TOKYO -- The man chosen to join "Japan Plus," a special management team established by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration to encourage greater Japanese investment in India, is a bureaucrat with a special connection to the Indian leader.
Dressed in the manner of a dapper Indian man, in a bandi vest over a white shirt, he entered the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry building in New Delhi on Nov. 17. Once inside, around 150 Japanese and Indian government officials and business people eagerly greeted and shook the man's hand.
Kenichiro Toyofuku, 45, joined Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 1993 and was seconded to the Indian government to coordinate the INVESTMENT
project in October this year.
project in October this year.
Toyofuku is seen by Modi as a man with a close connection to his home state of Gujarat, in northwestern India. The bureaucrat became Modi's closest Japanese associate on account of a 2006 trip to Gujarat in search of an export port for his country's automakers. At that time, Toyofuku was working in the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi.
Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, immediately called for a meeting with the visiting Japanese bureaucrat. Modi pledged his full support, saying that his state would build a new port if necessary.
Now, as Toyofuku continues to travel around India, he is required to submit fortnightly progress reports to Modi.
Rising to the top
Raised in a poverty stricken family, Modi assesses people without regard for personal connections. In October, trade officials worldwide were surprised by the Indian leader's appointment of Arvind Subramanian as his chief economic adviser. U.S.-based Subramanian is an Indian economist known for his calls to revive the World Trade Organization and open the Indian market.
On Nov. 13, India and the U.S. reached a breakthrough on full implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, ending a long conflict between the two countries over the issue. The deal was reached when Modi accepted Subramanian's call for India to drop its opposition to the WTO TFA, which it had repeatedly turned down.
When Modi reshuffled his cabinet on Nov. 9, the Indian media reported that seven of 21 new ministers and deputy ministers have been charged with crimes including attempted murder, fraud and intimidation. However, Modi brushed aside the accusations and pledged to eradicate nepotistic corruption, stating that it is a more serious disease than cancer.
The Indian leader told parliament members of his ruling party elected for the first time in May that they should meet people, but never only one-to-one.
When the Indian prime minister moved to the capital to lead the nation, he reportedly took only two suitcases. It appears there are few people the leader can open up to.
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