R. V. Pandit was on a two-week visit to Japan, accompanied by Vibhav Kant Upadhayay, Founder-Chairperson of India Center, Tokyo.

Deeply interested for the past 40 years in furthering India-Japan relations, RVP counted Mr Masayoshi Ohira and Mr Takeo Fukuda, both Cabinet Ministers in the sixties and later distinguished Prime Ministers of Japan, as friends. Because of the 5-year tenure-tradition for Presidents of the ruling (for 50 plus years) Liberal Democratic Party, Mr Juinichiro Kozumi, the present head of the Party and as such the Prime Minister of Japan, will step down in September 2006. Two well-known and experienced members of the LDP, Mr Yasuo Fukuda and (son of Mr Takeo Fukuda, Prime Minister (1975-78), and Mr Shinzo Abe (grandson of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi (1957- 60) are in line to succeed Mr Kozumi. Mr Fukuda was for several years the longest serving Chief Cabinet Secretary, the main architect of the Foreign Policy of Japan, and currently is a top leader of the ruling party; Mr Abe is the present Chief Cabinet Secretary. RVP met, separately, both Mr Fukuda and Mr Abe in Tokyo during this visit. 
Mr Vibhav Upadhayay, who has friends across the spectrum in high political and business circles, accompanied RVP. A Master's Degree holder in Computer Engineering from the prestigious Tokyo University, Vibhav is fluent in Japanese and understands politics of Japan as few foreigners do. He is doing full time and with great passion for the past 10 years, what Mr R. V. Pandit did only occasionally for the past few decades - try bring Japan close to India. 

Mr Yasuo Fukuda, with Vibhav and RVP - a warm, firm handshake after a long talk on synergy between Japan and India for economic development and peace. Mr Fukuda is likely to visit India soon.

Mr Shinzo Abe, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, a friend of Vibhav, and perhaps the busiest Government official in Japan, found time to talk to RVP on Japan's growing interest in India.

Mr Seiji Maehara, President, The Democratic Party of Japan, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Japanese Diet, a friend of Vibhav, with RVP. For the first time in several decades, the Opposition (meaning the DPJ) has a good chance of winning the general elections in 2010 or 2015. Mr Maehara is also scheduling a visit to India later this year.

One of the most articulate young politicians anywhere, Mr Heizo Takenaka, Ph.D., is the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. He is also the Minister for Privatisation of Postal Services, which will free approximately 3 Trillion Dollars from the Post Offices Savings Schemes. On his right is Mr Hiro Kishi, Senior Adviser to the Minister.

RVP's second meeting with Mr Fukuda in the span of a week was over Lunch at the Tokyo home of Mr Yasuyuki Nambu, the affable and popular owner of Pasona, Japan's most successful manpower company. Mr Nambu is a friend of Vibhav and a patron of the India Center.

Mr Fukuda, at the lunch with Mr Yoshio Ishikawa (hidden to the right of Mr.Fukudo), with Mr Nambu, RVP and Vibhav. Curry Rice is a favorite dish of Mr. Fukuda

The highlight of the RVP visit was a short paper by RVP on the need for Japan to put the legacy of WWII firmly behind, as a chapter closed, and play a leading role in world affairs, together with India. Mr Nambu hosted a dinner in Kyoto for friends to discuss the RVP paper. Here, Mr Maehara, the Leader of the Opposition in the Diet, is reading for the guests the paper which was translated in Japanese.

RVP, who has visited the Yasukuni Shrine a few times in the past, visited the War Memorial in the Shrine Compound for the first time in February 2006, accompanied by Mr Yoshio Ishikawa (not in the picture), Mr Nambu and friends. RVP's observations on what he saw are in the last paragraph of the RVP paper.