The intimacy and ‘shared chemistry’ between the Japanese Emperor Akihito and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in full view of all those who attended the meeting at Hyderabad House here this afternoon, the former Japanese Ambassador to India, Sakutaro Tanino, said on Monday.
Briefing newspersons, Tanino said the meeting lasted about 45 minutes, well beyond the set timeframe. “The Prime Minister thanked the Emperor for the assistance that had been rendered to India. He also mentioned the contribution of Suzuki, whose Chairman is a friend of the Prime Minister,” Tanino said and added that issues connected with agriculture, alternate sources of energy including solar also came up during the meeting.
There was some surprise in the Japanese camp when Singh told the visiting Emperor that India was the largest milk producer.
Emphasising the need to enhance people-to-people relations, something which happened between Japan and China after the 1992 visit of the Emperor to China, Japanese officials were quick to say that parallels should not be drawn between the Emperor’s ongoing visit and that to China.
“There are 23 weekly flights between India and Japan compared with 527 weekly flights between Japan and China. There are 573 Indian students in Japan compared with 87,000 Chinese students. We should not be satisfied. There is great potential (between India and Japan),” Tanino said.
Despite these pin pricks and the fact that it has been 53 years since Emperor Akihito first came visiting, India continues to charm him, he said. “The welcome ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was very colourful and gorgeous,” the former Envoy said, echoing what he felt were the impressions of the Emperor.