INDIA JAPAN RELATIONS | A DEEP CIVILIZATIONAL STORY

Global Affairs Session 63 03 July 2026

INDIA AND JAPAN

A long-running relationship

India and Japan share a relationship built on Buddhism, Asian civilizational contact, post-war goodwill, economic complementarity and Indo-Pacific strategy. From indirect cultural links to modern technology, infrastructure, defence, supply-chain and energy cooperation, ties have steadily widened, and since 2000 the partnership has become strategic, practical and future-oriented for both nations.

Overview 1500–1900 1930s onwards Netaji and the INA Growth models 1990–2026

India and Japan

India and Japan share a relationship built on Buddhism, Asian civilizational contact, post-war goodwill, economic complementarity and Indo-Pacific strategy.

From indirect cultural links to modern technology, infrastructure, defence, supply-chain and energy cooperation, ties have steadily widened. Historical memory includes both friendship and wartime complexity, but since 2000 the partnership has become strategic, practical and future-oriented for both nations today too.

• Economic complementarity: Trade and investment, industrial corridors, manufacturing hubs.
• Infrastructure and development: The bullet train project, metro rail networks, quality infrastructure.
• Defence and Indo-Pacific strategy: Maritime security, joint exercises such as Malabar, and a free and open Indo-Pacific.
• Technology and innovation: Digital partnership, advanced technology including AI and 5G, space cooperation.
• Energy and supply-chain cooperation: Clean energy initiatives, renewable power, resilient supply chains.

India and Japan: 1500 to 1900

Civilizational memory of India as the sacred land of Buddhism gave way, from the 16th century onwards, to maritime trade, Indian textiles in Japanese culture, and finally direct commercial contact once Japan opened to the world after the Meiji Restoration.

• Civilizational memory continued through Buddhism: Even before direct political ties, Japan knew India as the sacred land of Buddhism. Indian influence had reached Japan through Buddhism, Sanskrit, Hindu-Buddhist deities, art, dance and temple culture.
• 16th-century maritime routes changed the contact pattern: With the expansion of Indian Ocean routes, Japan's links with India moved beyond Buddhist imagination toward trade, sea travel and information flows through Portuguese, Jesuit and Goa-linked networks.
• 17th–18th centuries saw Indian textiles in Japanese culture: Mughal carpets and Indian cotton textiles reached Japan through Dutch merchants and were used in Kyoto's Gion festival floats; Indian dyeing and textile quality influenced Japanese decorative traditions.
• Direct people-to-people contact expanded in the late 19th century: After Japan opened to the world and the Meiji Restoration began in 1868, business contact with India increased. Japan needed raw cotton and other resources for modernisation.
• Bombay–Japan shipping became important: J.N. Tata and Japanese industrialist Eiichi Shibusawa helped break dependence on foreign shipping. In 1893, arrangements for cotton cargo helped open the NYK Bombay route, strengthening Japan's industrialisation and India–Japan commercial contact.

Relations from 1930s onwards

India's freedom movement, the Second World War, and careful post-war rebuilding gave the relationship an emotional and diplomatic foundation that outlasted a cordial but limited Cold War era.

• Freedom movement links deepened emotional ties: Indian figures such as Rash Behari Bose, Subhas Chandra Bose and Justice Radha Binod Pal became important in Japanese public memory, creating a political-emotional layer beyond trade.
• World War II created a complex relationship: Subhas Chandra Bose went to Japan in 1943, took command of the Indian National Army, and fought alongside Japanese forces in Burma and northeast India. This strengthened anti-colonial symbolism but also tied the movement to Imperial Japan's wartime strategy.
• Post-war goodwill was carefully rebuilt: In 1949, Jawaharlal Nehru donated an Indian elephant to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, a symbolic gesture toward a defeated Japan. India and Japan then signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations on 28 April 1952.
• Economic cooperation began early: India's iron ore contributed to Japan's post-war recovery, and in 1958 Japan extended its first yen loan aid to India. This created the foundation for later Japanese ODA, infrastructure and development cooperation.
• Cold War-era ties stayed cordial but limited: The relationship remained friendly, but it did not become a full strategic partnership until after the Cold War, when India's economic liberalisation and Japan's search for Asian partners created new possibilities.

Imperial Japan, Netaji Bose and INA

The Japanese occupation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army remain one of the most symbolic and historically contested episodes in India–Japan memory.

