Ryuko Hira

Ryuko Hira (born 30 May 1948), formerly known as Kamlesh Punjabi, is an Indian-born businessman and philanthropist based in Japan. He serves as the president of the HMI Hotel Group, and the Ora Group of companies.

According to 2018 report in the Japan Times, he was identified as the largest individual Indian investor in Japan at that time, with investments estimated at approximately US$2.5 billion and a net worth exceeding US$10 billion.[1] In 2022, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, for his work in trade and industry.[2] Indian and Japanese media have reported on his involvement in initiatives focused on economic relations between Japan and India.

Early life

Ryuko Hira was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, in the Parijat Bungalow, which today houses Dena Bank.[3] He is the son of Seth Khemchand Kundamal Panjabi.[4] He completed part of his schooling in Mumbai, attending Hill Grange High School and later Sitaram Prakash High School, where he obtained a Secondary School Certificate from the Maharashtra Board of Education.[5] He graduated in gemology from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and attended a 12-week course at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. He later completed a Japanese language course at Sophia University in Tokyo, and then a diploma in character development from the Institute of Sathya Sai Education, Japan.[6]

Family Background:

His family history can be traced back to the eighteenth century, with the birth of his great-grandfather Seth Jagatrai in Hyderabad, Sindh Province (in what is now West Pakistan). The family was also known as the Jagtianis due to having the same filial name. The family had a legacy of procuring jewels and ornaments from Muslim royalty like (mugals), or Mirs.[4]

The Jagtianis spread over four generations and expanded their trading business beyond the Indian subcontinent, and into Southeast Asia and Japan. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance between 1902 and 1922, allowed 50 Indian companies to set up operations in Japan. Hira's uncle, Pitamberdas Merghraj, first partnered with the firm of Dalamals in Yokohama during this period. Merghraj then began independently exporting silk from Yokohama to British India in 1918. He was successful in this endeavour, and so was joined by other family members. Due to the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, his business was moved to Kobe. In Kobe, his new focus became buying cultivated corals for exporting to India.[4]

While in Hong Kong, Hira learned the business under the guidance of Chandiram. The business office moved to Tokyo in 1966. The family business was featured in a one-hour documentary special hosted by Japan's National Television, NHK, airing on 2 December 1984.[4] After the death of Shri Chandiram in 1986, the family estate was divided, and Hira took over the real estate development portion. In the same year, Hira founded the Ora Group of Companies.[6]

Career

Hotel Management International (HMI Hotel Group) Ltd. is a hotel management company, established in 1985. HMI manages over 40 hotels, like the "Crown Palais Hotel", which are multiple hotels of the same name.[7]

HMI also played a large part in the real estate development of the Naha Airport Terminal Co., Ltd., Kitakyushu Air Terminal Co., Ltd., and Kobe Airport Terminal Co., Ltd.

For the promotion of Japan-India tourism exchanges, Hira is an advisor to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism of Japan, the Japan Tourism Agency, and the Ministry of Tourism of India.

HMI group signed a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of Uttar Pradesh, about their hotel development businesses, at the UP Global Investor Summit 2023 held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, on 11 February 2023. The MOU involves developing 30 chain hotels and acquiring existing national hotel operations in commercially viable business and tourism destinations. In conjunction with U.P.'s economic and tourism growth plans, this is an investment of ¥130 billion and approximately 10,000 jobs.[8]

Social contributions

Hira has been elected to many advisory councils and appointed to roles across several organizations in Japan. He became the first Indian director of the Japan-India Association in June 2004. He is also the representative director of Sai Hira India Foundation, an organization that "attempts to benefit Japan and India through tourism, economics, philosophy, and culture", according to them.

He has supported cultural and philanthropic projects in Japan associated with Indian traditions and firms.He sponsored five Hindu prayer halls across Japan, which provide community service by cooking food for the homeless. Hira's association with Sathya Sai Publications Japan, inspired by Sri Sathya Sai Baba and his teachings.

