Japan's Aid Research Articles

Risk of Increasing the Sudden Diagnosis of AIDS in Japan during and after the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Public health centers have played an important role in controlling the spread of COVID-19 in Japan. However, the staff members of 469 centers have been overwhelmed by the huge increase in workload, and some public health centers were obliged to temporarily stop regular HIV testing. With the halting of HIV testing during the COVID-19 crisis, the proportion of “Ikinari-AIDS” or a sudden diagnosis of AIDS without prior knowledge of the HIV infection status is expected to rise. To provide essential public health services, it is time for Japan to focus on delivering public health services beyond the existing public health centers.

Revisiting economic effectiveness of foreign aid: The case of Japanese aid to China

AbstractOver the years, several studies have assessed whether foreign aid plays an active role in promoting economic growth of the recipient country, but to date, it is still an unresolved question. Based on the case of Japan's aid to China, this paper uses the geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model to evaluate the economic effect of aid, compared with the ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. The results reveal the following: (1) In the OLS model, Japanese aid to China surprisingly hampered China's economic growth. (2) In the GWR model, the Japanese aid's effectiveness appears a noticeable regional differentiation in line with both the orientation and extent of aid. (3) In the GTWR model, however, the economic effectiveness of aid changes both over time and in space. The spatiotemporal heterogeneous relationship between foreign aid and economic growth in a recipient country challenges the traditional belief that aid either can or cannot promote the recipient country's economic growth. This finding provides a new perception of the economic effectiveness of aid.

Association between Hearing Impairment and Cognitive Decline: The Protective Role of Hearing Aids

Relationships between hearing impairment (HI) and dementia have been reported in elderly adults, and there is growing evidence that HI is an independent modifiable risk factor for dementia. However, there is insufficient evidence to recommend the use of hearing aids to reduce the risk of cognitive decline. To address these issues, we are currently conducting an observational study in cooperation with neurologists, gerontologists, and otorhinologists to investigate the association between cognitive function and HI in elderly adults. As part of this study, we also investigated this association using data from healthcare check-up programs for community dwellers. We analyzed the data of 1602 eligible community-dwellers. Hearing aid users were older and less likely to exhibit cognitive impairment than non-hearing aid users. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that HI was independently associated with an inability to draw a clock correctly (odds ratio 1.60, 95% confidence interval 1.12-2.26). Compared with those in Western countries, the usage rate of hearing aids in Japan is lower, although the rate of elderly adults presenting with HI is similar to those in Western countries. Both otorhinologists and geriatricians should be aware of the potential presence of HI in elderly adults.

Analyzing the spatial allocation of Japan’s aid to China: A perspective from the relations between aid allocation stakeholders

AbstractWhile the spatial distribution of foreign aid has aroused a widespread academic interest, the existing research is limited mainly to the transnational level and lacks an analysis of aid allocation within a single recipient country. Moreover, more attention is paid to the factors influencing the aid allocation than to the interactions among different aid allocation stakeholders. To fill the research blank, this paper proposes a “three‐party relationship model” to analyze the spatial allocation of aid within a recipient county, and uses the case of Japan's aid to China to validate the model. We find most of the aid has been allocated to the economic infrastructure, over time, and the key aid sector has shifted from economic infrastructure to social infrastructure and general environmental protection; The allocation characteristics of total aid and key aid sectors are various; The spatial allocation pattern of aid reflects an interaction between the donor (Japan) and the recipient country (China). The degree of importance of each aid allocation stakeholder is different at different stages of the total life cycle of aid, and the aid allocation stakeholder relationship in the three‐party relationship model may be constantly reshaped during the allocation processes of aid in space.

