Official Development Assistance (ODA) as a Japanese Foreign Policy Tool

Abstract

Over the past five decades, Japan initially received from and subsequently provided economic assistance to the developing world. The amount of Japanese aid over the years has surged commensurate with the recovery and growth of the Japanese economy, making Japan the top world donor in the 1990s. According to the latest statistics, in 1997, it disbursed bilateral aid totaling ¥793 billion ($6.55 billion), down 11.2 percent from the previous year. Conversely, disbursements of Japanese aid through multilateral institutions totaled ¥340 billion ($2.81 billion). The Japanese government has not provided aid for charity reasons but with a purpose, most notably as a foreign policy tool. While various explanations of this practice have been made by Japanese and non-Japanese scholars, the reasoning behind it has also evolved over time. Domestically, the government has to explain to its taxpayers the reason Japan provides economic assistance to other countries and these explanations have also evolved. With the protracted economic slump and intensifying fiscal crisis, this job is tougher than ever. Nonetheless, the public has shown fairly strong support for official development assistance (ODA) disbursements. Meanwhile, notwithstanding the large sums of aid offered by Japan, from time to time it has also sparked criticism from both aid recipients and other quarters.