The Elephant and the Samurai: Why Japan Can Trust India？

By  

Dr. Rupakjyoti Borah

                                                                                                                                       

About the Book:

 This book seeks to analyze the ongoing flux in the Indo-Pacific region, as India, Japan and China-all seek to grow at the same time. Japan and India have had close historical ties, but these have not translated into robust gains in the economic and political front in the modern times. All this, however, seems to be changing with the growing power and influence of China and the relative decline in American dominance in the region. At the same time, India, under PM Modi and Japan, under PM Abe are actively seeking to establish themselves as leading players, not only in Asia, but globally.

 

India and Japan are both energy-deficient nations and have a deep interest in ensuring that the sea-lines of communication in the Indo-Pacific region are kept open for all. This book elucidates India’s usefulness for Japan in the maritime arena as the Indian Navy is the most powerful actor in the Indian Ocean region, with the sole exception of the US.  India’s growing closeness with the US has also helped to bring New Delhi and Tokyo together. The central argument of this book is that Japan can trust India, in the maritime Indo-Pacific, it is sine qua non that the two countries shed their reticence and take some tough decisions to take the relations on the maritime front to the next level. 

 

The book will list some recommendations to take the Japan-India kizuna (Japanese word meaning bond) to the next level. Last, but not the least, it will vouch that in order to ensure a rules-based order in the maritime Indo-Pacific region, India and Japan need to sign a specific maritime cooperation treaty at the earliest.

 

Contents:

1.  Introduction and Historical Background

2.  Japan-India Relations After the End of the Cold War

3.  Japan-India Maritime Relations

4.  Major Foreign Policy Challenges for India and Japan

5.  The Trust Factor and the Road Ahead

 

About the Author:

Dr Rupakjyoti Borah is presently a Research Fellow with the Tokyo-based Japan Forum for Strategic Studies (JFSS). He has earlier served as an Assistant Professor of International Relations at India’s Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University and has held visiting appointments at the University of Cambridge (U.K), the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), Tokyo and the Australian National University (ANU), Australia.