ramp on its flight deck for fixed-wing aircraft launches.

[Christopher Sidor]

^^^
F-35C will not land on this ship. But F-35B is another beast all together. India should cooperate with the Japanese navy and build a few carriers together, this way we will bring down the cost of the carrier substantially. After all we will face the same threat PLAN.

[Prem]

Japan: largest warship unveiled, Izumo-class helicopter destroyer launched

[SSridhar]

India-Japan Hopeful of Reaching Nuclear Agreement - Sandeep Dikshit, The Hindu

India and Japan are confident of going ahead with talks for a civil nuclear agreement despite latest reports of toxic waste from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant leaking into the Pacific Ocean.

“The bilateral agreement can still be done. This [talks on an agreement] is not an issue that has stopped. It has just slowed down,” said government sources here.

An India-Japan civil nuclear pact is crucial for American and French companies to source reactor vessels from Japan Steel Works (JSW) for their proposed plants in Mithivirdi and Jaitapur, respectively. “Without a civil nuclear agreement, the Japanese government will not be able to license JSW to supply crucial equipment to them,” confirmed the sources.

Both governments have also left no stone unturned to create a favourable environment for closer ties. The Japanese Foreign Ministry has encouraged Members of the Lower House’s Foreign Affairs Committee led by its Chairman Katsuyuki Kawai to travel to India.

Emperor’s visit

It was fortuitous that these Japanese Parliamentarians, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s younger brother Nobuo Kishi, chief of the ruling party’s foreign affairs committee, were at hand when Ashwani Kumar was named the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Japan to maintain the momentum in high-level exchanges that will capped by a summit meeting between the two Ministers and the visit of the Emperor of Japan and the Empress towards the end of the year.

“You will not be able to appreciate what the Emperor’s visit to India means to the Japanese people. For us, the fact that the Emperor is visiting India has a huge significance and is a signal that it is going to be a very special relationship with India,” said one of the Parliamentarians, who later attended a dinner hosted by Mr. Kumar. The visitors had an opportunity to interact with Advisor to Prime Minister T.K.A Nair, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and Deputy National Security Adviser Nehchal Sandhu, at the gathering.

Both sides have so far held three formal rounds of talks on the civil nuclear agreement and a few informally. It is understood that an Indian team might go to Japan early next month to pick up the threads after the election of the new and considerably more pro-India ruling dispensation in Tokyo.

Defence ties

And while the high hopes generated by previous years of bonhomie is unlikely to lead to new investments in the near term because of an unfavourable economic climate in India, both countries are moving ahead on other fronts, especially defence and infrastructure projects. They have taken the first major step in the ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor with the award of a Rs.6,500-crore tender to an L&T-Sojitz consortium for a 626-km section of the project.

On the defence side, last month’s deliberations with Japanese Senior Vice-Minister of Defence Akinori Ito have led to the two sides agreeing to set up a Joint Working Group on the sale of Shinmaywa US-2, a highly sophisticated amphibious plane. Making an exception, Tokyo has bent its strict rule banning export of defence items. India has now designated the Department of Industrial Production and Planning as the lead agency for a partnership aimed at yielding some technological dividends for Indian industry as well.

[member_20292]

this shinmaywa is an amphibious plane that takes off in less than 100 feet, according to the youtube video I just saw.

amazing.

[Lalmohan]

100 feet is very very unlikley for a sea plane of that size - as it is for most aircraft other than microlites

[member_20292]

okay.

probably closer to 600 ft.

check this one out : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLginaq- ... bv1joepdlI

[SSridhar]

Japan to resume talks on civil nuclear deal with India - ToI

In a relief to India, Japan has decided to resume negotiations with New Delhi for a civil nuclear cooperation deal this week.

The Japanese government, under its nationalist PM Shinzo Abe, had suggested that it may restart talks with India which had remained stalled since the Fukushima disaster in early 2011.

The actual start of the 3rd round of negotiations that will take place on 3 September 2013 in Tokyo will still be touted as a major achievement for none other than PM Manmohan Singh himself, known for his investment in relations with Tokyo, as there is still a strong anti-nuclear power sentiment in Japan.

