Seminar on

Indo-Japanese Relations: Echoes of Cultural Fraternity

CONCEPT NOTE

Cultural exchanges have long been a main idea of fostering understanding, friendship, and cooperation between two civilizations.  Such vibrant and multifaceted relationship exists between Japan and India since long. Despite the geographical distance between these two age-old civilizations their historical connections, shared values, and cooperative endeavours have contributed a lot to deepening their connections.

Buddhism was the focal-point of connection between these two Asian civilizations. Buddhism and its popularity crossed the boundary of the country of its origin and spread through- out the universe in various times and centuries. One of the noteworthy countries is Japan, the economic giant of Asia in the 20th and the 21st centuries. When Buddhism entered into Japan through China and Korea at that time, Indian Culture was filtered by Buddhist ideologies which have had a great impact on Japanese Culture. That is considered to be the pivotal for Japanese people’s feeling of closeness to India.

Indian Buddhism, which was nourished in China and later found it’s to Japan through Korea had developed a new flavour of its own, that was in some respect deviated from the original Buddhism of India. So Japanese Buddhism is basically a quintessence of the Korean, Chinese and Indian Buddhism. Though that ideology was totally new to the Japanese but it did not take a long time to become the controlling force of spiritual culture in Japan.  Buddhism gave a new shape to Japanese civilization.

The indigenous spiritual belief of the Japanese at the time of introduction of Buddhism was later known as SHINTO or the way to God. The name was given to differentiate the existing belief from the newly introduced religious belief BUTSUDO or way to Buddha. The so called Shintoism or the indigenous religion of Japan originally did not have any specific connotation but it was just the honour to the Imperial and family predecessors and the nature, which are regarded as the saver of the human being and earth. In most Japanese homes, a Buddhist altar and a Shinto shrine which are believed to protect the house and family respectively, stand side by side.

After the establishment of Buddhism as state religion of Japan through a proclamation by Prince Shotoku Taishi (Prince Umayado) in 604 A.D., Japanese common people became moved by the ideals of this new religious belief. That attachment is still continuing in Japanese Society. For them, Shintoism plays the role of governing the joyous side of life and Buddhism the sombre side.

Western influences in the Meiji Period  (in 1868 A.D.) and the persecution of Buddhism during Meiji Restoration could not destroy Buddhism, though its status was much affected. Moreover, the persecution did not last long and Buddhism shortly began to recover its strength. Buddhism in Japan, as a living religion is a way of life. It is a spontaneous experience manifested in daily life and accessible to anyone, regardless of sex, position, ideology, or character. In this sense, we can see the Buddhist influence among the Japanese people in various aspects of their daily life.

Over the years, Japan has embraced Indian culture in a variety of ways. This inter-cultural exchange took a new shape and form to the Indians by the enthusiasm of Kabiguru Rabindra Nath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda. Both the great personalities of India were overwhelmed by the culture and civilization of Japan and Tagore encouraged the learning of Japanese Language and Culture including Japanese Marshal Arts in his educational institution Visva-Bharati. Later, in the 20th Century and afterwards institutions such as the Japan Foundation and the Japan-India Association etc. have been established to actively facilitate cultural exchange programs encompassing a wide range of activities, from language learning and workshops to art exhibitions and performances. Japanese interest in learning Indian languages like Sanskrit and Hindi, Bengali has grown steadily. Similarly, a growing number of Indians are learning Japanese, not only to explore business and job opportunities but also to engage more deeply with Japanese culture. This linguistic bridge has facilitated direct communication and a deeper understanding of each other's cultural nuances. More recently, pop culture has contributed significantly to the cultural exchange between Japan and India. Japanese Anime, Manga, and video games have gained a massive popularity in India, particularly among the youth.

But it can be said that, historically, the flow of cultural influence between the India and Japan was one-way traffic. Originally, it was full of religious and ethical elements. The reverse flow of cultural influences from Japan is a post World War II phenomena. It has been greatly facilitated by the flow of technology, investment in trade and commerce and Japanese technical managers. As a result it is overloaded by the material elements such as emphasis on work ethics, techniques of productions and standardization. 

A country’s soft power can be anything ranging from its religious belief, cuisine culture, places of tourist attractions, diversity and different art forms etc. It can be something that makes a country different from other. India, a country with huge diversity has many things to use as soft power. On the other hand Japan had deep knowledge of technology and economy. The reciprocal relations might strengthen this age old relationship stronger.