With India's economic development drawing ever more attention, interactions between Japan and India are stepping up a gear. Understanding of Japan within India, however, has so far been limited to Japanese language education and introduction of Japanese culture, while the intellectual foundation for comprehending the political, economic and social status of contemporary Japan remains fragile. The mandate of this project is to initiate a program of Contemporary Japanese Studies at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), thereby establishing the intellectual foundations for study, debate and dissemination of information on the politics, economy and society of Japan.

In this fiscal year, Sanjana Joshi, ICRIER member and senior fellow of the Japanese Studies Program, will coordinate the following activities. Ms.Joshi is a new appointment to this post, having been selected last fiscal year.