Sources said that the 4th round of negotiations on the India-Japan Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy will be held in Tokyo on 3 September 2013.

The Indian side will be led by Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary, (East Asia), ministry of external affairs (head of the Indian delegation) and includes Venkatesh Varma joint secretary (Disarmament) apart from officials of the department of atomic energy.

The Japanese will be led by Makita Shimokawa, deputy-director general, Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs department, ministry of foreign affairs.

The third round of the talks were held in November 2010. The fourth round of talks follow the summit meeting between Manmohan Singh and Shinzo Abe which took place in May 2013 in Tokyo where they had reaffirmed the importance of civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries while recognizing that nuclear safety as a priority for both governments.

They had directed their officials to accelerate the negotiations of an Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy towards an early conclusion.

[SSridhar]

Though there has been a delay on signing a deal between the two countries, Japanese officials had even earlier announced Japan’s commitment to a nuclear deal with India because of three reasons: continued Indian faith in Japanese nuclear technology even after the Fukushima disaster, a strong desire by India for such cooperation with Japan and Japan’s determination to strengthening nuclear safety worldwide by sharing with the world its experience and lessons derived from the nuclear accident.

I am hopeful that the fourth round would be the most crucial round to tie up the loose ends and would produce a document that could be signed by the two governments shortly around the time of the Emperor's visit. That would send a strong signal to those who have been warning India about its developing close proximity with Japan.

[SSridhar]

Tamil note in Japanese Cultural Night - New Indian Express

A cultural night organised recently in the city, brought together Japanese people living here along with Japanese language students from various centres.

Organised by the Consulate-General of Japan, Chennai, ABK-AOTS Dosokai, Tamil Nadu Centre in association with Nihon Technology and HCL Technologies, the Japanese Night ‘Vol 3’ had a veena performance by Japanese artiste Yuko Matoba.

Language students in the city staged a play and sang ‘Vande Mataram’ in Japanese. Members of the 17th Japan-India student conference from Tokyo danced to a folk song ‘Soran-Bushi’ popular in Northern Japan, and taught origami to the audience. Just as one thought that the proceedings would strictly be in Japanese as mentioned in the instructions in the invite, Koji Sugiyama, the Acting Consul-General of Japan, surprised everyone by talking in Tamil. Reading out his speech, the acting Consul-General said the cultural event was to develop good relations and friendship. He also said it was mainly organised for the Japanese language students and teachers and people friendly to Japanese.

There was a live music performance by a group of Japanese association members in Chennai.

[member_19686]

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Nakamuraya Curry Traces back to the Indian Revolutionaries in Japan

If you are in Tokyo you must visit Nakamuraya bakery (restaurant). It has branches all over Tokyo specializing in Indian curry. The first of its kind in Japan, Japanese-style Indian curry has been sold since 1927 as one of the reputed products of Nakamuraya. They also sell pre-cooked instant curry that only needs to be heated and served at home. It is indeed a popular product in Japan and you can get them in almost every convenient or departmental store across Japan. Why did Nakamuraya, which was originally a bakery start selling Indian curry? And continues to be obsessed with Indian curry for nearly a century?


Nakamuraya Instant Curry Pack

It was an Indian, Rash Behari Bose, who introduced Indian curry to Nakamuraya. He was a revolutionary leader fighting the British in India. The post war generations of Japanese may not know the great Indian revolutionaries like Rash Behari Bose or Subhash Chandra Bose, but they were well-known figures in Japan in the years before the Second World War. Rash Behari Bose was one of the key organizers of the bomb attack on Lord Hardringe and the Gadar conspiracy at Lahore. In 1915, he fled to Japan to avoid a certain death sentence and had no inkling of the harsh destiny in store for him, and that he would never step on Indian soil again. He was instrumental in persuading the Japanese authorities to secure foreign help for India’s liberation from the clutches of the imperialist power. He did the spadework for the creation of the Indian National Army (INA) before passing the baton on to Subhash Chandra Bose in 1943.


