2027 to be celebrated as 'India-Japan Year of Shared Horizons'
New Delhi, July 2
The governments of India and Japan, in cooperation with their respective stakeholders, will celebrate 2027 as the 'India-Japan Year of Shared Horizons', recalling 75 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations, the Ministry of External Affairs stated on Thursday.
Both sides will work together in planning and holding commemorative programmes throughout the year and across the nations, with particular participation of the youth of both countries.
According to the MEA, the week of April 28, 2027 will be designated as the India-Japan Week to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations through coordinated outreach activities.
A logo and theme competition will also be launched, inviting the people of both countries to envision the future of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
'IMAGE-75: Manga, Anime, Gaming' partnership will be launched to support people-to-people exchanges and promote co-creation in such areas, building on the growing resonance of Japanese manga, anime and gaming among Indian youth and India's emergence as a major hub for animation, gaming, comics and immersive creative technologies.
A Buddhist delegation from Japan will be invited to India to undertake a spiritual tour of the important Buddhist sites. Such initiatives will serve to highlight the civilisational and spiritual ties between India and Japan and promote Buddhist tourism from Japan to India.
'RASA-75' will be launched as a year-long India-Japan arts and culture journey celebrating the colours, sounds, movements and living traditions of both countries, bringing together performing, visual and traditional arts practitioners, cultural institutions, and young creators from both countries.
'SPORT-75' will be launched to promote human exchanges and cooperation between India and Japan in the field of sports, taking note of India's ambition to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2036.
An India-Japan Friendship cricket match will also be organised during the 'Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026' as a curtain-raiser to the 75th anniversary celebrations.
"Both sides will launch Cricket Kizuna-75, under which two coaches from India will visit Japan for conducting a week-long cricket bootcamp for budding Japanese cricketers, further strengthening youth and sporting exchanges between India and Japan," noted the MEA.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Cricket Kizuna-75 sounds amazing! Indian coaches training Japanese cricketers—who would've imagined this 20 years ago? 🏏 Also, the Buddhist delegation spiritual tour is a beautiful nod to our shared heritage. Hope both sides fund these properly and not just make them photo ops.
Honestly, I'm a bit skeptical about yet another 'Year of X' declaration—we have so many of these. But the sports and gaming partnerships could genuinely create jobs and cross-cultural understanding if executed well. And India hosting 2036 Olympics? That's the real horizon we're aiming for!
As someone who grew up on Pokémon and Naruto, this makes me so happy! 🎮 Japan is our natural partner in tech, infrastructure (hello, bullet trains!) and now creative industries. But let's not forget—the real strength of this friendship is in reliable supply chains and defense cooperation. Glad to see cultural ties getting the spotlight too.
Shared Horizons—what a beautiful theme! 🇯🇵🤝🇮🇳 The RASA-75 arts journey and the Buddhist spiritual tour could really deepen people-to-people ties beyond just politics and economics. I just hope the logo competition doesn't end up with a corporate-looking symbol—let the people's creativity shine!
75 years of diplomacy and we're doing manga and anime competitions? This is not the serious strategic partnership we need. Japan has cutting-edge tech in semiconductors, hydrogen energy, and disaster management—that's where our focus should be. The cultural stuff is nice, but let's not lose sight of hard
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