July 19, 2026

As Japan and India renew their rifts over India's first high-speed rail project, a joint initiative between the two countries, the Indian side has rejected accusations by Japan, saying the project is progressing well, after Hideki Makihara, a former Japanese minister of justice and Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who previously worked on the project, publicly criticized senior Indian officials for "utterly absurd" acts of backtracking promises and seeking personal gains.  

Japanese business magazine Tokyo Keizai issued a report on July 14 titled "Prime Minister Takaichi's visit yields no result; Indian high-speed rail fails again," saying that Japan was excluded from the crucial signaling system of the project. 

Makihara, citing the report, posted on X on July 15 that "The Shinkansen project in India is something I was involved with myself. What stood out in international meetings and negotiations was the sheer recklessness of the Indian side, over and over," he wrote, adding that "They just don't keep promises, no matter what. Even if they make a promise, they flip it right away. They keep pushing their own self-interest right up to the very end."

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