Why Japanese People Tend to Show “Unconditional Goodwill” Only Toward India

Japan’s unusually warm feelings toward India say less about “what India really is,” and far more about how Japanese society is structured to see the world through comforting stories.

— How Myths, Culture, History and Structure Shaped an “India Fantasy,” and What It Reveals About Japan’s Way of Seeing the World

Japanese attitudes toward foreign countries tend to swing to extremes. Some countries are treated with excessive affection, others with excessive distrust. And that judgment is often not based purely on “facts” or “national interest.”

One of the most peculiar examples of this is Japan’s almost unconditional goodwill toward India.

It is not as if India is especially “kind” to Japan. Like any other major power, India pursues its own national interests with a realist foreign policy. Its stance toward Japan is also driven by calculation and interests, not by sentimentality.

And yet in Japan, India is rarely the target of serious criticism. This “exceptional softness” toward India says less about India itself, and far more about how Japanese society is structured to perceive other nations.

1) The “Good Story Only” Filter: How a Handful of Anecdotes Became “India Itself”

The India that circulates in Japanese discourse is strangely dominated by “good stories.”

• The episode of Judge Radhabinod Pal at the Tokyo Tribunal
• The image of Mahatma Gandhi and India as a “spiritually elevated” country
• The vague notion of India as a “pro-Japan” nation
• Stories of elephants, friendship, and symbolic episodes like the elephant Hanako

These are, of course, only tiny fragments of a vast and complex history. Yet in Japan, such “easy-to-digest, positive stories” have been repeatedly selected, amplified, and eventually came to stand in for India as a whole.

In a society that loves narratives, it is not surprising that these stories solidified into the impression that “India is a country that has always been kind and friendly to Japan.”

2) How Japanese Media Locked India Into a “Safe Cultural Frame”

Japanese media tend to frame each country in particular ways:

• China and South Korea → history disputes, diplomatic friction, security issues
• The Middle East → terrorism, conflict, instability
• Europe → social problems, migration, economic crises
• Southeast Asia → tourism, cheap labor, foreign workers

India, however, is treated in a much narrower frame:

• Curry, naan and spice-centered food culture
• Yoga, meditation and spirituality
• “IT powerhouse” and tech talent
• Somehow “gentle” and “friendly to Japan”

In other words, Japanese media have effectively fixed India into the category of

“safe, cultural, and easy to like.”

The hard, uncomfortable realities of India are rarely covered. As a result, Japanese audiences are structurally deprived of both critical information and skeptical perspectives on India.

3) The Crude Shortcut: “All of South Asia = India”

Walk around almost any town in Japan and you will find an “Indian restaurant.” In reality, many of these are run by Nepalese or Bangladeshi owners and staff.

Yet most Japanese patrons don’t notice—or care. This reflects a deeper cognitive shortcut:

the tendency to lump the entire South Asian region together and label it “India.”

In that sense, the goodwill that appears to be directed toward “India” is, in many cases, actually directed toward a vague, undifferentiated image of “South Asia.”

4) Importing Western Praise: “If the West Likes It, Japan Will Too”

In Silicon Valley and in Western medicine and finance, Indian-origin professionals are often highlighted as success stories:

• Indian CEOs of global tech firms
• Indian elites in politics, business and academia

Such coverage easily translates, in Japan, into the narrative that:

“India is praised by the West, therefore we should also regard India as a successful and admirable country.”

This is a classic pattern: Japan importing Western evaluations rather than forming its own. Part of Japan’s positive view of India is filtered through this “as seen from the West” lens.

5) India’s Serious Human Rights Problems — Mostly Invisible in Japan

None of this means that India is uniquely bad. But it does mean that, like any large country, India has serious human rights issues and deep social problems that require scrutiny.

International organizations and human rights NGOs have long pointed out issues such as:

• Caste-based discrimination and violence despite legal prohibitions
• Violence against women and high rates of sexual assault
• Religious violence, especially Hindu–Muslim clashes
• Restrictions on media freedom and pressure on journalists
• Minority and regional conflicts in places like Kashmir

In many other countries, these would be covered as “serious problems” or “sources of instability.”

