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Indian PM Modi visits famous Kyoto temple with Abe(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the famous Toji Temple in Kyoto on Sunday, the second day of his five-day official visit to Japan aimed at bolstering the two countries' security and economic ties. As part of efforts to welcome Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe guided the Indian prime minister around the World Heritage site to take a look at its Buddhist statues and five-storied pagoda, which is a national treasure. Their temple tour, which included a stroll through the temple premises, came a day after Modi arrived in Japan and attended an unofficial dinner hosted by Abe at the Kyoto State Guest House. Modi also visited Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application and met with professor Shinya Yamanaka, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who heads the research center at the university. Modi was briefed on the lab's activities, and through a microscope looked at cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells derived from pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, for which Yamanaka won the 2012 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, according to the university. Yamanaka quoted the Indian prime minister as saying that he also wants to promote stem cell research in India. The university said Modi expressed an eagerness to make use of stem cell research to come up with an effective treatment for many Indians who suffer from blood diseases. The Indian prime minister also visited Kinkakuji Temple, another famous Buddhist temple and one of the most popular tourist spots in Kyoto with its eye-catching golden pavilion, before holding talks with Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa in the city. Modi said during the talks that he wants to learn from Kyoto how a city can modernize while protecting its history and culture, according to the mayor. Modi, whose trip to Japan is his first outside South Asia solely for a bilateral summit since taking office in May, is scheduled to hold talks with Abe in Tokyo on Monday. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |