Abstract
The relationship between Asia’s two largest democracies—India and Japan—is ballooning during the past one and half decades and this has caught the attention of analysts, policy-makers, opinion makers and governments in Asia and beyond. Why is this so? Unlike bilateral relations between Japan and China or between Japan and South Korea which often come under the shadow of history, the bilateral relations between India and Japan have been devoid of any such historical irritants. Yet, despite the vast potentials that could have been exploited for mutual advantage and benefits was not done as ideological factors had come on the way. That negative factor dissipated as India decided to leapfrog from a controlled economy to market-driven path of economic development.
Academic curiosity has risen as Indian economy registers fast growth compared to many Asian economies, barring China and Japanese economy continues to suffer from two decades of stagnation and eclipsed by China as the world’s second largest economy. It is at this interesting time India and Japan are seriously sculpting a partnership that goes beyond economy and covers security and strategic dimensions as well. The inevitably question that arises is: what is the driver for this unexpected turn in the relationship and what does it portend for the future?
There is near consensus in security community that China’s assertive postures in many regional territorial issues and bilateral differences with some of its neighbouring countries are a matter of concern. Managing the China challenge is one of the biggest drivers that are bringing many Asian countries who share common concern about China to come together. This has led to addressing issues of common concerns and global commons such as climate change, cyber security, maritime security, terrorism and so on bilaterally as well as at multilateral fora. Both India and Japan have a lot to contribute in dealing to these issues.
Low level of interests in either country towards each other consequently had led to low research on issues of bilateral relations. Though this is changing with a number of scholarly articles appearing in professional journals and opinion pieces in leading newspapers, comprehensive single-authored books of quality still remain a gap. This gap is removed by many edited books by the few number of scholars engaged in research and teaching on Japanese affairs in either country. The present volume edited by two leading professionals in Japan and India is a welcome addition to this kind of literature.
The volume under review is a compilation of the papers presented to an international conference on ‘India–Japan Relations’ held at New Delhi in September 2011. It has become fashionable in recent times to manage funding from some funding organisation or government sources through contacts and organise a seminar/conference, collect papers and then edit those in the form of a book to enrich the CVs of the editor(s). Yet, in the absence of single-authored books on such important subject as India–Japan relations, such attempts are not bad ideas. Given the impeccable credentials of the contributors to the volume under review, though this argument does not apply, there is no denying the fact that there are many who masquerade as subject experts but only indulges in academic prostitution.
Of the twelve chapters that the book contains, there are seven by Japanese scholars offering Japanese perspectives and five by Indians offering Indian view points and therefore tilted more towards the Japanese. Moreover, not all the five Indian scholars are Japanese experts, though their knowledge on Japan and regional security issues must remain unquestioned. Indeed, the depth in their perspectives they bring in analysing regional security issues would easily dwarf the analysis made by those whose ‘core’ interest and specialisation is on Japan.
The volume starts with a long Preface, which is unnecessary. Much of the content in the Preface should have gone into a separate chapter as Introduction. Broadly speaking, of the twelve chapters that the book contains, six touch upon on China, as if to suggest that if China would not have been a factor, India–Japan relations would not have blossomed. There is no denying the fact that the China issue dominates academic discourse in most seminars and conferences in recent years anywhere in the world. But overplaying the China factor would mean giving too much importance to China, which China does not deserve.
Horimoto’s paper aptly discusses how China’s emergence is ‘the’ factor in the convergence of strategic interests between India and Japan. Being a scholar of repute and with deep understanding on the South Asian affairs, he brings in a deep insight to the Japanese perspective to this important evolving relationship between India and Japan. But the paper, instead of focusing on some micro issues, makes an audacious attempt to cover too many issues ranging from historical background, how bilateral relations have evolved in different phases, economic and strategic/security issues, Indian Ocean region (maritime security), ASEAN, China so on and in the process loses focus on the ‘core’ India–Japan relations. Lalima’s paper also suffers from the same lacunae; she picks up too much than she could chew. Reading these two papers, one gets the impression that the authors are suggesting that China’s emergence is the sole factor in driving India and Japan together. Taking such a position is dangerous as it overlooks the inherent complementarities in the two economies and the civilisational linkages that have strong foundation on which the present political leadership is sculpting a partnership that is crucial for mutual benefits as well as contributing to regional stability.
Srikanth’s paper is comprehensive and rich in analysis and lifts the gloom of the reader and enhances the value of the book. Without making any bold assertion, Srikanth makes a very persuasive argument on how North-east Asia’s regional issues are impacting the evolution of India–Japan ties. He also identifies regional and global issues in which interests of both India and Japan either converge or differ. In the ultimate analysis, this helps in better understanding of each other’s perspectives and therefore contributes to better understanding. Similarly, Mifune’s paper has a larger canvas that covers the US as well. Since the book is published in 2013, the recent India–Japan–US trilateral initiative of which few rounds of discussions have already been held should have been covered. The editors should have asked Mifune to revise and update the paper before sending the manuscript to the press.
Ito’s paper also examines the ‘China Threat Theory’ in analysing India–Japan relations. The paper identifies the structural factors related to the Japanese approach to India. But the historical narrative does not add value to the paper and could have been minimised. The listing of summit meetings and security dialogues also could have gone as an appendix to the paper and not embedded into the body text. Swaran Singh’s paper on US–Japan–India dialogue is rich in content and fills the gap found in Mifune’s paper. In a very cogent manner, Swaran analyses in the most professional manner the triggers, visions and emerging contours of this trilateral dialogue process and crystal gazes the emerging trajectory and implications for the Asia Pacific region. While Tamari’s paper attempts a comparative analysis of America’s and Japan’s India policy, Marie Izuyama examines maritime security cooperation between India and Japan in the Asia Pacific.
Makoto Ikema examines the prospects and challenges that both India and Japan face in expanding and deepening the economic component of their relationship for which there are vast potentials. The paper analyses the economic contours by covering trade, investment, joint collaboration and disbursement of ODA loans, human exchanges, collaboration in information technology in comparative perspective. Srabani’s paper can be seen in the same light.
George’s paper discusses the present status of Japanese studies in India and analyses the prospects and problems. With a historical backdrop when awareness of India in Japan began and then the role of Rabindranath Tagore to the present state, it is a massive sweep in covering through the post-independent India how interests on Japan continue to spread till today. The paper is informative in terms of understanding the Japanese language education and Japanese studies as a part of Area Study in India. The paper concludes with convincing argument that both Japanese language education and Japanese studies are extremely relevant in the context of expanding relations between the two countries. The increasing presence of Japanese companies in India makes the need for Japanese language all the more great and the paper highlights this important fact.
The concluding chapter by Mayumi Murayama dwells on the issue of youth employment in India and Japan in comparative perspective. Here, India scores over Japan. While India has a sizable segment of youth population and enjoys demographic dividend, Japan is an ageing society and faces serious social security and health care problems. Murayama touches upon some of these issues.
Overall, the volume is a welcome addition to the limited literature that exists on this subject. In particular, students will find the book useful and get broad perspectives on political, security/strategic, economic and cultural issues in India–Japan relations.