• Imperial Japan occupied the Andaman and Nicobar Islands: The islands were under Japanese occupation during World War II from 1942 to 1945 and were strategically important because of their location near Indian Ocean routes.
• Netaji used Japan as a route to armed anti-colonial struggle: Bose believed British rule could be challenged militarily with external support. In 1943, he went to Japan and took command of the INA, which had been formed by Indian prisoners of war and expatriates.
• The Andamans became a symbolic "liberated" territory: On 29 December 1943, the islands were formally handed over to Bose's Azad Hind government, though effective control remained with Japan. Bose arrived in Port Blair and hoisted the tricolour on 30 December 1943.
• The renaming had nationalist meaning: Bose renamed Andaman as Shaheed and Nicobar as Swaraj, giving the islands the symbolism of sacrifice and self-rule. For the INA, this was presented as the first step toward entering mainland India.
• The episode remains historically mixed: For Indian nationalism, it was a powerful anti-colonial moment. For local islanders, Japanese occupation also involved suffering and coercion. Therefore, the episode should be understood as both a patriotic symbol and a wartime tragedy.

Economic growth model comparison

Japan's manufacturing-led growth and India's services-led growth after 1991 built different strengths in hardware and talent, and their complementarity is now driving cooperation on mobility, AI, semiconductors and supply chains.

• Japan's model was manufacturing-led: Post-war Japan focused on industrial upgrading, imported technology, domestic adaptation, quality control, automobiles, electronics, steel and high-productivity manufacturing. Its average GDP growth from 1955 to 1970 was around 10%.
• India's model became services-led after 1991: India's liberalisation opened the economy to private investment, global integration and technology sectors. In recent years, India's growth has been supported strongly by services, software and business-service exports.
• Japan built depth in hardware; India built scale in talent: Japan became famous for precision manufacturing, lean production, quality systems and long-term industrial discipline. India became globally competitive in IT, software, services, English-language talent and digital systems.
• Japan had a strong state–industry coordination model: Japan's bureaucracy and industrial policy helped guide sectors during its catch-up period, though later Japan also faced stagnation and demographic challenges.
• The complementarity is now useful: Japan brings capital, technology, infrastructure, manufacturing processes and quality systems; India brings market size, labour force, software capability, start-ups and digital public infrastructure. This is why current cooperation focuses on mobility, AI, semiconductors, infrastructure and supply chains.

Building relations 1990-2026

Since India's 1991 reforms, the relationship has been upgraded step by step into a Special Strategic and Global Partnership, with infrastructure, security and, most recently, technology and economic security at its centre.

• 1990s: foundation for a new relationship: After India's 1991 reforms and the end of the Cold War, India became more attractive to Japanese business. Both countries began moving beyond aid and trade toward long-term strategic cooperation.
• 2000–2014: partnership upgraded step by step: In 2000, the relationship became a Global Partnership; in 2006, it became a Strategic and Global Partnership; and in 2014, it was upgraded to a Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
• Infrastructure became the backbone: Japan became India's largest Japanese ODA loan partner, with Delhi Metro often cited as a major success. The Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project became the flagship symbol of Japanese technology in Indian infrastructure.
• Security and Indo-Pacific cooperation deepened: The 2008 security declaration, 2+2 ministerial dialogue, Malabar exercises, ACSA logistics agreement, and shared support for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific turned the relationship into a strategic partnership.
• 2025–2026: technology and economic security became central: The 2025 summit produced a next-decade vision, a 10 trillion yen investment goal, AI and mobility initiatives, economic security cooperation and SME forums. In July 2026, India and Japan signed pacts on AI, metals, energy and defence co-development, with bilateral trade around $27.5 billion in FY 2025/26.

Value addition

Glossary and related terms

Meiji Restoration

The 1868 political change that ended Japan's feudal shogunate, restored imperial rule and launched rapid national modernisation.

Indian National Army (INA)

An armed force formed from Indian prisoners of war and expatriates that fought against British rule with Japanese support during World War II.

Azad Hind

The provisional "Free India" government established by Subhas Chandra Bose in 1943 with Japanese backing.

Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Government-provided loans and grants intended to support the economic development and welfare of another country.

Special Strategic and Global Partnership

The highest formal designation given to the India–Japan relationship, reached in 2014, denoting deep and wide-ranging cooperation.

Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)

A shared strategic vision, championed by Japan and India among others, for a rules-based, open and secure Indo-Pacific region.

Malabar exercises

Multilateral naval exercises involving India, Japan, the United States and Australia, focused on maritime security cooperation.

ACSA

Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement; a logistics pact that allows militaries to supply and support each other's forces.

Economic security

Policy cooperation aimed at protecting critical technologies, supply chains and infrastructure from strategic vulnerability or coercion.

Digital public infrastructure

Foundational, large-scale digital systems, such as identity and payments platforms, that support economy-wide services.

Value addition

Conceptual references

• The transmission of Buddhism from India through Central Asia, China and Korea to Japan.
• Comparative development economics: manufacturing-led versus services-led growth models.
• The historiography of Subhas Chandra Bose, the INA and the Japanese occupation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The evolution of India–Japan diplomatic designations from Global Partnership to Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
• Indo-Pacific strategic literature, including maritime security, logistics agreements and economic-security cooperation.