Rash Behari Bose and his wife Toshiko*

Going back to curry, Rash Behari Bose was not only a leading extremist Indian freedom fighter but was also a chef. Soon after his arrival in Japan, the Foreign Ministry under pressure from the British Embassy issued an extradition order against him. It was Aizo Soma, owner of the Nakamuraya in Shinjuku (Tokyo) who rescued him and skillfully hid him in a studio near the restaurant. He was confined there for months for security reasons. Fortunately, there was a kitchen in the studio where he could cook and the only leisure he had was to prepare his meals. He requested the maids to buy the ingredients and spices. Watching him, the maids and the owner of the restaurant gradually learnt to cook Indian food, however it took almost twelve years for Nakamuraya to launch Indian curry later in 1927.


With Tagore at Nakamuraya*

Bose fell in love with Aizo’s daughter and got married to Toshiko. He had two children from her. In July 1923, Bose became a citizen of Japan and registered his wife and children under the ‘Bose family’. In the same year, Nakamuraya was recognized as a public limited company. Bose along with the children became one of the leading shareholders and was also appointed as the director of the Nakamuraya. Traditionally, Japanese curries were made in the Anglo-Indian manner. In order to turn Japanese eyes to the ‘real taste of India’ he devoted himself to the launch of actual Indian curry. Popularizing Indian curry among the Japanese was also a part of his anti-colonial struggle, by trying to win back India’s food culture from British hands. And since then Rash Behari Bose came to be widely known as ‘Bose of Nakamuraya’.

Notes
I am grateful to Corinne Boyle (Professor of Economics, Konan University) for helping me find the fascinating story about Indian freedom fighters hidden in Nakamuraya’s Indian curry.

The above materials are drawn from the book The Bose of Nakamuraya by Takeshi Nakajima. To capture the essence of Rash Behari Bose’s life, Takeshi travelled to India to visit Rash Behari’s native place in Chandan-nagar, West Bengal.

*pictures are taken from the Nakamuraya restaurent website @
http://www.nakamuraya.co.jp/100/showa/t_1918_01.htm

http://saumikpaul.blogspot.ca/2011/08/c ... ndian.html

[SSridhar]

Japan to Study Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor - BusinessLine

Railways has given green signal to Japan for conducting a detailed study for the proposed 543 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor, in another step towards implementing the bullet train project.

“Japan Internal Cooperation Agency will conduct a feasibility study for Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor and for this a MoU will be signed soon”, said Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar here today.

Kumar had gone to Japan on a four-day visit to discuss certain issues including the proposed high speed corridor and modalities of JICA fund for Western DFC project among others.

Though RITES and Systra, a French firm, had already carried out the pre-feasibility study of the route, the Japanese study is expected to be a more detailed one exploring the possibility of running train at a speed of 300 km per hour between the two cities.

“It will be a detailed study which will examine the funding pattern, alignment, patronage, possible halts, fare structure and other details required for the project. All modalities for the study will be finalised this month so that it can possibly begin next month,” Kumar said.

The high speed corridor study has to be completed within 18 months and the cost of it will be shared jointly by railways and JICA.

Estimated to cost about Rs 63,000 crore, the 534-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad route is expected to be the first corridor to be explored for the Railways ambitious bullet project.

Besides Mumbai-Ahmedabad, railways has identified six routes for conducting pre-feasibility study for high speed corridors including Delhi-Agra-Patna, Howrah-Haldia, Chennai-Bangalore-Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi-Amritsar.

Considered a key infrastructure project, the Prime Minister’s Office is also monitoring the Mumbai-Ahmedabad project and has asked railways to constitute a project steering group to examine options for executing it.

The project is likely to be executed on PPP model where state governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat are expected to be stakeholders along with railways.

[ArmenT]

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Nakamuraya Curry Traces back to the Indian Revolutionaries in Japan

If you are in Tokyo you must visit Nakamuraya bakery (restaurant). It has branches all over Tokyo specializing in Indian curry. The first of its kind in Japan, Japanese-style Indian curry has been sold since 1927 as one of the reputed products of Nakamuraya.

