Japanese premier arrives in Kolkata

Kolkata, Aug 23: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived today at NSCBI airport here on a special flight from New Delhi for a day's visit to the cultural capital of India.

Mr Abe, who is leading a 180-member delegation to the country, was received by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen, official sources said.

The Japanese premier is also accompanied by his wife Akie Abe and would attend several programmes in the city, including release of a book containing Rabindra Nath Tagore's speeches during his visits to Japan five times between 1916-1924.

Titled ''Talks in Japan'', the 250-page book contains all the speeches by the Nobel laureate.

He would first visit the Netaji Bhavan to see the photographs and documents on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, who was also a very good freind of Abe's grandfather and former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.

He would visit Shantiniketan and Jorasanko residence of the Kabiguru, who had for the first time set up a Japanese language department at Vishwa Bharati.

To commemorate the 50-year-old Indo-Japan friendship, Mr Abe would inaugurate Rabindra-Okakura Bhavan at Salt Lake on the city's eastern fringe.

Okakura Kakuza was 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.

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