But in Japanese media, these darker aspects of India are rarely reported. The result is a deeply skewed perception in which

“India = a country with almost no problematic side”

is quietly taken for granted.

6) A Single Editorial Choice Can Shape Public Emotion

Much of Japan’s goodwill toward India is not the result of carefully weighing India’s multi-layered reality. It is largely a product of

the selective narrative provided by Japanese media over many years.

This illustrates a broader structural issue:

public sentiment can be dramatically shaped by how media choose to frame a country.

If a nation is introduced mainly through culture, friendship and heartwarming stories, public emotion will naturally tilt that way. If, instead, the emphasis is on conflict, crime and disputes, the emotional tone shifts in the opposite direction.

Whether these editorial choices are purely the media’s own or influenced by government preferences and diplomatic considerations is a separate, important question. But in either case, the mechanism is the same: Japanese public emotion is easily steered by narrative framing.

7) A National Tendency: Judging Countries More by Narrative Than by Facts or Interests

Of course, not every Japanese person behaves this way. Still, at a societal level, certain tendencies are hard to deny:

• A preference for simple, uplifting stories over complex realities
• A habit of judging countries by emotional impressions rather than by interests or data
• A readiness to accept a single storyline as representative of an entire nation

Japan’s excessive goodwill toward India is a striking example of this broader pattern: a nation that sees the world through stories first, and only later—if ever—through facts.

8) How Is India Viewed Elsewhere? Japan’s “Unconditional Goodwill” Is Actually an Outlier

So how is India perceived in other parts of the world?

According to the World Values Survey (2020–22), Japan is among the countries where a relatively high share of respondents say they have a favorable impression of India, while in many Western countries trust in India is far more restrained.

In other words, Japan’s overwhelmingly positive view of India is not the global norm but a notable exception.

The short answer to our question is therefore this: in most regions, India is seen much more ambivalently and realistically than in Japan.

• In the West, India is praised for its talent and innovation, but also discussed in the context of migration tensions, religious conflict and bureaucratic challenges.
• In the Middle East, Indian and South Asian workers are essential to local economies, yet labor and rights issues generate constant friction.
• In Africa, Indian investment is welcomed in some sectors while provoking backlash in others.
• In other Asian countries, India may be seen as a strategic partner, a competitor, or both at once.

In most places, India is viewed as a complex actor: a mix of opportunity and risk, cooperation and conflict. Japan’s almost exclusively positive framing is, in that context, quite unusual.

Note: “Vedic math” as a symbolic misunderstanding — A technique found worldwide, framed as uniquely Indian

Another factor that strengthened Japan’s perception of India as a “smart, logical nation” was the temporary boom of so-called “Vedic math” or rapid Indian-style multiplication.

The technique, which allows fast mental calculation of large numbers, was widely featured in educational media in Japan, reinforcing the stereotype that “Indians are naturally strong in math.”

However, these rapid-calculation methods are not unique to India. Similar techniques exist across many cultures worldwide as forms of folk arithmetic or mental math. India’s version is simply one branch within a broader global tradition.

Yet in Japan, it somehow became a symbolic example that “proved” Indian mathematical excellence, further amplifying positive stereotypes about Indian intelligence.

Even though India is a vast and diverse society with significant regional and educational disparities, such easily digestible symbols tend to overwrite real complexity and shape national images in simplified, flattering ways.

9) Why Do Indian Diaspora Communities Often “Integrate Well”? It’s Structural, Not Just Personality

Indian-origin communities are among the largest diasporas in the world. Their perceived “smooth integration” into host societies is not just a matter of temperament; it reflects several structural strengths:

• English proficiency, rooted in colonial history
• High-value skills in IT, medicine, finance and engineering
• Strong community networks based on region and religion
• Active political participation, leading to real influence in host countries

This combination makes Indian diaspora communities highly visible and often successful. It is less about “national character” and more about historical and structural advantages.

10) The Beatles and the “Mystic East”: How Western Pop Culture Exported a Fantasy India

Another crucial factor behind Japan’s India fantasy is the influence of Western pop culture.

