Japan S Foreign Aid Challenge

When this volume was published in 1993 it was the first comprehensive analysis of the major policy issues confronting Japan’s massive foreign aid programme. It deals with the philosophy behind Japan’s aid, Japanese reactions to the severe criticisms of its programmes and the beginnings of meaningful administrative reform of the complex aid system. Alan Rix goes on to examine the widespread innovation in programmes and policies to make Japan’s aid more responsive and the impact of the Asian bias in Japan’s aid.

Filling a gap in the existing literature, this book analyzes the distinctive features of Japan’s development aid, especially technical co-operation, in comparison with other donors’ aid. Incorporating a wealth of research, it discusses whether Japan is behind other leading donor countries in rethinking its aid policy and whether it lacks transparency, sensitivity to recipient needs, and a coherent and coordinated policy that targets poverty. The volume assesses the nature and effectiveness of the administration of Japan’s aid, and explores the degree of involvement of private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Including contributions from experts with direct experience with Japanese ODA, the book provides a wide range of recipient and donor viewpoints and presents important policy recommendations.

Assesses the transformation of Japan's foreign aid policies within the context of the nation's changing economic and political relations throughout Asia and beyond.

Why does the Japanese government often alter its course of action under pressure from the United States, even when doing so apparently undermines Japan's own interests? Japan's marked responsiveness to U.S. preferences regarding foreign aid policy appears counterintuitive, since Japan's demonstrated capability to donate funds rivals and has previously surpassed that of the U.S. In Limits to Power, Akitoshi Miyashita posits that Japan's deference to the will of the U.S. results from Japan's continuing role as the more dependent partner in the two countries' interdependent diplomatic and economic relationship. Miyashita critically reviews the existing literature on Japanese foreign aid, then tests his own argument against five case studies. After analyzing critical junctures in Japan's history of foreign aid to China, Vietnam, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, he concludes that Japan's consistent sway under U.S. opinion reflects an act of will on Japan's part, rather than a lack of coherent policy stemming from bureaucratic politics. Limits to Power boldly challenges current arguments that Japan has successfully distanced itself from "reactive" politics.

The post–World War II paradigm that ensured security and prosperity for the Japanese people has lost much of its effectiveness. The current generation has become increasingly resentful of the prolonged economic stagnation and feels a sense of drift and uncertainty about the future of Japan's foreign policy. In J apanese Foreign Policy at the Crossroads, Yutaka Kawashima clarifies some of the defining parameters of Japan's past foreign policy and examines the challenges it currently faces, including the quagmire on the Korean Peninsula, the future of the U.S.-Japan alliance, the management of Japan-China relations, and Japan's relation with Southeast Asia. Kawashima—who, as vice minister of foreign affairs, was Japan's highest-ranking foreign service official—cautions Japan against attempts to ensure its own security and well-being outside of an international framework. He believes it is crucial that Japan work with as many like-minded countries as possible to construct a regional and international order based on shared interests and shared values. In an era of globalization, he cautions, such efforts will be crucial to maintaining global world order and ensuring civilized interaction among all states.

In Japan's Reluctant Realism , Michael J. Green examines the adjustments of Japanese foreign policy in the decade since the end of the Cold War. Green presents case studies of China, the Korean peninsula, Russia and Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the international financial institutions, and multilateral forums (the United Nations, APEC, and the ARF). In each of these studies, Green considers Japanese objectives; the effectiveness of Japanese diplomacy in achieving those objectives; the domestic and exogenous pressures on policy-making; the degree of convergence or divergence with the United States in both strategy and implementation; and lessons for more effective US - Japan diplomatic cooperation in the future. As Green notes, its bilateral relationship with the United States is at the heart of Japan's foreign policy initiatives, and Japan therefore conducts foreign policy with one eye carefully on Washington. However, Green argues, it is time to recognize Japan as an independent actor in Northeast Asia, and to assess Japanese foreign policy in its own terms.

This book examines Japan's development assistance as it transitions away from "Official Development Assistance" and towards "Development Cooperation." In this transition, the strong relationships between Japanese development policy and comprehensive security, diplomacy, foreign, domestic and economic policies are likely to become even more integrated. Written by a multidisciplinary team of contributors from the fields of poltical science, international relations, development, economics, public opinion and Japan studies, this book sets out to be innovative in capturing the essence of the changing patterns of development cooperation, and more importantly, Japan's role in within it, in an era of great change.