Japan's Official Development Assistance: The Japan ODA Model That Began Life in Southeast Asia

This paper traces the history of Japan's Official Development Assistance centered in Southeast Asia through the decades from the 1960s to the 2000s. The characteristics of the “Japan ODA model” are examined and three conditions for economic growth generated by ODA are proposed. Whether or not the “Japan ODA model” is applicable in other regions is also discussed.     

Japan and Africa: A Historical Review of Interaction and Future Prospects

This article has four points of contention. First, it argues that time is ripe for the Japanese model of ODA (Official Development Assistance) to work in Africa. The recent positive changes seem to be creating an enabling environment in Africa for the Japanese model of ODA—an economic-development oriented ODA that once has contributed to the dynamic development of Asia—to work, at least in some African countries and in some areas. Second, it is contended that despite recent positive changes, Africa is still faced with huge developmental challenges, and Japan is ready to support its African partners especially in agriculture, industry, human resource development and in nurturing political stability and security, while taking advantage of its strengths and traditions. Third, the changes happening in Japan, combined with those happening in Africa, are opening a new era of Afro-Nippon cooperation, which is much more broad-based and encompassing wider areas of cooperation. And fourth, it concludes by arguing that what Japan has been doing and what it intends to do in and for Africa must be taken not in the context of diplomatic rivalry between Japan and other actors but in the context of Japan’s willingness to fulfill its international responsibilities and hence to serve its broad and long-term national interests.     

South Korean Environmental Foreign Policy

Korea's environmental foreign policy has developed in a dual-track fashion. In global environmental negotiations, Korea emphasizes environmental preservation but implementation patterns clearly prioritize its own economic interests. When it comes to regional environmental cooperation in Northeast Asia, however, Korea has often acted in the interest of the environment as the country has taken a leading role in promoting and developing environmental cooperation. It is an interesting question how Korea, a middle power in the region that acts on its own economic interests in global environmental negotiations, has taken a leading role in regional environmental cooperation. Analysis suggests that Korea's leading role in regional environmental cooperation results from its regional geopolitical situation, as well as its diplomatic efforts. Besides, Korea's vital environmental, political, and economic interests related to regional cooperation further motivate the country to take an active stance as well.     

Japan's Environmental Cooperation with China During the Last Two Decades

Up until now, Japan's environmental cooperation with China has principally been in response to requests by the Chinese government, with Japan making major contributions in the areas of environmental policy, human resource development, and environmental management systems, and the construction of physical infrastructure. Unlike some other Western donors, Japan is heavily engaged in resolving various environmental problems throughout the whole of China, and these contributions will continue to play a powerful role in improving China's environment for many years to come. Moreover, Japan has also made a major contribution to the raising of environmental awareness among the general public throughout China, and has been instrumental in empowering Chinese environmental citizen's groups. Specifically, Japan has been providing the Chinese government with yen loans and technical cooperation, and has supplied it with many new concepts and mechanisms in the areas of environmental policy, management systems and physical infrastructure, as well. Japan has also provided a foundation for the development of China's environmental industry by means of technology transfer and human resources development. By supplying grant aid to different parts of China, Japan has played a pioneering role in the field of environmental protection in China, enabling the expansion of training and educational facilities and programs to which the Chinese government failed, due to putting a premium on a high economic growth, to allocate sufficient budget despite its awareness of the gravity of the problems that it faces. NGO environmental cooperation programs that use Japanese government grassroots and NGO grant aid and assistance of the Japan Fund for Global Environment have been highly significant factors in the resolution at the regional level of the serious environmental problems that have arisen throughout China. The role that these have played in intensifying exchanges and friendly relations at the grassroots level between Japan and the Chinese people has been highly commendable. In particular, environmental cooperation programs with China through the ten-year-old Sino-Japan Friendship Centre for Environmental Protection (SJC) have not been confined solely to solving China's environmental problems, and have accordingly helped to build a foundation for environmental cooperation with China's various neighbors and thus helped to enhance China's standing internationally.     