Involvement in Indo-Japan relations

Over the decades, Hira has played a vital role in coordinating agreements, memorandums, and the like amongst various tier governments of India and Japan. Some prominent examples of Hira's contribution as a coordinator can be noted in the following memorandums:

In January 2014, Hira played a role in the establishment of a memorandum between the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of India and the Japan Tourism Agency, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism. In cooperation with the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), Hira's contributed to major relaxations of short-term visas for Indian citizens visiting Japan. In January 2016, Hira was invited by the Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, for an expert meeting at the Prime Minister’s official residence, wherein he proposed policy measures to liberalize tourism from India to Japan over the next 5 years.

In April 2016, he delivered a lecture at the Ceremonial Occasion Research Institute Co., Ltd, about the culture of ceremonial occasions in India. Hira was also involved in the tourism and transport sectors during Prime Minister Modi's official visit to Japan in November 2016 and October 2018, as well as Prime Minister Abe's official visit to India in September 2017. Hira has participated in the G20 Tourism Ministers' Meeting held in Niseko, Hokkaido, wherein he also attended the Indo-Japan bilateral tourism conference. In October 2019, Hira was instrumental in the launch of the new ANA flight route from Narita to Chennai and attended its inauguration ceremony.

Honors and awards

• In April 2024, Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Tetsuo Saito) presented Hira with the National Award of Honor for Tourism in recognition of his 40 years of work in Japan's hotel industry.[14]
• In 2023, Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Abdul Nazeer, recognized Hira for his contributions to the establishment of the Sai Hira Global Convention Centre.
• In 2022, the president of India conferred on Hira the Padma Shri award for his contribution to the field of trade and industry, recognizing his role as a senior business leader in Japan, instrumental in promoting India-Japan relations.[2]
• In 2022, Hira was honoured jointly by the Cabinet Office of Japan and the Director of the Okinawa General Bureau for his substantial contribution to the tourism and land transportation industries in Okinawa Prefecture. Apart from this, he has also been conferred with several Japanese travel and tourism industry awards.[15]
• In 2010, the president of India conferred on Hira the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for his entrepreneurship and his contribution to the Indian community in Japan in the cultural, economic, and social fields.[16]
• In 1998, Hira was honoured at the Great Hall of the People during Madame Chiang Kai-shek`s 100th birth anniversary for hosting the first All-China Provinces' Human Values Essay Contest.[17]
• In 1992, Hira was honoured for his contribution to and lectures on Buddhism at the 'First Conference in Korea for Teachers to Introduce Human Values (EHV)' by the Sathya Sai Organization of Korea at Dongguk University, Seoul, Korea.[17]

Publications

Hira has written and published 61 articles in major Japanese daily newspapers to raise India's visibility among Japanese readers. In 1974, Hira sponsored and supported 13 Japanese scholars for the publication of the first Sanskrit, Hindi to-Japanese Dictionary. In addition, the same team translated and published nine volumes of the great Indian epic 'Mahabharata,' Vedas, and Upanishads, works of Sri Adi Shankaracharya, several books on Buddhism, Sikhism, and a compendium of Hindu deities. On the 50th anniversary of the 'Indo-Japanese Cultural Treaty' in 2007, the Embassy of India in Japan and the Institute of Sathya Sai Education jointly honoured the scholars with awards and citations. Since 1978, Hira has also sponsored, translated, and published over 132 periodicals and books in the Japanese language on Indian culture and spirituality through Sathya Sai Publications Japan. In 1981, Hira sponsored a Hindi-language commentary (translated by NHK) for visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial to benefit Indian visitors. Since 1983, Hira has served as the chief editor of Sairam News, a monthly newsletter published by Sathya Sai Publications Japan. In an affinity survey poll conducted by the Cabinet Office of Japan in 2010, young Japanese students were found to have no interest in India, mainly due to the lack of availability of lesson books introducing India to primary school students of Japan. In response, Hira published a book entitled Secrets of India, with the support of the All Japan National Congress of Parent Teacher Associations. The book was officially released in 2012 by the Embassy of India in Japan on the 60th anniversary of India-Japan Diplomatic Relations. The book was received by 23,500 primary schools and public libraries across Japan, and from 2012 to 2017, over seven million Japanese elementary school students read the book as a study of India.

