Japanese PM to release book with Tagore's speeches

Kolkata, Aug 21 (UNI) More than 65 years after the death of Rabindranath Tagore, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will release here on August 23 a book containing the Nobel laureate poet's speeches during his visits to Japan.

Titled ''Talks in Japan'', the 250-page book will present in print all the speeches Tagore had delivered in the island country that he visited five times.

Tagore had visited Japan five times between 1916 and 1924 and wanted to see his speeches in print. He had requested Prasanta Mahalanobis, a great scientist and statistician, who had been his secretary, to publish the speeches.

Okakura Kakuza, a Japanese art connoisseur who came to the city to invite Swami Vivekenanda to the World Congress of Religion, took interest in promoting the writings of the poet in Japan.

Official sources said here today that Mr. Abe would also inaugurate Rabindra-Okakura Bhavan, an India-Japanese cultural centre, at Salt Lake on the city's eastern fringe.

Built by the Pashchimbanga Bangla Academy, the Bhavan would highlight the cultural ties between the two countries, its Secretary Sanat Chattopadhyay said.

Several rare photographs of Tagore's Japan visit and that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Radhabinod Pal, who was the lone Indian judge at the Tokyo war crimes tribunal, will be on display at the Bhavan, he said.

UNI