Gujarati community in Japan upbeat on Modi becoming PM again

Sanjeev K Ahuja On May 29, 2019

Atul Parekh, wife and daughter with Narendra Modi when he visited Japan as Chief Minister, Gujarat

New Delhi. The Gujarati community living in Japan is ecstatic to have Narendra Modi elected as Prime Minister of India for the second successive term.

Gujarati Samaj (community) comprising of the people from the state of Gujarat from where Modi too comes from, is largely into pearl and gems businesses there.

They enjoy a strong nostalgic bond with Modi who would meet, interact, chat and dine with them during his visit to Japan – both when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, and later as the Prime Minister of India in 2014 for the first time.

In the recently concluded Parliamentary elections, his party BJP registered remarkable victory to form NDA government in India.

Atul Parekh meeting Modi when he visited Japan as the Prime Minister, India

Atul Parekh a native of Gujarat, who moved to Japan for business when he was 20, was instrumental in founding Gujarati Samaj there.

Living in Japan for the past 40 years, Atul Parekh recalled the moments when he and his family met Modi during his visits to Japan.

“I was in the same high-speed Shinkansen bullet train which Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe traveled from Tokyo to Kobe in November 2016. He was planning to introduce a bullet train in India at that time. Everyone in the train was surprised that he had so much study done on the bullet train, and he knew many things in advance,” said Parekh adding that same night he attended the dinner too with him.

Modi had plans to run a bullet train on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad stretch. Its speed ranges from 240 km per hour to 320 km per hour.

Earlier majority of Gujaratis lived in Kobe, a city on Osaka Bay, but later they moved to Tokyo. Kobe too has Gujaratis but those are primarily into pearl business.

Atul Parekh sharing nostalgic feelings with photographs from his record.

“Earlier too, when Modi was chief minister of Gujarat, he would especially meet the Gujarati community. He invited me and my wife Hema to understand about the Gujarati community, and how the business is done in Japan by them,” Parekh added.

He said that after Modi became PM, he still would meet him and his wife, who is a cooking expert.

“During his stay in Japan, Modi preferred to eat vegetarian Gujarati food and my wife is good at Gujarati, Japanese and other types of Indian food. She would cook vegetarian Gujarati food for Modi at the hotel where he would stay. Hema is teaching vegetarian cooking, and also has published books in the Japanese language on Japanese food besides Indian food,” said Parekh.

While explaining about the personal behavior of Modi, Parekh said he is very agile and forthcoming, and always made the effort to meet the Indian community during his visit to Japan.

“Many Prime Ministers like Rajiv Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, and others came to Japan but none would mix with the community as Modi did. He was very casual when interacting with the Indian community representatives and identifies everyone by name, which is what everyone likes about him,” said Parekh.