The Japanese Connect

“We had a chance beginning,” says president and founding member advocate Samir Khale about the inception of the organisation. Khale along with two of his friends Amod Deo and Shrikant Atre who were students of the Japanese language in the Pune University founded the organisation when a troupe of Japanese students came down to the city to understand the culture and the tradition here from Kawasaki. “When we began in 1990 we were a small NGO that was working towards promoting Japanese culture in the city. And the work carried on fine till 1997. We would have delegations visit us and we would help them go around the city,understand the way things worked here.”

Things however did change after 1997,Shrikant Atre the other founding member informs. “The main reason behind the big lull surprisingly were the Pokhran nuclear tests. Japan has a very strong anti-nuclear weapons policy due to which we received a letter from them saying that they were not interested in maintaining relationships with us post the Pokhran tests. It was a very bitter pill for us to swallow. But then we couldn’t argue with their viewpoint as we know how they feel about the issue,” he says.

The ice breaker however came in the form of the governor of the Okayama province who contacted them regarding a Japanese delegation of businessmen who were to visit Pune. Atre says,“They wanted us to help them understand the city. And slowly through these events we even changed our outlook and they began to see that we were more interested in promoting better cultural affairs between the countries and now were promoting businesses too!”

A major reason as to why they never thought of India as a business opportunity was because of the distance,the trade and the language barriers. And now with the over saturation of the Chinese market the Japanese are looking at India as a major investment destination. “As of now we have around 150 Japanese individuals staying in the city. Our main aim for the future would be about helping businesses both in Japan and India to grow better,” says Khale.