Explaining variations in responsiveness to external pressure: Japan's aid policy and bureaucratic politics

AbstractAlthough preceding studies on Japan's foreign aid tend to report that Japan's aid policy is receptive to US pressure, it remains unclear which direction the US wishes Japan to assist its aid programs and how bureaucratic politics of Japan reduces the magnitude of US influence. This paper pursues the first attempt to provide a theoretical framework for the direction of US influence on Japan's aid provision and to explore whether its impact varies across different types of aid. I utilize a new dataset on Japan's Official Development Assistance from 1971 to 2009 and employ both ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares regressions to handle the issues of reverse causality and joint decision-making. The combined results of quantitative and qualitative analyses suggest that the US tends to urge Japan to complement its aid efforts rather than to substitute them as substitution will allow Japan to increase its clout in strategically important recipients and the US attempts to minimize this risk by asking Japan to disburse aid in tandem. I also find that the allocation of Japanese grants is more receptive to US pressure than that of loans because the former is left to the discretion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that uses external pressure to win bureaucratic turf wars, whereas loans are determined through consultations among multiple agencies with constituencies that prioritize Japan's domestic interests. The findings are robust across different model specifications and different samples.

Dual determinants: Aid disbursement and volume, with special reference to Japan

While variables for recipient countries are taken into considerations when aid is disbursed, how the amount of aid volume is shaped before it is disbursed is determined by factors within donors. In this regard, this study examines dual determinants of the Japanese aid. It is dual in the sense that determinants for both aid disbursement and aid volume are examined – the former based on recipient-side variables and the latter, on donor-side ones. In the first part where determinants for aid disbursement are considered, with an emphasis on the 1960s and the 1970s, this study finds that Japan's aid disbursement pattern in the earlier period is different from that in the rest. War reparations and lacking clear aid objectives in those period may explain this discrepancy. The second part of the study examines what determines aid volume before it is disbursed. Using several donor-based variables, we find an inverted-U shape between Japanese income level and the amount of its aid volume with a threshold at around $28,000. This finding is compared with other donors.

Determinants of China's and Japan's Foreign Aid Allocations in Africa

Foreign aid plays an important role in promoting economic development in Africa. Recently, several countries, most notably China, have emerged as alternative sources of foreign aid. However, their motives for providing foreign aid have been questioned. The present study examines and compares determinants of China's and Japan's foreign aid allocations in Africa. It assumes that the distribution of foreign aid was determined by the aid donors’ self-interest and also by the aid recipients’ needs. Three panel model methods, namely, the pooled OLS method, the one-way fixed effects method and the two-way fixed effects methods, were employed to examine and compare the patterns of China's and Japan's foreign aid allocation in Africa. The main finding was that the provision of foreign aid by China and Japan was primarily driven by the aid donors’ self-interest. Additionally, the size of population in a recipient country was an important element to determine China's and Japan's aid allocations. The findings also suggest that Japan tended to pay more attention to the aid recipient countries’ needs as well as to the quality of governance and institutions in these countries. Overall, the findings indicate that there was no considerable difference in the motives for the provision of aid between the two aid donor countries.

Farming for survival and rice for investment: The intersection of Japanese aid and Cambodian development

AbstractThis paper illustrates conflicting priorities in Japan's aid policy to Cambodia and how those policies appear in the implementation of the aid. Japan's aid is driven by a strategic policy to integrate Cambodia into the regional economy while the same aid focuses on assisting small‐scale farmers in that country. On the Cambodian side, the government has employed a market‐oriented approach of development in the context of local patron/client mode of governance, in which, the agricultural policy has also become oriented towards large‐scale investment and export. By looking at the case of Japan's technical cooperation in Cambodia's rice sector, this paper examines how the conflicts within Japan's aid policy are internalised in the Cambodian context and appear as conflicts between Japanese and Cambodian approaches to agricultural development.

China's and Japan's Foreign Aid Policies vis-à-vis Lusophone Africa

This article compares the evolution of China's and Japan's foreign policies to Lusophone Africa, focusing on the period post-2000. The lack of analysis on Beijing's and Tokyo's respective aid policies towards Portuguese-speaking African countries (Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa, PALOP) makes this study relevant. Arguably, Japan's development “edge” over China in terms of the “aid model” approach towards PALOP countries is under threat. This raises questions about China's changing pattern of aid, characterised by an increasing amount of “soft” aid towards PALOP states outside of trade and investment relations, which is much in line with Japan's aid philosophy and, according to observers, less neocolonialist than Japan's previous aid practices. This paper asks which model of cooperation is morally better and which is more effective, as both donors have interests in PALOP countries beyond development assistance. It finds complementarities in the two countries’ aid allocation to PALOP states, such as poverty eradication given the sectoral diversity of Chinese aid, and the empowerment of local communities fostered by Japanese aid's emphasis on grassroots and human-security projects.

