Hindu Hitachi Scholarships  The Hindu-Hitachi Scholarships were started in 1959 in collaboration with The Hindu Newspaper (Based in Chennai, India) and Hitachi, Japan for providing exposure to Indian Engineers to advance Japanese technology and committed work culture. In 2009, the scholarship completed 50 years. The Hindu Hitachi Scholarships (hereafter referred as HHS) have played a keen role in strengthening Japan - India relations and has provided Indian engineers an opportunity to explore the Japanese world. It is one of the very few corporate initiatives which go such a long way to build and maintain relations between Japan and India. Each year the HINDU invites applications  from engineers who have a minimum of one year experience and are willing to pursue training in one of the areas provided by Hitachi in Japan. The Training is offered in the 4-7 fields each year by Hitachi. Only 2-3 Engineers are selected each year from all over India. The training lasts for about 6 months from July to December including a 40 days orientation program at one of the AOTS Kenshu centers  The primary purpose of this short training is to teach basic Japanese language and help the scholar in getting accustomed to Japanese way of life. This prepares the scholar for the real world when they proceed to the respective training places. AOTS is an intermediary body which holds orientation programs for all foreign trainees coming to Japan for technical training especially from South East Asia and South America. At their training places, Scholars get hands-on-trainings on heavy machinery/ Japanese global business operations / production and assembly basics/ and many aspects of industry. Till now training has been focussed on following areas (Keep updating every year):  (1) Industrial, Transportation and Urban Development Systems. (2) Information and Telecommunication Systems. (3) Power Systems. The Language training gets over by mid August and then the scholars proceed to the technical training sites. The locations of the training sites are not fixed as Hitachi has many factories, offices and research centers all over Japan. Each of the trainee will mostly be going to a different part of Japan. Hence the language training mentioned above is of importance. More description and details can be found in the references. Few of the scholars in recent years have used internet as a medium to network, communicate and spread awareness about the scholarship. Many of the scholars are very successful engineers and business persons in their respective fields. For more details please check the references below. “The Hindu” and Hitachi both have been very supportive in helping the past Hindu Hitachi Scholars to network with each other.