From Bullet Trains To Boardrooms: PM Modi’s Japan Visits As Gujarat Chief Minister

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on a two-day visit to Japan for the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit in Tokyo, attention has turned to his earlier travels to the island nation as Gujarat Chief Minister.

Those visits not only laid the groundwork for today’s Special Strategic and Global Partnership but also shaped his own political image as a leader synonymous with growth and investment.

First Steps in 2007

PM Narendra Modi’s first official trip to Japan took place in April 2007, when he led a 40-member delegation of bureaucrats and industrialists.

Over six days, he visited Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Kobe, holding meetings with corporate giants including Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Toshiba, and Nippon Steel.

One of the defining moments of that trip was his experience inside the cockpit of a Japanese Bullet Train. An encounter that later influenced India’s Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project, a flagship Indo-Japanese collaboration.

PM Modi also met then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, discussed the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, and extended an invitation to Gujarat. Abe assured full Japanese support for Gujarat’s participation in the project.

Beyond business, PM Modi paid homage at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park and attended cultural events in Kobe, strengthening people-to-people ties.

Return in 2012

By July 2012, PM Modi’s stature had grown, and his visit carried the weight of national attention.

Invited formally by the Japanese government, he was received with Cabinet-level honours, an accolade usually reserved for heads of state.

During the five-day trip, he attended 44 engagements across Tokyo, Osaka, Hamamatsu, Nagoya, and Kobe. He promoted Gujarat as a power-surplus, investor-friendly state, emphasising infrastructure and industrial corridors.

At investment seminars organised by JETRO, PM Modi urged Japanese investors to see Gujarat as Asia’s next manufacturing hub. In a key meeting with Suzuki Motors chairman Osamu Suzuki, he pitched Gujarat as the future heart of India’s automotive industry.

He also connected with the diaspora, addressing Gujarat Samaj gatherings and engaging with the historic India Club in Kobe.

Media Recognition

Japanese media, including the leading business daily Nikkei, lauded Prime Minister Modi’s dynamism, describing him as a ‘business-friendly leader’ and even a likely contender for India’s prime ministership in 2014.

Japanese diplomats praised his governance model, while the phrase ‘Modi Means Business’ gained traction among investors.

Those early visits, blending economic diplomacy and cultural outreach, played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of India-Japan relations and PM Modi’s own rise on the national stage.

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