'I would like to see one million Indians coming to Japan during my tenure,' commented Kenji Hiramatsu, Japanese Ambassador to India. His Excellency Hiramastsu was addressing ISB community and tricity industry leaders, on ‘Japan- India relationship’ at ISB, Mohali campus recently.  His visit assumes significance as the year 2017 has been declared as ‘The Year of Japan India Friendly Exchanges’ after Prime Minister Modi's visit to Japan.

Addressing the audience His Excellency Hiramastsu said that Japan-India relationships are now flourishing and both the countries are consolidating their relationship in the areas of trade, investment, retail, manufacturing and security matters. He referred to PM Modi’s visit and the developments that ensued and spoke about some of the recent projects and investments of joint collaborations, such as Shinkansen system for High-Speed Railway, CBIC (Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor), DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor), among others.

He articulated that Japan has agreed to train Indian engineers and contractors on Shinkansen technology and they are encouraging Japanese companies to relocate their operational base to India to contribute to local production and training as a part of industrial progress. He shared figures of Public Private financing from Japan to India stating their intent to double the investment and number of companies in India in the next five years. He also said both the countries already have exchange programmes and are in talks for some more programmes where Indian students can come to Japan to study the language.

Summarising his address Ambassador Hiramatsu said the India-Japan Relationship has entered a new era and many people say this is the best in history. The session moderated by Dean Srivastava saw many interesting questions being addressed His Excellency Hiramastsu.