Greening and decarbonizing: Japan′s development assistance

In recent years, Japan has decided to become a major player in the field of global environmental protection. Japan's annual budget in environmental projects is equal to the annual budget of the World Bank. This study discusses the key elements of Japan's Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) program on both the official and non-governmental levels; specific activities such as grants, loans, information exchanges, demonstration projects, and Environmentally Sound Technology (EST) transfer projects in China; and the potential of the carbon-offset mechanism as defined under the Kyoto Protocol.     

Japan's ODA in the 21st century

In this article, Atsushi Kusano, Professor of Policy Management at Keio University, Tokyo, discusses the challenges facing the Japanese government as it continues its active promotion of official development assistance (ODA). The government is being exposed to competing pressures from the domestic and international communities. In response to these pressures, Professor Kusano argues that the Japanese government should improve the transparency of its ODA program, think strategically and set clear priorities for assistance, and incr ease public understanding and support. However, the future of Japan's ODA program, he says, depends not only on the efforts of the Japanese government, but also on the positive action by the people of Japan and by developing countries themselves.     

Japan’s new role in peace-building missions

Japan’s policy towards peace operations has been in a state of evolution. One of the issues on its peace operations policy was that the Japanese Government tended too much attention to possible tasks involving the Self Defense Forces (SDF). However, the Japanese society should consider the possibility of its participation in peace operations in the wider framework, such as multifunctional peace-building missions. In fact, the concept of peace-building is compatible with UN Millennium Declaration in 2000, and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also recommends that peace-building should be included as one of the priority issues in Japan's new policy on Official Development Assistance (ODA). Meanwhile, Japan will be required to participate in peace-building with the framework of multinational forces as well as the United Nations in the current post-9/11 era, such as its current mission in Iraq.     

日本城市能源利用与节能减排

日本是世界第三大经济实体,同时也是资源消费大国。作为一个本身自然资源匮乏的国度,日本是如何在发展经济的同时,克服了能源短缺的问题?又是如何在提高能源利用效率的同时将对环境的污染控制到最低限度的?围绕上述问题,探讨日本在城市能源利用方面的节能措施以及对新能源在环保领域中所起的重要作用的同时,梳理了在京都会议后,日本的节能环保技术、理念,以及未来的发展趋势,以期为中国解决在新常态下,在推动城镇化经济发展的同时所面临的能源以及环境问题提供思路。     

From “international cooperation” to “development policy”? Reform and reorientation of Japan's ODA

Japan's program for official development assistance (ODA) is a critical tool of foreign policy. However, this program has historically been driven by quantitative goals. Only in the last decade have explicit principles and implementation policies emerged that concentrate on a qualitative, more human-centered approach to ODA. According to Professor Dr. Franz Nuscheler and Ben Warkentin, Director and Research Fellow respectively of the Institute for Development and Peace, Duisburg University, Germany, this reorientation of Japan's ODA has the potential to challenge the overall stature of the country” s foreign relations. It remains to be seen, however, whether Japan's commitments to ODA reforms will be put into practice. Will Japan's ODA Charter be a tiger without teeth?     

从对俄政策调整看日本周边外交的困境

日俄关系在日本的周边外交中占有重要位置,近年来日本试图通过调整对俄政策彰显外交的自主性,改善周边外交状况,推出了一些新的政策措施。首先,日本建议绕开领土问题,扩大与俄罗斯的经济合作,为两国关系的彻底改善,也为最终解决领土问题奠定基础。其次,提出日俄在争议领土从事"共同经济活动"的建议,旨在与俄罗斯在争议领土进行"共同"开发,获得俄罗斯默认日本对争议领土具有主权权利,以便打开日俄关系的大门。第三,日本试图通过调整对俄政策改善周边关系,维护日本在周边外交中的有利地位。但是,日本的对俄政策依然受到内外因素限制,俄罗斯不会轻易在领土问题上让步,日本国内舆论也不可能支持政府在领土问题上让步,日俄之间也不可能在领土问题上达成共识,日俄之间的经济合作也很难脱离政治环境而有所扩大,特别是在日美同盟的框架下,日俄合作具有局限性,日本的周边外交仍然陷于困境之中。     

The Trump Administration and Japan: Challenges and Visions for Japan’s Foreign and Security Policy in the New Era

It is possible that Donald Trump’s success in the US presidential election of November 2016 will touch off the greatest transformation in world politics since World War Two. This is because, for the first time, the presidency of the United States—a country that since World War Two has consistently upheld the liberal world order—has been won by a man who asserts that the US national interests will take precedence over international cooperation.