Pledges not kept: JICA's project challenges in Ghana

Japan's project aid initiatives for capacity development still occupy a large part of the aid discourse of the country's development cooperation programme. Over the years, Japan's development rhetoric has been significantly adapted to the wider policy shifts of Western donor countries and has introduced in its programme and project documents such terms as ‘ownership’, ‘needs-based approach’, and ‘participatory’ initiatives in order to achieve more ‘sustainable’ results. Furthermore, the importance of ‘institutional memory’ has been repeatedly highlighted by Japan as an important element for greater project effectiveness. This article investigates how this development rhetoric translates in Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) project practice in a three-year community-based initiative in rural Ghana. The results illustrate that despite the short-term benefits the project has brought to the targeted communities, the development practice of JICA falls short of its discursive representation and more effort is needed by JICA toward a more committed and inclusive project practice.

Edward M. Feasel, Japan's Aid: Lessons for Economic Growth, Development and Political Economy

Edward M. Feasel, Japan's Aid: Lessons for Economic Growth, Development and Political Economy

Japanese Development Consultancies and Postcolonial Power in Southeast Asia: The Case of Burma's Balu Chaung Hydropower Project

Through investigating the construction of Japan's first wartime reparations project—the Balu Chaung Hydropower Station Number Two in Burma—this article traces the formation of postcolonial power relationships within Japan's postwar technical aid system in Southeast Asia. Kubota Yutaka and his colleagues at Nippon Kōei, the development consultancy that planned and supervised the project, had long careers constructing dams and other infrastructure throughout Japan's former empire in Asia. This article examines how the visions, policies, expertise, and relationships from their colonial experiences were reconfigured in the 1950s through large-scale infrastructure projects into a new, postcolonial technical aid network linking the United States, Japan, and Southeast Asia during the Cold War. In addition to analyzing the reconstituted power relations at one particular site, this article also examines Japan's unique position as a major donor and receiver of foreign aid, thereby complicating conventional narratives of an advanced “West” assisting a developing Asia.

Contextualizing other political ecologies: Japan's environmental aid to the Philippines

This paper argues for the utility of a focus on contextualized sources of environmental change to address the ever more diverse contexts of political ecology. In order to overcome the conventional approach to contextual sources that has tended to be analytically one‐dimensional and limited, I seek to provide a more nuanced account, notably by examining the neglected case of green aid of a nonwestern aid donor, Japan. Using conceptual tools that are both conjuncture‐based and multiscalar, the paper examines the way in which a post‐Rio international policy drive to promote so called green aid during the 1990s was translated into and conditioned by the historically and geographically specific contexts of Japan and the aid recipient featured herein, the Philippines. This focus on contextual sources helps to elucidate (i) how the ambiguous nature of international aid criteria combined together with Japan's own domestic political economy to render problematic an ostensibly environmental project, (ii) the manner in which neoliberal economic restructuring was translated into one of Japan's key policy initiatives in the 1990s and formed the backdrop to the specific aid case project discussed here, (iii) how Japan's environmental aid process in the Philippines was shaped through a repoliticization of various green discourses, and (iv) how the complex dynamics among stakeholders ended up compromising the very nature of the case study project.

Japan's Foreign Aid Policy to Angola and Mozambique

This article compares Japan's aid policies to Angola and Mozambique since 1950. It argues that East-West rivalry prevented Japan from providing aid to them, particularly after 1975. The post-Cold War period enabled Japan to assist the countries' transitions from war to peace as part of a peacebuilding approach originating in Japan's traditional development cooperation in Asia. As recipient countries of Japanese aid, they are contrasting examples of sub-Saharan Africa reform ownership and explain why Mozambique is a priority nation to Japan in development terms while Angola, until recently, was not. The article affirms that Japanese decision-making with regard to Angola and Mozambique reflects both international pressures and domestic interests influenced by international factors and domestic changes. It concludes that the TICAD's development approach, which emphasizes the applicability of the Asian experiences in Africa, peacebuilding, and human security as a component of Japanese foreign policy, has boosted Japan's ‘soft-power’ role in the international system.

