The author, Nupur Tewari, the founder and CEO of Connect India Japan, frames the campaign as a personal expression of ongaeshi (giving back), reflecting her gratitude to Japan and her commitment through her organization, founded in 2023, to strengthening ties between the two nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ultimately, she argues that a “Shinzo Abe Street” would preserve the late premier’s legacy, inspire future generations, and stand as a permanent reminder of the friendship between India and Japan.<\/p>\n
Some friendships between nations are built through treaties. Some are organized through trade. And some are developed through something much deeper\u2014trust, respect, gratitude, and an emotional understanding between people. The friendship between India and Japan is one such relationship.<\/p>\n
Today, Connect India Japan, an organization I founded in 2023, has started a campaign to name a street in New Delhi after the late Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe\u2014a leader who remains deeply respected and loved by many Indians and who, for many of us, came to symbolize the extraordinary friendship between the two countries.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/s20170913113462.webp\")
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves to the crowd alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the India Cultural Road Show in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, September 13, 2017. (Courtesy of the Prime Minister’s Office, India)<\/p>\n
This is not simply about naming a road. It is about preserving a memory. It is about gratitude. It is about creating a permanent symbol in India of a Japanese leader who believed that India and Japan could become much more than economic partners. <\/p>\n
He believed they could become strategic partners, democratic partners and, most importantly, partners connected by an emotional bond.<\/p>\n
The Abe Vision<\/p>\n
Shinzo Abe visited India four times during his premiership\u2014in 2007, January 2014, December 2015, and September 2017.<\/p>\n
His first visit in 2007 left a particularly lasting impression. Addressing the Indian Parliament, Abe delivered his historic “Confluence of the Two Seas” speech. <\/p>\n
Drawing upon the ideas of Swami Vivekananda, he spoke of the meeting of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and envisioned a broader Asia based on freedom, prosperity and cooperation.<\/p>\n
It was more than diplomatic language. It was a vision. Abe understood something that went beyond economics. Japan and India are two ancient civilizations with deep traditions, democratic values, and a shared belief that modernity does not require abandoning one’s roots.<\/p>\n
During his later tenure, that vision became increasingly tangible. In 2014, India and Japan upgraded their relationship to a Special Strategic and Global Partnership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the relationship continued to expand across diplomacy, security, infrastructure, technology, business and people-to-people relations.<\/p>\n
But numbers and agreements tell only part of the story. The deeper story is about people.<\/p>\n
Why a Street in Delhi?<\/p>\n
Abe’s contribution deserves more than a reference in a history book. A street is part of everyday life. Every day, thousands of people would pass a road carrying his name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Children would ask, “Who was Shinzo Abe?” Young Indians would learn about the Japanese Prime Minister who believed so strongly in India. Japanese visitors to Delhi would see, in the heart of India’s capital, a visible reminder of the friendship between the two countries. It would become a living symbol of India-Japan friendship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/s20170913113484.webp\")
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie visit Sidi Saiyyed Mosque in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, September 13, 2017. (Courtesy of the Prime Minister’s Office, India)<\/p>\n
There is also a beautiful generational connection.<\/p>\n
In his 2007 speech, Abe spoke about his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, who had visited India 50 years earlier. <\/p>\n
Abe understood that relationships between nations are also relationships between generations. A street named after him would carry that story forward.<\/p>\n
For me, this campaign is deeply personal as I love both countries.<\/p>\n I have lived in Japan for more than two decades. Japan has given me much more than a place to live.\u00a0<\/p>\n It gave me opportunities, friendships, dignity, and at many moments in my life, the belief that I could become something. Japan loved me when perhaps I was not lovable. Japan believed in me when I could not believe in myself.<\/p>\n That is why, when I started Connect India Japan, I did not begin with a conventional business plan. I began with a philosophy that I learned and experienced in Japan: ongaeshi\u2014\u6069\u8fd4\u3057\u2014giving back.\u00a0<\/p>\n When someone helps you, you do not simply take that kindness and move on. You carry it forward. You give back. That spirit became one of the foundations of Connect India Japan.<\/p>\n At the same time, my roots are in India, a civilization whose thousands of years of history have shaped my understanding of life, spirituality, and human relationships.\u00a0<\/p>\n The wisdom I received from India’s ancient traditions, from the Vedas and Upanishads, taught me that life is not merely about what we acquire, but about what we give, what we contribute, and what we leave behind.<\/p>\n India gave me my roots. Japan gave me wings. And Connect India Japan became the bridge between the two.<\/p>\n A Mission Beyond Business<\/p>\n I founded Connect India Japan with one fundamental purpose: to give back, to bring India and Japan closer\u2014economically, strategically, culturally, spiritually, and emotionally.<\/p>\n Over the years, we have worked to connect people, businesses, governments, institutions, and communities in both countries. <\/p>\n We have organized India-Japan events, promoted Indian states in Japan, facilitated meetings between Japanese delegations and Indian governments and institutions, created media platforms, and introduced people from both countries to one another.<\/p>\n We are still evolving, but our core purpose has never changed. We want India and Japan to understand each other more deeply. That is why the campaign for Shinzo Abe is so important to us.<\/p>\n Abe was one of the leaders who understood that India-Japan relations should not remain limited to government meetings and business agreements. They should live in the hearts of ordinary people.\u00a0<\/p>\n A tribute from one country to a friend of another. Naming a street after Shinzo Abe would be India’s gesture of gratitude to Japan.<\/p>\n It would say: We remember. We remember the Japanese Prime Minister who believed in India’s potential. We remember the leader who helped transform India-Japan relations. We remember the friendship he built with India. And we remember the vision he left behind.<\/p>\n I hope that one day, when an Indian child walks down Shinzo Abe Street in New Delhi, that child will ask, “Who was Shinzo Abe?” And the answer will be: “He was a Japanese Prime Minister who believed that India and Japan could become great friends.”<\/p>\n That, ultimately, is what this campaign is about. Not politics. Not nostalgia. Not merely a road sign. It is about ongaeshi. It is about gratitude. It is about remembering someone who contributed to the friendship between two great civilizations. And it is about carrying his vision into the future.<\/p>\n Shinzo Abe spoke of the confluence of two seas. Today, we can create a confluence of two peoples. India and Japan have a shared past. Shinzo Abe helped envision their shared future. Let us honor that vision and build that future together.<\/p>\n
Commentary by Nupur Tewari<\/a>; foreword by Dr. Robert D. Eldridge<\/a><\/p>\n \t\tContinue Reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The following commentary is a beautifully presented and exciting recommendation calling for a street in New Delhi to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[621,290,16631,10153,8,32787,8804,33,296],"class_list":["post-70353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-culture","tag-india","tag-india-and-japan","tag-india-japan","tag-japan","tag-japan-india-relations","tag-narendra-modi","tag-nihon","tag-shinzo-abe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Japan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786084579_384_japan-2-earth-masthead-v2.jpg\")
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\nWhy Connect India Japan?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/36806449510_d2cd2e659c_c.jpg\")
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on September 13, 2017. (Courtesy of the Ministry of External Affairs of India)<\/p>\n
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