If so, Japan could be one of the most profoundly affected countries. Japan has thus far accepted its status as a junior partner within the US security framework and—without any significant military power of its own—has devoted itself to economic development.

Although it is difficult to predict what Mr. Trump’s policies will be, there is a possibility, based on the statements he has made to date, that he will be calling for Japan to become more self-reliant. Although his comprehension of the Japan-US security arrangements is fraught with misconceptions, there is ample possibility that he will ultimately opt to maintain the current Japan-US security framework. However, given that the average defense expenditure of NATO countries is 2% of their GDPs, and that the average expenditure of OECD countries on official development assistance (ODA) is 0.7% of their GDPs, it is highly questionable whether Mr. Trump will approve of Japan’s level of defense spending (less than 1% of its GDP) or of its level of spending on ODA (approximately 0.2% of its GDP).

It would not be such a bad thing for Japan to become more self-reliant in terms of security. It is almost unnatural for Japan to maintain this relationship as it is, in the form that it has taken since before Japan’s postwar reconstruction. However, in the context of international relations in East Asia, it has long been taken for granted that this is Japan’s basic stance. Changing this will be no easy task—either domestically or in terms of Japan’s relations with neighboring countries.

In these respects, the authors of this paper decided to consider the question of how Japan should develop its foreign and security policy, and to offer some proposals in this regard.     

The ending of Japan's ODA loan programme to China—All's well that ends well?

Official Development Assistance has been the most important instrument of Japan's foreign policy towards China since 1979 and has been useful in softening many difficulties in the bilateral relationship. Most of Japan's ODA to China consists of yen loans. Usually the Japanese government adheres to certain economic indicators set by the international banking institutions in order to phase out ODA programmes. However, in 2005 the Japanese government decided abruptly without applying the usual guidelines to end its loan aid to China by 2008, the year China will stage the Olympic Games. The article concludes that the decision was taken for political reasons, taking into consideration the criticism of certain Chinese policies, the deterioration of Japan's relations with China, the fast economic development of China with its implications for Japan's interests, and a general aid fatigue of public opinion against the backdrop of Japan's economic and budgetary problems. The process leading to this decision throws an additional light on all the complexities of the bilateral relationship, including the historical legacy.     

Foreign policy without the policy? South Africa and activism on sexual orientation at the United Nations

Although South Africa led the UN to adopt its first resolution on sexual orientation in 2011, in recent years, South Africa has made various sharp foreign policy reversals on issues related to sexual orientation and human rights. This article discusses five such policymaking episodes over the period 2010–2016 and considers the wider implications of South Africa's flip-flopping. For one, South Africa's recent behaviour on international sexual orientation issues suggests that the foreign policymaking environment in South Africa is weak, unstructured and porous. Moreover, the sexual orientation issue exposes the limited scope South Africa has to act as a representative of Africa, as a leader in the developing world and as a bridge-building middle power.     

The China–Japan Mutually Beneficial Relationship Based on Common Strategic Interests and East Asian Peace and Stability

On the occasion of President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan in May 2008, the two sides issued a joint statement and agreed to promote the Mutually Beneficial Relationship Based on Common Strategic Interests in a comprehensive fashion. In addition, this is an important year in the development of China–Japan relations, as it marks the thirtieth anniversary of the concluding of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China. It is also 20 years since the founding of the Institute for International Policy Studies, during which time IIPS has continuously been conducting research into global and East Asian regional peace and stability and furthering the development of China–Japan relations. Over the past two years China–Japan relations have been better than ever. How Japan and China should promote their Mutually Beneficial Relationship Based on Common Strategic Interests in the future and how they should promote peace and stability in the East Asian region are two vital issues that face the two nations.     

Reflections on the Kyoto conference on global warming

The Third Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was held in Kyoto in December 1997. It ended successfully with the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, which lays down internationally binding provisions for handling the problem of global warming in the twenty‐first century, but the negotiation process was extraordinarily difficult, due to the complex nature of the issue of global warming, and to the fact that the national interests of every nation were closely involved. As Japan's ambassador for global environmental affairs, Toshiaki Tanabe was chief negotiator for Japan, and gives here an insider's view of how that successful outcome was reached. The requirement for Japan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent is a heavy burden, he says, and poses a serious challenge.     

