In an interview in his glass-paneled office overlooking the Diet in Tokyo, he spoke of his belief in a “strategic global partnership” between the two countries — one that would cover the entire spectrum of “political issues, security matters, economic co-operation, and people-to-people contacts.”

Only then, he said, would the two countries be able to “fully tap the potential of our bilateral relationship and the vast opportunities hidden in it.” The partnership, he said, would also “enhance the voice of our two countries on important matters in international affairs.”

Indo-Japanese relations at present show a great mismatch: there’s great mutual affinity, but very little economic or political co-operation. India and Japan have never had any conflict, and are unlikely to have any. Yet, except for Maruti-Suzuki, the Delhi Metro, and lately, Toyota, Japanese presence in India is marginal.

In contrast, Japan and China, which do not share the warmest of political and diplomatic relations, have strong economic relations: 30,000 Japanese companies do business in China, against only 340 in India; 80,000 Chinese students study in Japan, against only 400 from India. Even Mongolia has 900 students studying in Japan.

And there are 70 direct daily flights between Japan and China, against only one between Delhi and Tokyo.

Abe recognises this paradox. He stressed the need for enhancing “people-to-people contacts” and “awareness” about what India can do for Japan and vice versa.

Abe said he was confident Dr Singh and he would be able to give bilateral ties “a new impetus and take them to a much higher level of strategic global partnership.”

Asked of his impression of Dr Singh, he said: “He’s a man of strong leadership with a very calm mind and deep thought.”

At a time when the emerging geo-political reality in Asia depends much on how the triangular relationship between India, China, and Japan evolves in the years to come, the meeting between Dr Singh and Abe assumes great importance.

The Tokyo summit will take place against the backdrop of the Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to India last month and Abe’s own surprise visit to China in October, which broke a prolonged chill in China-Japan relations. Abe’s initiative stunned many who had prophesied that Japan-China relations would worsen if a passionately “nationalist” leader like Abe became prime minister.

Prime ministerial visits between India and Japan have become frequent only since Yoshiro Mori’s visit to India in 2000, when he and Atal Behari Vajpayee signed an agreement to forge a “India-Japan Global Partnership in the 21st Century.” But there was a time, between 1961 and 1984, when no Japanese Prime Minister came to India. There was again a chill in the late 1990s, when Japan imposed sanctions against India in the aftermath of Pokharan nuclear tests. All this has now changed, and is set to change even more rapidly.

Abe comes from a distinguished political family. His grandfather Nobusuke Kishi became prime minister in 1957 and visited India in the same year. He was so warmly received by Pandit Nehru that Kishi was given the honour of addressing a gathering of tens of thousands of people from the ramparts of the Red Fort, from where, traditionally, only the Prime Minister of India addresses the nation on Independence Day.