India’s Ministry of External Affairs dismissed claims by former Japanese minister Hideki Makihara blaming India for bullet train delays, calling it an individual opinion at variance with facts.
Published: July 17, 2026, 8:03 PM IST
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India-Japan relations: In a shocking development in India-Japan relations, Hideki Makihara, who is Japan’s former Justice Minister and a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has blamed India for delays in the Indo-Japanese Shinkansen project. For those unversed, the Republic of India and Japan agreed to work on the Japan’s Shinkansen system where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe officially laid the foundation stone in Ahmedabad, marking the formal start of the project.
What Japan’s former Justice Minister said on India’s bullet train project?
“The Shinkansen project in India is something I was involved with myself, but what stood out in international meetings and negotiations was the sheer recklessness of the Indian side, repeated over and over. They just don’t keep promises, no matter what. Even if they make a promise, they flip it right away,” Hideki Makihara wrote.
Makihara blamed minister-in-charge for being ‘awful’.
“They keep pushing their own self-interest right up to the very end. The minister in charge was especially awful—if the top guy’s like that, there’s no way to have any decent dealings. For the honour of all the Japanese folks who poured their hearts into this, I have to say it: I feel 100% that the reason this hasn’t moved forward is entirely on the Indian side,” he added.
What MEA said on allegations of Hideki Makihara?
“We have seen the post. This is an individual opinion and is at considerable variance with facts. India-Japan discussions on Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR are progressing well,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a press briefing.
“India-Japan discussions on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed train are progressing well. Japan will provide the E10 series train in the early 2030s. The train is still under development. Meanwhile, construction work has rapidly progressed. The first section will be opened in 2027. Therefore, both sides agreed to start the operations with the Indian high-speed train. The project execution is in line with the common goal of starting the high-speed train project at the earliest,” the MEA statement read.
When will India launch first bullet train service?
Notably, Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had earlier announced that India will begin operations of the first phase of its first bullet train service from August 15, 2027.
