: Shinzo Abe, India’s Friend Who Was Inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s Ties to Japan #IndiaNEWS #History Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan, passed away on 8 July after being

Shinzo Abe, India’s Friend Who Was Inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s Ties to Japan #IndiaNEWS #History
Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan, passed away on 8 July after being shot while giving a campaign speech in Nara. A champion of the idea of a ‘broader Asia’, he was the chief architect of Japan’s ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific policy’ that closely aligned with India’s own ‘Act East’ policy.
He was also a transformative leader in the Indo-Japanese relationship.
In a landmark speech at the Indian Parliament in 2007 — “Confluence of Two Seas�? — Abe quoted from Vivekananda’s 1893 speech in Chicago to highlight that among India’s many contributions to world history, there is “first of all its spirit of tolerance�?.
Hailing Swami Vivekananda as a great spiritual leader gifted by India to the world, Abe said, “Vivekananda came to be acquainted with Tenshin Okakura, a man ahead of his time in early modern Japan and a type of Renaissance man. Okakura was then guided by Vivekananda and also enjoyed a friendship with Sister Nivedita, Vivekananda’s loyal disciple and a distinguished female social reformer. �?
Interestingly, Swami Vivekananda had also been greatly impressed by Japan when he visited the country while on his way to the World Congress of Religions in 1893.
In an interview with The Hindu in 1897, he shared, “The world has never seen such a patriotic and artistic race as the Japanese…. . The key to Japans sudden greatness is the faith of the Japanese in themselves, and their love for their country. �?
He added, “When you have men who are ready to sacrifice everything for their country, sincere to the backbone — when such men arise, India will become great in every respect. It is the men that make the country! What is there in the country?�?
“If you catch the social morality and the political morality of the Japanese, you will be as great as they are. The Japanese are ready to sacrifice everything for their country, and they have become a great people,�? he said.
Not just Swami Vivekananda, two other legendary leaders of India too had great respect for Japan – Subhash Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore.
Rabindranath Tagore in Japan. Source: George Grantham Bain. (Flickr Commons)
In 1916, Tagore (Asia’s first Nobel Laureate) stayed in the Sankeien gardens of the Japanese port city of Yokohama for three months as the guest of silk-merchant and art patron Tomitaro Hara. What impressed him most during these months was the Japanese intimacy with nature.
As for Netaji Bose, he is viewed by many Japanese as a noble martyr and a swashbuckling samurai who fought for his nation’s freedom. Even 77 years after his death, he remains the best-known Indian hero in Japan.

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