Uttar Pradesh has showcased its historical and cultural tourism offerings to a 200-member Japanese delegation from Yamanashi Prefecture, as the five-day visit also seeks to deepen investment and business ties between the state and Japan.
Led by Governor of Yamanashi Prefecture Kotaro Nagasaki and Vice Governor Junichi Ishidera, the delegation of investors and business leaders is visiting Agra, Lucknow, Greater Noida and Varanasi after its inaugural engagement in New Delhi. The visit is focused on exploring opportunities in tourism, manufacturing, green hydrogen, skills and technology.
The delegation began its Uttar Pradesh leg on Saturday with a traditional Braj welcome and a visit to the Taj Mahal after an engagement at Galgotias University, Greater Noida. Two agreements were signed at the university to expand global career opportunities for students and promote joint research in green hydrogen. These included an MoU with the Yamanashi Prefectural Government and a Letter of Intent with the University of Yamanashi.
Uttar Pradesh Tourism and Culture Minister Jaiveer Singh and Director General, UP Tourism, Vedpati Mishra hosted the delegation in Agra.
“I had seen the Taj Mahal many times in photographs, but being here allows you to notice the craftsmanship and proportion in a completely different way. From a distance it appears grand, but when you come closer, it is the detail that stays with you,” Nagasaki said.
“Taj Mahal gives our guests a familiar point of entry into Uttar Pradesh, but the journey ahead will introduce them to very different experiences. Lucknow will bring them closer to our hospitality, cuisine and tourism ecosystem, while eastern Uttar Pradesh will open up the Buddhist and spiritual connect that India and Japan have shared for centuries,” Singh said.
Following Agra, the delegation will travel to Lucknow for a tourism engagement, including a roundtable with more than 50 tour operators, hoteliers and entrepreneurs. Discussions will cover Buddhist tourism, wellness, cultural exchange and new visitor experiences before the delegation travels to Varanasi.
“The Peacock Dance, Bam Rasiya and the traditional welcome gave us a meaningful introduction to the culture of the region. It makes a visitor curious about the place even before the sightseeing begins,” Ishidera said.
The tourism push follows the UP-Japan Investment Meet 2026 in New Delhi, where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pitched the state as an investment destination, highlighting its 75,000-acre industrial land bank, 17 operational airports, two Dedicated Freight Corridors and metro networks in seven cities.
Yogi said the partnership with Japan should extend beyond factories to technology centres, research and development facilities, skill centres and global supply chains. He highlighted potential synergies between Japanese strengths in precision, quality, research and manufacturing and Uttar Pradesh’s workforce, infrastructure and market.
The two sides also held a virtual Ground Breaking Ceremony for projects by Escorts Kubota and Minda Corporation worth a combined ₹3,191 crore, with employment potential of more than 10,000. Both projects will come up in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) area and are expected to anchor the proposed 500-acre Japanese City near Noida International Airport.
Yamanashi has identified green hydrogen, human-resource development, tourism and governance as priority areas, with Nagasaki highlighting the potential to combine the prefecture’s hydrogen ecosystem with Uttar Pradesh’s renewable energy and industrial base.
Escorts Kubota’s ₹3,025-crore project in YEIDA will manufacture tractors, construction equipment and allied products for domestic and export markets, creating more than 3,800 jobs. Minda Corporation’s two projects, involving a combined investment of ₹1,166 crore, are expected to create around 6,440 jobs and manufacture ignition switch-cum-steering locks, mechatronic components, wiring harnesses and related connection systems.
“Tourism gives the India-Japan relationship a very human dimension because people experience each other’s culture directly. If this journey encourages more Japanese travellers to discover Uttar Pradesh and leads to stronger exchanges between our tourism institutions, it will create value well beyond this visit,” Singh said.