Most of Hira's books are sold on the Japanese Amazon bookstore today. Over 30 books have been placed at national and regional public libraries, including the cultural centre library of the Embassy of India in Japan.[6]

Devotion to Sathya Sai Baba

He was first introduced to Sri Sathya Sai Baba in 1978 and has been a student, and adopted a lifestyle in line with their teaching since then. Hira has supported philanthropic initiatives associated with the Sri Sathya Sai movement.[18][6]

Hira has been associated with organizations connected to the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and served as chairman of the Sri Sathya Sai Organization’s Region B, which included over 80 countries. He is currently a trustee of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and President of both Sathya Sai Publications Japan and the Institute of Sathya Sai Education Japan. He has organized workshops, exhibitions, and symposiums on Gayatri Mantra and its significance, the harms of alcohol and smoking, and the national annual Sai conventions in Japan. A spiritual milestone was achieved on the 80th Birthday of Sri Sathya Sai Baba on 23 November 2005, when over 100 young Japanese fluently recited the whole of the Vedas in perfect Sanskrit pronunciation without referring to the text from memory. Since then, 300 Japanese have learned to recite the Vedas with appreciable pronunciation and decipher their meanings.[17][6]

The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami occurred in the Oshika Peninsula on 11 March 2011, with over 22,000 casualties. The Sathya Sai Organization Japan was one of the first service organizations to respond to the disaster. On 12 March 2011, the next morning, the team prepared 3,600 two-litre water bottles and 300 fresh onigiris and advanced to the disaster sites. Hira's Hotel Pearl City Sendai and Hotel Pearl City Kesennuma were used as a deceased victims identification centre, as well as the base of operations for NHK and local police forces. With the assistance of the Japanese Coast Guard, the relief items were delivered to the victims via boats and helicopters. Sairam News reported that under the leadership of Ryuko Hira, contributions from members from all over the country, and the Embassy of India in Japan, various relief supplies including towels, socks, heating packs, emergency blue sheets, undergarments, portable gas stoves, diapers, sanitary products, clothes, rice, frozen foods, juices, and other emergency food items continued to be delivered to the victims for 6 months.[19]In similar service activities, during the Great Hanshin Earthquake that occurred on 17 January 1995 in Hyogo Prefecture, Sathya Sai Organization Japan responded to the disaster immediately. Sairam News reported that water, emergency food items, blankets, and other relief items were delivered to the victims. There were members themselves who were victims but still volunteered in the spirit of Sai Service.[20]

Name and citizenship

In an article Hira wrote for the Monthly Journal of the Japan-India Association titled 'True Indian?', he explains the meaning and story behind his Japanese citizenship and name. In 1975, the Government of India, under Indira Gandhi's prime ministership, imposed a 'State of Emergency in India, which led to new rules and regulations on oversea Indians, as well as the nationalization of India's major banks and public services in the wider interests of discouraging communism and promoting socialist reforms.

Hira writes that his Hira writes about the socialist reforms that happened at that time, which led to his family to make long-term commitments to Japan. His first Indian name, 'Kamlesh', meant the lord of lotus flowers, and his last name, 'Panjabi', meant 5 rivers. He states that the direct translation of his name would be queer in Japanese characters, and since most local government officers did not read or write English at the time, his name being written in Kanji was a legal requirement.

Hira's friend, Mr. Mihara from Kyoto, introduced him to a Japanese priest of the Hindu temple of Lord Vishnu (Bishamon-ten) located on top of Mount Hira in Shiga Prefecture. This priest specialized in the art of Japanese calligraphy and 'Jikaku' - the number of strokes in a Kanji character that decides the destiny of a name. After 21 days of meeting with the priest, he received the name Hira Ryuko (比良 竜虎). Hira represents Mount Hira, '竜/Ryu' and '虎/Ko', the two kanji represent dragon (Japan) and tiger (India) respectively, symbolizing prosperity and strength. According to later interviews, Hira said that a priest suggested the name ‘Ryuko’ to symbolize cultural links between Japan and India.[17][21]

See also

• Padma Shri Award recipients in 2022
• Hotel Management International (HMI Hotel Group)
• Sri Sathya Sai Baba
• Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
• Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences

Additional reading

• Extracts from Hira's Tryst with Divinity interview with Radio Sai's Karuna Munshi, which was first broadcast on 6 August 2013: