1. Prologue
  2. Mindmap: Gist of Modi’s Japan visit
  3. Strategic: India-Japan
  4. Economy: India-Japan
  5. Energy-Environment: India-Japan
  6. Science-Space-Healthcare
  7. People 2 People: India-Japan
  8. Side topics
    1. #1: Indo-Jap Nuclear deal
    2. #2: Japan doesn’t like MAT. NOT ONE BIT
    3. #3: US-2 Amphibian aircraft
  9. Mock questions

Prologue

Total four part article-series

  1. Modi Japan visit
  2. Xi’s India Visit
  3. Modi US visit
  4. Comparative table of above three, with Overall analysis/ success / failure.

As such all these summits had lot of photo-ops, symbolic gestures like Modi feeding fishes, visiting temple, drinking tea in Japan, Modi says India not land of snake charmers but Mouse players, Modi asks Indians living in Japan to bring their friends on India tour….. But I’m focusing only on six key areas:

  1. Strategic (Defense Related)
  2. Trade, Investment, Economy
  3. Energy And Environment
  4. Science, Research, Space, Healthcare
  5. People 2 People and Misc.
  6. Side Topics, If Any

Let’s begin.

Mindmap: Gist of Modi’s Japan visit

Mindmap Tokyo Declaration

Tokyo Declaration 2014: India Japan

Strategic: India-Japan

Meetings with item songs

  1. Japan is now India’s strategic partner (= civil + defense ties)
  2. Japan will intensify 2+2 strategic dialogue with India, involving foreign and defense Secretaries. Japan also has similar with US, Australia, Russia and France.
  3. Regular meetings between their National Security Advisors.
  4. Trilateral Defense meeting between India-Japan-USA.

Defense and desi liquor- Trade

  1. 1998: Japan had banned sale of HAL and other Indian defense companies (due to Pokhran test). After Modi visit, they lifted ban from HAL and 5 other cos.
  2. Japan will sale US-2 amphibian aircrafts and its secret technology to India.
  3. This will be Japan’s first overseas military sale in 50 years.

Exercises to get 8 pack abs

  1. Japan will hold regular exercise with Indian navy and coast guards
  2. Japan will participate in India-US Malabar naval exercise.

International bodies

  1. Both want urgent reforms in UNSC- for increasing no. of permanent and non-permanent members.
  2. Japan will help India get FULL membership in four international export control regimes
    1. Nuclear Suppliers Group
    2. Missile Technology Control Regime
    3. Wassenaar Arrangement
    4. Australia Group

Misc.filler

  1. Denounced terrorism in all forms.
  2. Asked N.Korea to stop nuke proliferation.
  3. Welcomed UN negotiations for Iran nuke issue,
  4. Pledged support for Afghanistan rebuilding. (Just like “3 times-camera zooming” is pre-requisite in every saas-bahu serial, “Afghanistan-rebuilding” is pre-requisite in all bilateral meetings involving India.)

Economy: India-Japan

India Japan
  • India will supply rare earth chloride to to Japan- for making defence and high tech electronics.
  • At present, China biggest producer of rare earth, limits exports to safeguard its local mfg. units
  • Japan will Investment $35 billion smart cities, bullet trains, Ganga Cleaning, health-women etc. in next five years.
  • Double the Japanese FDI in 5 years
  • 50 billion yen loan to IIFCL (India Infrastructure Finance corp. ltd) for PPP projects
  • Modi to setup “Japan+  Management team” in PMO, to help Japanese investors in India. Team will have 2 Japanese members.
  • will reform tax, environment clearance for “ease of doing business”.
  • collaborate on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations

Transport

  1. Joint Feasibility Study for bullet train between Ahmedabad – Mumbai.
  2. Mass rapid transit system between Gurgaon and Bawal (HN)
  3. Japan will help upgrading the existing semi-high speed railways in India.
  4. @Gujarat: New Dholera International airport + Alang ship-breaking yard upgrade.

Industrial corridors:

  1. Will help finishing the ongoing industrial corridor projects. Click me to see economic survey summary on this:
  2. Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)
  3. Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC)
  4. Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC)
  5. Will setup Industrial cities / townships in Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP and Madhya Pradesh
  6. Japanese industrial townships will give benefits similar or higher than SEZ and NIMZs in India.

Agro / village related:

  1. Japan will setup food value chains via PPP
  2. Japan will give advanced irrigation system and farming machines.
  3. Japanese “Champions of Societal Manufacturing (CSM) Project”- for mfg sector in India. Within this, Japan will also run “Village Buddha” project to help SHG groups in villages.

Misc.

  1. Smart Community projects, the Logistics Data Bank project
  2. @North East: Road connectivity, Forest resource Management, water supply improvement.

Energy-Environment: India-Japan

Energy to light bidi

  1. Speed up nuclear deal negotiations
  2. Jointly procure LNG
  3. Tie up in oil-gas exploration.
  4. Collaboration for environment friendly coal tech such as
  5. Coal-fired power generation technology
  6. Clean Coal Technology (CCT).
  7. Super-critical coal-fired power project in Meja, UP.
  8. Super critical thermal power plant in Barauni, Bihar.
  9. @Gujarat: Canal top solar power plants
  10. @Rajasthan: Mega Solar Power project at Neemrana

Misc.

  1. will assist in cleaning Ganga
  2. @Gujarat: Seawater Desalination project at Dahej.
  3. Japan will host 3rd UN Disaster Management conference @Sendai (March 2015) to adopt new framework after Hyogo.

Science-Space-Healthcare

  1. Outer space exploration via Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF)
  2. ICT initiatives, internet security.
  3. Joint ocean studies.
  4. Science Fellowship programs for youth.
  5. +lot other fancy research things that I don’t bother copying from original Tokyo Declaration statement.

People 2 People: India-Japan

  1. Kyoto-Varanasi partnership agreement: to develop Varanasi just like Japan’s historical city Kyoto.
  2. JENESYS 2.0 program: Exchanging ~1300 youth
  3. Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV): will send nurses to Mizoram.
  4. Will promote Tourism, youth exchange, skill Development and other fancy things.

And finally, Abe agreed to visit India in 2015 to return the favour of harassing UPSC aspirants.

Side topics

So far, we checked the points related to the so called “Tokyo declaration” between India and Japan during Modi visit. Now some related sidetopics:

#1: Indo-Jap Nuclear deal

Why does India want nuke deal with Japan?

  1. We’ve put 10 out of 21 nuke reactors under IAEA supervision. They can be run on imported Uranium.
  2. Ailing Jap. Nuke industry after Fukushima disaster. Will get boost by signing agreements with India.
  3. Japanese companies supply critical components to nuclear powerplants of GE and Areva etc.
  4. If we can get Japanese components and technology, it’ll greatly increase our nuclear-electricity generation.
  5. Japan has huge stockpile of reprocessed plutonium.
What are the challenges then?
Japan India
  • Wants India to sign Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and Non-proliferation treaty.
  • Nuke disarmament is a major issue in their domestic politics. (Just like psedo-secularism in Indian politics).
  • If Japanese PM signs nuke deals with India, and India doesn’t commit to CBDT/NPT, it’ll be difficult for Abe’s party to win future elections. just like Sharif can’t win elections without making stupid remarks over Kashmir.
 No we won’t sign such stupid agreements. We want to have freedom of doing nuclear tests.
No, we cannot allow that. We want to reprocess the spent fuel (for testing nuke weapons.)
India should accept inspection beyond the current IAEA safeguards. i.e. if we sell you fissile material or James Bond secret technology then allow us to inspect both your defense and civilian nuke programs. Not acceptable. We can’t allow you / anyone else to inspect our defense nuclear programs.

In short, India not willing to accept more obligations than what we’ve agreed under 2008’s Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver agreement.

Q.Then How to convenience Japan to sell nuke material and Technology to India?

  • India should gain membership into export control regimes — NSG, Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Australia Group, and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
  • 2015 will be the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
  • At that time, Modi should launch a new “nuclear disarmament” initiative with Japan.
  • Above steps, will create good faith & then nuclear deal can be made.

#2: Japan doesn’t like MAT. NOT ONE BIT

Current Minimum Alternate Tax rates in India
Indian companies Japanese and other foreign cos.
19.06% 19.06%
20.01 (with edu. cess+surcharge) 19.44%
  • Japan wants India to exempt Japanese mfg. companies from MAT.
  • This will facilitate more investment in India- worth Rs.2-lakh crore in India over the next five years
  • In recent years, Japanese private investment is declining due to high labour costs in India and industrial unrest e.g. at Manesar’s Maruti plant.

#3: US-2 Amphibian aircraft

Defense-US-2 Amphibian aircraft

  • Japan Maritime “self-defense” force uses this plane. (They don’t have a full-fledged army or navy.)
  • Amphibian aircraft meaning it can land both on land as well as water.
  • Can help rescuing victims from martime accidents.
  • Can transport Indian troops to places with no landing strip or shore- especially in far-flung islands in Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep.
  • STOL: short takeoff and landing space required.
  • Can cover distance of 4500 kms, at speed >450 kmph without needing refueling.
  • This will be the first time since WW2, that Japan will make an overseas military sale.

Mock questions

Q1. Write a note on the salient features of Tokyo declaration 2014. (200 words)

Ans.

  • Signed on 1st September 2014
  • By Indian PM Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.
  • for India – Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership
  • Remaining points- well pick a few from defense, economy, environment, people-2-people given above, and you’ll reach 200 words easily.

Q2. Discuss the opportunities and challenges before India-Japan nuclear deal. 200 words

Q3. Discuss the significance of the agreements signed between India and Japan during the first official visit of PM Narendra Modi recently. 200 words

Q4. Write a note on the objective, structure and functions of following in 100 words each:

  1. Nuclear Suppliers Group
  2. Missile Technology Control Regime
  3. Wassenaar Arrangement
  4. Australia Group

Q5. Answer following in 100 words each

  1. Kyoto Varanasi agreement
  2. JENESYS 2.0 program
  3. Significance of US-2 Amphibian aircraft for Indian Navy.