• Abstract

After several decades of political oblivion, India has emerged as a confident nation on regional and global stages. Economically ascendant – and nuclear-armed – India’ spheres of international influence now stretch far beyond South Asia and its past allies like the former Soviet Union. The Look East policy has opened new channels of engagement bilaterally and multilaterally around Asia but India-Japan relations appear to be far from their full potential. Despite the absence of conflicts of interest, historical baggage or territorial disputes and even with mutual goodwill and popular interest the relationship can still be characterised as ambivalent. Why this distance between Asia’s two oldest democracies? And what might be done to bring these two Asian giants closer, so they can actively engage bilaterally and jointly have a positive regional and global influence on matters of shared issues and visions.