In the 1960s and 70s, the West went through a major “India boom”:

• The Beatles incorporated the sitar into their music
• Collaborations with Ravi Shankar brought Indian classical music to Western audiences
• Yoga, meditation and psychedelic culture spread as symbols of “spiritual liberation”
• “The East” was romanticized as a source of wisdom and freedom

For young people and counterculture movements of that era, India became a symbol of “freedom from Western materialism” and “deeper spiritual truth.”

Japan imported this cultural wave as well. Many of the intellectuals, artists and activists who were “edgy” at the time absorbed this Western picture of India and carried it into their later roles in media and education.

It is therefore not surprising that, for decades, Japan has preserved an image of India as

“a mystical, spiritual and somehow superior country.”

11) Buddhism as a “Spiritual Link”: Seeing India as the Source of Japan’s Inner Life

Even in a nominally secular Japan, Buddhism is deeply woven into everyday life—funerals, ancestral rites, visits to temples.

Many Japanese people are vaguely aware that Buddhism originated in India. This creates a subtle but powerful association:

“Part of Japan’s spiritual and cultural roots lie in India.”

Even though modern India is predominantly Hindu, and Buddhism is a small minority there today, the Japanese mental map still links “India” with “the birthplace of Buddhism” and “spiritual origins.”

This unspoken sense of kinship quietly reinforces Japan’s tendency to view India with particular warmth.

12) The Perfect Distance: Far Enough to Idealize, Close Enough to Feel Relevant

Geographical distance also matters.

• China and South Korea are “too close,” which makes every political clash and historical dispute feel immediate and personal.
• The West is “too far,” often framed more as aspiration or abstraction than as everyday reality.
• Southeast Asia is familiar as a tourist destination and as a source of foreign labor, leading to a mixed and sometimes conflicted image.

India, by contrast, sits at a sweet spot:

• Not so close that daily frictions are constantly visible
• Not so far that it feels entirely irrelevant
• With little direct wartime baggage in the Japanese memory

This makes India an ideal canvas for projection: a country on which Japan can easily paint its own fantasies, unconstrained by the messy immediacy that shapes perceptions of neighboring states.

13) Japan’s India Is, in Many Ways, the West’s Fantasy India

Finally, a blunt point: much of Japan’s image of India is effectively borrowed from Western “Orientalist” fantasies.

For over a century, Western literature, art and scholarship often depicted India as:

• A land of mystical wisdom
• A place of noble poverty and spiritual depth
• A country defined by curry, yoga and meditation

These are not neutral descriptions; they are projections—ways of turning a complex society into a consumable “exotic object” for Western audiences.

Postwar Japan absorbed much of this imagery along with other Western cultural imports. Without fully realizing it, Japan has often treated this “postcard India” created for Western eyes as if it were the real thing.

Final Conclusion: It’s Not India That Is Exceptional — It’s Japan’s Story-Driven Way of Seeing

When you put all of this together, a clear pattern emerges. Japan’s special affection for India is not simply a response to “what India really is.” It is largely the product of:

• The overemphasis on positive anecdotes and “good stories”
• The near absence of reporting on darker realities and human rights issues
• The importation of Western pop-cultural images of a “mystical India”
• The sense of spiritual affinity created by Buddhism’s Indian origins
• The geographic distance that makes friction and conflict less visible
• The uncritical adoption of Western Orientalist imagery
• And, above all, a national tendency to view the world through narratives rather than structures and facts

India is not uniquely “good,” nor uniquely “bad.” It is a large, complex, contradictory country like any other. What is unique here is Japan’s story-driven perception.

Japan does not need to abandon its goodwill toward India. But it does need to ask:

Is this goodwill based on a sober understanding of reality, or on a comforting set of stories?

The real task is not to idealize or to demonize any particular nation, but to recover the ability to see all countries—including India—in their full, multi-layered reality.

In that sense, what Japan most urgently needs to regain is not “love for India,” but something deeper and more fundamental:

the intellectual discipline to look beyond narratives, and to see the world as it really is.

Where, then, should Japan turn its gaze next? Which narratives do we need to step out of, and what standards should we use to understand the world?

Learning to see India as it truly is—without excessive idealization or undue hostility—would be an important first step. From there, Japan can begin to update not only its view of India, but its entire mental framework for understanding the world.