After a life threatening attack on ex-Japan PM Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he is “pained” to hear about his “dear friend” and extended his prayers to Shinzo and family. Tweet of PM Modi expressing deep distress over the attack on Abe, goes beyond just the prayers for his “dear friend” as it also describes the relationship India has shared with Shinzo Abe. Indo Japan ties have a long history and the exchange between the two nations is said to have begun in the 6th century when Buddhism was introduced to Japan.
After World War II, in 1949, then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru donated an Indian elephant to the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo which brought a ray of hope into the lives of the Japanese people who still had not recovered from defeat in the war. Later, India and Japan also signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations on 28th April, 1952.
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori’s visit to India in August 2000 provided the momentum to strengthen the Japan-India relationship. Mr. Mori and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee decided the establishment of “Global Partnership between Japan and India”. Since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visit to India in April 2005, Japan-India annual summit meetings have been held in respective capitals. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Japan in December 2006, Japan-India relationship was elevated to the “Global and Strategic Partnership”.
The two Prime Ministers resolved to transform the Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership into a deep, broad-based and action-oriented partnership, which reflects a broad convergence of their long-term political, economic and strategic goals. They announced “Japan and India Vision 2025 Special Strategic and Global Partnership Working Together for Peace and Prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Region and the World”, that came as a “new era in Japan-India relations.”