Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shared a close and special bond with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tomohiko Taniguchi, who worked as Abe’s main foreign policy speechwriter for around 15 years, has revealed.
He also recalled a recent meeting between Modi and Abe’s wife, Akie Abe. He recalled the connection between Japanese scholar Okakura Tenshin and Rabindranath Tagore more than 100 years ago. Taniguchi accompanied her to the Prime Minister’s Office, where they met Modi for more than 40 minutes.
“The two of them hit it off almost at once,” he said at the NDTV India Japan Summit 2026 . Both leaders saw each other as a “kindred spirit”, according to Taniguchi. He said India and Japan already had a long history of friendship. “It is a piece I cannot recall without my eyes welling up,” Taniguchi said. He described Modi as “warm, kind and thoughtful” and said the meeting was filled with “love and affection”. He also called the bond between the two leaders as “a communion of soul with soul”.
Taniguchi also spoke about Abe’s long battle with ulcerative colitis. His health problems forced him to step down as prime minister after his first term. However, after receiving treatment, Abe returned to politics.
He became prime minister for a second time in 2012 and went on to serve for several years.
He recalled that when Abe was asked why his second government lasted so long, the former prime minister would say, “I had good companions”. He said Abe had suffered from the disease from a young age. “Shinzo Abe was a man who waged a long struggle against an incurable disease, and who, in spite of everything, never gave up,” Taniguchi said.