Curry seems to have really taken off in Japan, with several companies manufacturing instant curry powder mixes now. If you want a good laugh, here's a curry competition from the popular Japanese variety show "Downtown No Gaki No Tsukai Ya Arahande!" where you can see several different brands of curry catering to all sorts of tastes. Rules of the competition explained around 1:15 or so. Bonus: Sathya Sai Baba gets a mention around 13:15 as well!

[Suraj]

Curry, or locally kari raisu (curry rice), has been popular in Japan for decades. It started with them emulating British culinary practices in the form of curries and gravies. They adapted it to suit their tastes. The Kanto region (Tokyo area) primarily has pork curry rice, while the Kansai region (Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto area) has beef curry rice.

An Indian food chain making quick authentic and hygienic curry-on-rice meals would be pretty popular there.

[SSridhar]

This post is not directly related to India-Japan relationship but helps us understand where the Japanese PM Abe wants to take Japan in the near future.

Abe Signals Readiness to Involve Japan More in UN's Security Framework - Japan Times

At the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his desire for Japan to engage more actively in the global body’s collective security framework as a step toward becoming what he termed a “proactive contributor to peace.”

Abe pledged more than $3 billion in development assistance over the next three years for women’s empowerment and health care, while announcing additional humanitarian aid of $60 million for Syrians displaced in the ongoing civil war.

Noting that the global power balance is “changing rapidly” and technological innovations are removing “all borders” from new types of threats, Abe said, “It is now impossible for any one country, no matter which it may be, to safeguard its own peace and security acting entirely by itself.

“I will enable Japan, as a proactive contributor to peace, to be even more actively engaged in U.N. collective security measures, including peacekeeping operations” as the United Nations will play an even more important role, Abe said.

Since taking office in December, Abe has been pushing for Japan to take on a greater security role in the changing security environment and potentially lift its self-imposed ban on collective self-defense, or defending an ally under armed attack.

There is still a long way to go for the ban to be removed as Abe needs to win the support of both the Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition partner, the New Komeito party, and the public. But in the address Abe provided some insights into what he wants to achieve in reworking Japan’s defense posture.

In an apparent reference to China’s increased maritime assertiveness, Abe told the General Assembly that Japan’s national interests are connected to the “stability” of seas that are open.

“Changes to the maritime order through the use of force or coercion cannot be condoned under any circumstances,” he said.

Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have reached an all-time low due to China’s growing assertiveness over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, administered for decades by Japan but also claimed by China. Abe’s recent move to lift the ban on collective self-defense has also raised alarm in Beijing.

Top officials from Japan and China engaged in a rare verbal war at the General Assembly a year ago as Beijing accused Tokyo of “stealing” the islands, known in China as Diaoyu, in protest against Japan’s effective nationalization of them.

On North Korea, Abe said Tokyo cannot accept the country’s nuclear and missile development programs, and that any normalization of bilateral ties is “unthinkable” without first seeing the return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

The prime minister devoted roughly a half of his speech to security issues, while the other half focused on the rights of women as he vowed to create “a society where women shine” both at home and abroad.

The speech came a day after Abe said he is not a “rightwing militarist,” to counter perceptions that he is veering to the right.

With Japan embroiled in the issue of women who were forced to provide sexual services to its soldiers during World War II, Abe apparently tried to soften his image by focusing on the rights of women.

The main areas where Japan will place priority are creating a society that provides women with opportunities to excel, extending support to women suffering from sexual violence in armed conflicts, and promoting universal health coverage.

“I wish to bring about a society where women shine, both within Japan and also in regions in conflict and countries suffering from poverty,” Abe told the assembly.

“It is a matter of outrage that there continues to be sexual violence against women during times of armed conflict even now, in the 21st century,” he said.

At the U.N. meeting, the crisis in Syria has taken center stage with the number of refugees estimated by a U.N. body to be more than 2 million. Abe pledged “thorough support and the greatest possible cooperation” to global efforts to eliminate chemical weapons, which he said cannot be tolerated.

