India and Japan’s relations, elevated to a ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’, date back centuries. It is a relationship marked by a civilizational connection, as Buddhism spread from India to the world. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the 6th century, marking the beginning of a relationship that would later lead to significant progress through spiritual and cultural exchanges. “Indian culture, filtered through Buddhism, has had a great impact on Japanese culture, and this is the source of the Japanese people’s sense of closeness to India.”
Japan’s Shichifukujin (or Seven Lucky Gods) have their origins in Hindu deities. In the year 752 AD, the Indian monk Bodhisena traveled to Japan to perform the eye-opening ceremony for the Great Buddha at the magnificent Todaiji Temple in Nara, according to a note by the Indian Embassy in Japan on the bilateral relationship between India and Japan. Nara was an ancient capital of Japan from 710 to 784, according to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
During his visit to Chicago, the United States of America, in 1893 to the World Parliament of Religions, Swami Vivekananda also visited Japan. He appreciated Japanese culture and the industriousness of its people, which he saw was reflected in Japan’s development as a powerful nation in its quest for self-sufficiency. Swami’s words inspired industrialist Jamsetji Tata, who travelled with him from Yokohama to Vancouver, to establish the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, India’s premier scientific and technological research and education institution today.
The good bilateral ties between the two countries in modern times led to the formation of the Japan-India Association, established in 1903, which is Japan’s oldest international friendship body.
Nobel laureate in the literature category Rabindranath Tagore visited Japan four times: in 1916, 1917, 1924, and 1929. He was deeply impressed with Japan’s art form and appreciated the country’s culture, and Japanese intellectuals and artists were regular visitors to Santiniketan in Kolkata.
Dr. Radha Binod Pal represented India during the 1946 International Military Tribunal for the Far East (commonly known as the Tokyo Tribunal) after World War II. After the trial, he submitted a dissenting judgment in favour of Japan.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, “Radha Binod Pal was an Indian judge on the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal who dissented with the other judges to claim that the trial was an exercise in retribution by the victors of the war and that Japan’s wartime leaders were not guilty. Pal’s contribution to India-Japan relations is remembered even today.”
The 1951 San Francisco Conference, also known as the United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO), was a formal peace treaty conference between Japan and other nations following World War II. India abstained from the conference and signed its own peace treaty with Japan in April 1952.
Developments like these marked the beginning of a cordial diplomatic relationship between the two countries, reflecting a deeper commitment and a broader scope of cooperation in the days ahead, with India being one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Japan.
Sustained Engagement
Over the last 70 years, the bilateral relationship has witnessed a steady intensification, evolving from a friendly partnership to its current special strategic status. In 2000, the ties were elevated to ‘Global Partnership’. 2006 marked the next step in the ‘Strategic and Global Partnership’. In 2014, India and Japan decided to take their relationship to a ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’ level.
Both countries have established dialogue mechanisms at various levels, in addition to the regular summit-level meetings. The Annual Summits, established in 2006, have institutionalized high-level dialogue between the two countries, ensuring that momentum is never lost. Frequent parliamentary delegations and ministerial-level visits, including those of the Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, and National Security Adviser (NSA), as well as the 2+2 Ministerial meeting, significantly contribute to the dialogue process between the two countries.
In 2007, during his visit to India, the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a seminal “Confluence of Two Seas” address to the Indian Parliament, outlining the blueprint for a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
The year 2013 marked the first-ever visit of Japan’s Emperor to India, when Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the country, a defining moment in India-Japan bilateral ties. In November 2016, a landmark agreement on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy was signed between both countries when PM Modi visited Japan. The agreement took effect in July 2017.
Both countries established the India-Japan Act East Forum in December 2017 as a joint platform to collaborate with India’s “Act East Policy” and Japan’s “Vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. One of the primary objectives of the joint platform is to promote the economic modernization of India’s North-East region.
During the March 2022 visit of Japanese PM Kishida to India for the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit, both countries released a joint statement titled, “Partnership for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Post-COVID World”.
This tradition is set to continue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan from August 29 to 30, 2025, for the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit. This visit, his eighth to Japan, will be the first summit with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, providing a crucial opportunity to review the entire spectrum of the Special Strategic and Global Partnership and reaffirm the longstanding special bond between the two nations.
An Alliance for the Indo-Pacific
The contemporary India-Japan relationship is driven by a significant strategic convergence, a shared understanding that the stability and prosperity of the vast maritime expanse from Africa to the Americas depend on a rules-based order. This is where India’s Act East Policy and its SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision find a natural partner in Japan’s own concept of a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP).
The Quad, a strategic forum comprising India, Japan, the United States, and Australia as its members, and initiatives such as the India-Japan-Australia Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) put the concept of a free and open Indo-Pacific into concrete action.
During Japanese PM Kishida’s visit to India in March 2023, he delivered a policy speech – the Future of the Indo-Pacific — Japan’s New Plan for a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ – in which he called India an indispensable partner.
Interoperability to Co-production
Both countries have signed foundational key agreements in defence cooperation, such as the 2008 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation and the 2014 MoU on Defence Exchanges. The protection of classified information and the transfer of defence equipment are governed by a 2015 pact. Naval cooperation between the two countries was enhanced through the 2018 Implementing Arrangement. India and Japan signed the Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services (RPSS) agreement in September 2020. In November 2024, both countries announced they would jointly produce the advanced UNICORN mast for Indian naval vessels.
Both countries follow a schedule of joint military exercises that span every domain of warfare, including the annual Dharma Guardian, a land-based bilateral army exercise conducted alternately in India and Japan, as well as JIMEX, the Japan-India Maritime Exercise. MILAN is an India-hosted biennial multilateral naval exercise with Japanese participation, while the Malabar maritime exercise, which was initiated by India and the United States as a bilateral naval drill in 1992, saw the participation of navies from four Quad partners in its 2024 edition.
Japan has been a supportive country in India’s developmental story. The country’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) has been supporting India’s infrastructure modernisation for decades, with one of the most ambitious ventures being the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project. Moreover, the economic partnership is now evolving from a donor-recipient model to one of collaborative growth, investment, and innovation, guided by policy frameworks like the Japan-India Industrial Competitiveness Partnership and a new Clean Energy Partnership.
India-Japan relations have evolved over centuries to become a solid diplomatic and friendly engagement today. A written text by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government of Japan, on relations with India explains this: “Ever since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have enjoyed cordial relations. In the post-World War II period, India’s iron ore helped Japan’s recovery from the devastation.”