India wants to learn from Japan's success, from bullet trains and manufacturing to semiconductors and AI. But there is one Japanese export New Delhi should avoid at all costs: karoshi, or "death by overwork."

India-Japan ties go far beyond trade. Here's one thing India shouldn't import: Karoshi

Japan PM Sanae Takaichi tried playing the santoor during a cultural event hosted by PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The moment has gone viral.

Watch: Japan PM Sanae Takaichi plays santoor as PM Modi applauds during Delhi visit

Several Indian companies, including Tata Electronics, have partnered with Japan's leading chip firms to support India's ambition of becoming a global semiconductor manufacturing hub.

WION Decodes | Takaichi's visit puts the India-Japan semiconductor partnership in focus

Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi's India visit highlights Tokyo's post-pacifist security strategy, growing defence cooperation, and concerns over China.

What is Sanae Takaichi's post-pacifist Japan and why does India matter?

Japan’s manufacturing reputation is itself a form of soft power. Brands associated with reliability, precision and long-term quality have reinforced trust in Japanese products across sectors ranging from automobiles to consumer electronics.

Decoding Japan’s soft power and cultural influence India, others tend to overlook

Before the Modi-Takaichi summit, India's bullet train report card looks like this: E10 deal locked in, Surat-Vapi section nearing completion, manufacturing ambitions expanding, but cost overruns and delays continue to shadow the project. WION Decodes.

Bullet train scorecard before Modi-Takaichi summit: E10 deal, 2027 partial opening, 8-year delay

Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi's India visit highlights Japan's digital corridor initiative under the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, boosting cooperation on undersea cables, satellite communications and digital infrastructure while strengthening India-Japan strategic ties.

Japan's digital corridor: Free and open Indo-Pacific's backbone

Beijing controls the lion's share of global rare earths, lithium, and cobalt processing, and has shown its willingness to weaponise that dominance. This is where India's Northeast becomes the gateway for Japan's move away from China.

Northeast India: Japan's new geo-economic corridor

The signal is clear: with Beijing squeezing on one side and Washington's trade unpredictability on the other, Japan is betting big on India. And the Northeast, quietly, is becoming the physical spine of that bet.

India-Japan ties to go beyond the handshake

The Japan-India Joint Vision for the Next Decade, adopted at the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit in Tokyo in August 2025, outlines a roadmap to deepen bilateral ties while targeting 10 trillion JPY ($68 billion) in Japanese private investment in India.

Takaichi's India visit: Decoding India-Japan Joint Vision for Next Decade and its eight pillars

Japan is investing in India's Northeast infrastructure to provide a strategic alternative to China's regional ambitions. By funding projects like the Dhubri-Phulbari bridge, Tokyo and New Delhi are securing vital Indo-Pacific trade routes without explicitly naming Beijing.

Why Japan chose the Northeast to answer China's connectivity push without naming it

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's first official visit to India will happen from July 1 to July 3. The discussions with PM Narendra Modi are likely to centre on semiconductors, critical minerals, clean energy, supply-chain resilience, skilled worker mobility and defence cooperation.

Semiconductors to biogas: What’s really on the table at the Modi-Takaichi summit? | WION Decodes

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives in New Delhi for the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit. Discover the key defence, tech, and economic security agendas on the table. 

Japan's PM Sanae Takaichi arrives in India for annual summit

Japan’s Sanae Takaichi visits India to align critical defence and technology sectors. What does the Abe protégé’s strategy mean for the future of Tokyo-New Delhi relations?

Sanae Takaichi's India visit: The Abe protégé aligning Japan's defence and tech with New Delhi

India and Japan seek to deepen their economic cooperation at a time when global supply chains are being reshaped and competition for advanced technologies is intensifying. A strong, mutually beneficial partnership can help the two complementary economies accelerate growth for both nations.

50 biz honchos accompanying Japan’s PM to Delhi, eager to ride on India’s growth story

Japan's PM will be visiting New Delhi for the 16th annual summit. Both nations use reciprocal "shuttle diplomacy" to alternate hosting duties every year, boosting trade, tech, and security ties.

Shuttle diplomacy explained: Why India is hosting the 2026 India-Japan summit

Ahead of Japanese PM Takaichi's visit, a look back at the friendship between Indian intellectual Rabindranath Tagore and Japanese thinker and art critic Okakura Kakuzo that paved the way for cultural diplomacy between India and Japan over a hundred years ago. 

Asia is one: How Rabindranath Tagore and Okakura Kakuzō’s friendship paved way for modern ties between India and Japan

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will be visiting India, shouldering the legacy of India-Japan relations created by Shinzo Abe. She is more focused on economic security and has a different approach. Here is how Takaichi's approach and relations with Modi are different. 

Abe-Modi 'bromance' legacy will lurk over Takaichi's India visit. What to expect

Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi's first visit to India is expected to strengthen cooperation in trade, defence, semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy and emerging technologies. The summit could deepen strategic ties, boost investment 

WION Decodes | What could be biggest takeaways from Japan PM Sanae Takaichi's first India visit?

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to visit Indian capital, New Delhi, during her upcoming official visit.

Japan PM Sanae Takaichi to make first official visit to India in July