As “a country that understands the horror and devastation wrought by atomic bombs,” Japan will commit itself to making sure nuclear weapons are eliminated, and hopes Iran will takes specific steps to address concerns over its nuclear programs under its new leadership, he said.

[chaanakya]

Denying convicts suffrage unconstitutional: high court

Kyodo

Sep 28, 2013


OSAKA – The Osaka High Court has ruled that denying prisoners the right to vote in public elections is unconstitutional — the first judgment on the Public Offices Election Law provision that disenfranchises those serving time.

The ruling Friday came in response to a lawsuit filed by Hiroshi Inagaki, 69, who was incarcerated at Shiga Prison from March to November 2010 for breaking the Road Traffic Law with an unauthorized demonstration. The term prevented him from voting in the Upper House election on July 11 that year.

Article 11 of the election law denies convicts the right to vote or run for office until the sentence has been carried out.

After serving his term, Inagaki sued the government for ¥1 million for undue mental suffering. Although the voting provision was ruled unconstitutional, the high court on Friday rejected his demand for compensation, saying the state cannot be held responsible for not removing the provision because there was not enough public debate on the matter while he was in prison.

The government argued at the high court that “prisoners substantially lack law-abiding spirit and it cannot be expected that they be fairly allowed to exercise the right to vote.”

In February, the Osaka District Court rejected Inagaki’s demands for acknowledging the unconstitutionality of the provision and for compensation, ruling that “it is inevitable that prisoners’ participation in society be restricted to a certain extent.”

“It is a great ruling for prisoners,” Inagaki, an advocate of workers’ rights, said at a news conference.

A member of his defense team concurred, saying: “Voting is the foundation of democracy. There is no way voting rights should be restricted easily. The ruling’s impact is far-reaching.”

Presiding Judge Hiroshi Kojima pointed out that the state recognizes inmates’ right to participate in national referendums on constitutional amendments.

He further said that “it is not difficult to let inmates vote using absentee ballots and other methods, and (being an inmate) does not constitute a reason to limit the right to vote. The restriction of one’s voting rights must not be allowed just because (he or she) is an inmate.”

Canada and South Africa previously limited inmates’ voting rights but abolished the practice after court rulings deemed it unconstitutional. In a 2004 ruling, the European Court of Human Rights also declared illegal a British law that did not recognize the voting rights of inmates.

An official at the Justice Ministry said it would be very difficult to proceed if all 67,800 inmates are permitted to vote.

According to the ministry’s Correction Bureau, about 67,000 people were incarcerated in 188 correctional facilities nationwide as of the end of last year. Of them, adults whose sentences had been finalized numbered around 58,000.

An increase in prison staff would be required to accommodate voting, if allowed, the bureau said.

[SSridhar]

Man Mohan might meet Abe at Brunei - Anita Joshua, The Hindu

There is also a likelihood of Dr. Singh having a bilateral meeting with Japanese premier Shinzo Abe here. This meeting will depend on the convenience of both leaders.

As is the case with Australia, the political climate in Japan is now more favourable for resuming discussions in the civil nuclear sector as the Abe administration has a majority in both Houses of the Diet. Nuclear talks — which had been proceeding well — slowed down in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear plant accident.

[Neshant]

This is a brand of Japanese curry that I use.

They have it in mild, medium and hot flavors. This is the Hot :



It tastes pretty good with white rice. I use only a small portion of it when cooking as its quite flavor-full. I add carrots, potatoes, onions, string beans, whole mushrooms and other goodies. A certain Japanese recipe suggested adding a tea spoon of coffee powder ?! They certainly have adapted curry to their tastes.

[Vadivel]

Neshant are you in Japan?

[Lalmohan]

american chilli (rajma keema) recipes also sometimes propose coffee as an ingredient - particularly cowboy recipes

[bahdada]

Does that image have "Hot Fart" in the bubble next to Glico Curry?

[Neshant]

Neshant are you in Japan?

No.

[Neshant]

Does that image have "Hot Fart" in the bubble next to Glico Curry?

The word is Fort meaning Hot... in some language.