Japanese Foreign Policy in the Middle East: Balancing Economy and Security

Abstract

Although the quest for oil has long been a central concern for resource-poor Japan, its foreign policy in the Middle East does not simply reflect a mercantilist interest in the region's resources. Its desire to remain close to the United States during the North Korea crisis and its nascent competition with China are also critical factors in Japan's Middle East policy. However, Japan lacks an integrated strategy toward the Middle East and as a result the various components of its policy are not always compatible. Hence, while Japan has firmly backed the Bush administration's Iraq policies, and begun discussing a possible free-trade agreement with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, it has also, until quite recently, simultaneously pursued closer relations with Iran. In lieu of coherent regional strategy, Japan instead possesses a clearly prioritized sense of its interests in the region.     

Two postscripts to the McCarran hearings

Abstract

For nearly three decades following World War II Japan was officially considered to be America's newly befriended and unthreatening client in East Asia. Today that is no longer entirely true. A major change is underway in the justifying ideology and the imagery surrounding the US relationship with Japan. Bureaucrats, businessmen, journalists, and academics now portray Japan provocatively to the American public as a direct threat to the viability of America's key economic institutions. To understand why this shift in the official perception and evaluation of Japan is occurring, and what a change in the dominant ideological teaching about postwar Japan portends, I will focus first on two successive periods—the 1970s and the early 1980s—during which the US-Japan bilateral relationship reflected important changes in the world economy and the US position within it. Then, after having described the environment within which US-Japan frictions have been working themselves out, I shall argue that influential ruling elites in the United States are now coming around to the view that the new challenge confronting US global hegemony is the narrowing technological gap between the US and its main industrial competitors. This will lead me to say a few words about the different forces acting to shape science and technology in the United States and Japan. Finally, I shall conclude by recommending what may be a more rational approach for Japan to take in the international arena if it still wishes to preserve its “peace constitution” into the next century.     

Greening growth in the South: practice,policies and new frontiers

Today's development model promotes the exploitation of natural resources regardless of the consequences for the environment or the impact that the quality of the environment has on people's lives and livelihoods. Without a shift in current consumption and production patterns, a sustainable model of development is out of reach. The 1992 Earth Summit acknowledged the need to marry growth and environmental sustainability, but more than 20 years later the world still lacks concrete goals, commitments, benchmarks of progress and frameworks to secure benefits across social, economic and environmental dimensions. The global South is emerging as a green growth laboratory, with innovation and creativity to tackle these concerns. This article analyses these efforts in the context of public policy, and shows that both positive and negative patterns in practice and policy are emerging, which should be considered as broader global green growth efforts are further consolidated and the post-2015 development agenda is being defined.     

Japan and the Middle East

Hirokazu Oikawa, a correspondent in Israel for Jiji News for nearly 20 years and former lecturer and fellow at Hebrew University, discusses the history of relations between Japan and the Middle East and shows how Japan's relative ignorance of the region has affected some crucial diplomatic and domestic policy decisions. He explains that potential misperceptions about the Middle East continue among Japanese policymakers, especially in the areas of energy policy and official‐development aid (ODA). Oikawa is currently a professor at Kyorin University in Tokyo.     

Why Japan still matters

This article challenges the prevailing view that China is displacing Japan as Asia's leader and the pre-eminent power in Asia. On the contrary, it argues that in understanding the future of Northeast Asia and the broader Asia–Pacific, it would be a mistake to look only to a rising China and to relegate Japan to a diminishing position. China's rise does not automatically herald Japan's decline. Japan is an emerging, not a retreating power. The rise of China is both obscuring and accelerating the transformation in Japan's regional and global position. Japan is increasing its economic power, technological capabilities, military reach, soft power and diplomatic influence. Furthermore, the rise of China makes Japan strategically more important to the United States and to other countries in the Asia Pacific. Japan will become the main regional counterweight to China and an indispensable partner in America's strategy of balancing China.