Cultural Contacts Between BIMSTEC Countries and Japan: An Historical Survey

This paper makes a broad survey of cultural links between Japan and BIMSTEC countries over the ages. It has two major sections. The first deals with the rise of Buddhism in India and its spread to other countries of Southeast and East Asia, including Sri Lanka, Thailand and Japan, and also discusses the Buddhist heritage and its impact upon Japan in particular. The second section analyses Japan’s cultural ties with South Asia and Thailand from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries and indicates contemporary efforts to promote such linkages. Though the BIMSTEC countries have vastly different histories and have followed different trajectories of development, there is much in common in their way of life and in their understanding of each other’s people. This has heightened today due to increased tourist movements. It is to be hoped that this foundation of cultural solidarity will be strengthened in the days to come.