An historical turning point: Italy's relations with China before and after 8 September 1943

Both for Italy and China, 1943 was undoubtedly a crucial year. In China, the situation was rather complex, especially since the Nanjing Regime, founded by Wang Jingwei with Japan's decisive aid, had declared war on the USA and the British Empire early that year. After 8 September 1943, Japanese troops seized the Italian Concession in Tianjin. The Italians who renewed their trust in Mussolini kept on operating in the new political framework; the others experienced the humiliation of being imprisoned. Those who had aligned themselves with Badoglio were usually sent to concentration camps. This paper will offer new insights on a topic which is largely neglected. It first discusses selected aspects and trends characterizing the relationship between China and Italy. The second part is dedicated to the figure of Francesco Maria Taliani (1887–1968), the then Italian Ambassador to China. Finally, the third part focuses on the story of some of the Italians who were taken prisoner by the Japanese.

Epidemiologic Features of HIV Infection and AIDS in Japan Estimated by the Delphi Method

Epidemiologic Features of HIV Infection and AIDS in Japan Estimated by the Delphi Method

Epidemiological Characteristics of HIV and AIDS in Japan based on HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data

Epidemiological Characteristics of HIV and AIDS in Japan based on HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data

Chinese and Japanese development co-operation: South–South, North–South, or what?

This article compares the evolution and characteristics of Chinese and Japanese aid, assessing the impact of their aid policies in sub-Saharan Africa from the 1950s to the present. It argues that China and Japan's aid programmes share more similarities than dissimilarities. Both pursue aid strategies that spread allocations across a region rather than concentrating upon specific countries. The article seeks to clarify the following questions. In what way are Chinese and Japanese aid strategies different from each other and Western donors? Should their aid be seen as a form of South–South co-operation that provides an alternative to the West's hegemony in Africa? Or is aid from these donors simply another strategy to control African resources and state elites in the guise of a partnership of equals?

The Disbursement Pattern of Japanese Foreign Aid: A Reappraisal

Three perspectives on the determinants of Japan's official development assistance (ODA) program are often represented as distinct, valid explanations of the aid program. Yet few studies have attempted to simultaneously test the hypotheses generated from all three perspectives in a global study of Japanese aid flows. This study seeks to improve the understanding of the Japanese ODA program by addressing some of the gaps in the existing literature. Providing a comprehensive analysis, the article investigates the effects of different political and economic variables on Japanese aid disbursement in eighty-six countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East from 1979 to 2002. The findings of the study make several contributions to the literature. First, the results provide strong support for the claim that humanitarian concerns, as measured by poverty and human rights conditions in recipient countries, are important determinants of aid allocation. Second, although much of the previous literature has hypothesized that Japan's aid program seeks to promote Japan's economic interests, little empirical support for this view is found in the present study. Likewise, the disbursement pattern of ODA was associated with only a limited number of US security interests; US economic interests are shown to have no effect on ODA.

Why Japan's Development Aid Matters Most for Dealing with Global Environmental Problems

It is evident that Japan has made global environmental issues a top priority in its foreign policy agenda since the early 1990s. Although Japan's “environmental ODA” decision-making copes with numerous hurdles arising on both external and internal fronts, this world's largest donor nation has already shouldered a great financial responsibility to help resolve such problems on a global scale. Moreover, Tokyo has played a prominent role in efforts to establish major legally binding international agreements on environmental issues. This study argues why Japan with its economic prowess, extensive experience, and modern technologies is one of the most important actors contributing to the environment, despite the recent withering trend of Tokyo's ODA volume. Although the environment is just the kind of global dilemma the UN is perfectly positioned to address, there is actually a startling array of environmental concerns in which enhanced participation and cooperation by Japan could really make a difference. Therefore, as Japan has the goal of attaining a niche in world environmental leadership, the country needs to elevate the strategy, efficiency, and effectiveness of its aid diplomacy in the days to come.