This book traces evolution of India-Japan relations starting from introduction of Buddhism in Japan to institutionlisation of an annual prime ministerial level dialogue between the two countries. An attempt has been made to study how the relationship between the two Asian civilizations has evolved over the centuries, putting the three aspects viz. political, economic and cultural/religious together. It is important to establish the driving factors behind the India-Japan ties. Is it the Rise of China, as many scholars have argued, which has compelled the two Asian nations to seek a closer strategic partnership or is it the continuation of the old civilisational ties between the two which was disrupted due to circumstances such as the two World Wars and the Cold War period.
No doubt, the external factors have played an important role in pushing the two Asian countries closer. But there are various factors such as old historical and civilisational ties between the two countries built around dialogues among the intellectuals that have played an important role in pushing the two countries closer and that cannot be discounted. After examining the historical ties, the book, divided into various chapters, analyzes contemporary aspects of India-Japan relations in the fields of security, trade, economics, infrastructure developments, civil nuclear cooperation and their quest to forge a rule based order.
