In a strong gesture of camaraderie, Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a Shinkansen bullet train journey from Tokyo to Sendai on Saturday, during Modi’s official two-day visit for the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit.
Sharing the moment on X, Ishiba wrote: “With Prime Minister Modi to Sendai. Continuing from last night, I will be with you in the car.” He also posted about greeting Indian train drivers currently undergoing training with JR East.
The two leaders held wide-ranging discussions on defence, economy, and future areas of cooperation. Ishiba noted that he would also join Modi in inspecting the Shinkansen system and reviewing semiconductor-related initiatives.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Sendai included tours of key industrial sites, notably a semiconductor manufacturing facility and a bullet-train coach production plant.
The semiconductor plant near Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture is being developed by Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC), Japan’s SBI Holdings, and other Japanese partners under the joint venture Japan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (JSMC).
Located in the Second Northern Sendai Central Industrial Park in Ohira Village, the facility marks one of Japan’s most ambitious projects to revive domestic chip production. It will manufacture 12-inch semiconductor wafers, starting with 40-nanometre technology, with plans to expand to 28 nm and 55 nm nodes.
Targeted at the fast-growing automotive electronics sector, particularly electric vehicles and advanced mobility solutions, the plant is expected to produce about 40,000 wafers per month once fully operational, strengthening Japan’s semiconductor supply chain resilience.
