Fifty-three years is a long interlude during which national psyches, power configurations and foreign policies can alter completely.
The arrival of the emperor of Japan, Akihito, and his wife, Empress Michiko, in India fifty-three years after they first visited as crown prince and princess may be laced with nostalgia and trips down memory lane, but this six-day Japanese royal trip is taking place in a totally transformed world.
The India of today is a far cry from the India of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was personally present at Delhi airport in 1960 when newly-wed Akihito and Michiko stepped down the ladder. This time too, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, came to the Air Force Station in Delhi to receive the monarch as a special gesture, breaking official protocol. But as Akihito and Michiko already know and will be repeatedly reminded on this tour, contemporary India is a bigger international player than it was in the Nehru era. Continue reading