india

Updated: Jun 27, 2019 19:10 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the deep cultural and economic ties with Japan during an interactive session with the Indian diaspora in the Japanese city of Kobe.

His audience gave him one of the loudest cheers when he read out the Japanese names for each of Mahatma Gandhi’s three iconic monkeys.

“Bapu’s three monkeys were born in 17th Century Japan,” PM said while promising to take India-Japan ties to a new level.

From silk to deities, Prime Minister pointed out many similarities in culture of the two countries.

“What is ‘Dhyan’ (meditation) in India is called Zen in Japan, ‘Sewa,’ like in India, means service in Japan too,” he said.

Despite the similarities, there is lot that India could learn from Japan, a country that had left an imprint on every part of India, he added.

“There was a time when we used to cooperate in making cars. Now we are cooperating in making the bullet train,” the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister’s address started with a tribute to Indian democracy for holding the largest electoral exercise in the world. “If we leave China out, then the 61 crore Indian voters outnumber any other country’s population”, he said while adding that “Every Indian must be proud of such an exercise. It proves ordinary Indian’s commitment to democracy.”

PM Modi told the gathering that his government aims to chase development milestones that are comparable to Indian people’s rising aspirations.

Prime Minister said that his government wanted to make India a 5 trillion dollar economy and saw social sector and digital sector as key areas to achieve it. “We have set a goal to create ecosystem for 50,000 startups in the next 5 years.”

Talking about India’s Chandrayaan-2 (Moon craft) and Gaganyaan (Space craft) space projects, he said, “We want some Indian to unfurl the Indian flag in the space, we also want an Indian space station.”