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Representatives of 52 out of 53 African states are converging for a major policy forum, the Fourth Tokyo International Conference for African Development, to be held in Yokohama May 28-30. Somalia will be the only country not represented owing to political turmoil within the country.
This year's host city, Yokohama, is doing everything it can to create a welcoming atmosphere for the conference. Fifty-two railway and metro stations around the city have each been assigned to one of the 52 participating African nations, and will feature decorations related to that country.
African culture, food and unique products were on display at the African Festa, an annual event organized by embassies, non-governmental organizations and the Japanese Foreign Ministry over the weekend in Yokohama's fashionable park area.
Since 1993, the African development conferences have been held in Tokyo every five years, bringing not only African leaders but many other national representatives, international agencies, NGOs and experts involved in African development.
According to news reports, Fukuda will sit separately with about 50 African leaders in meetings stretching over 17 hours during the three-day period. This is seen as preparation for the G8 Summit that Fukuda will host in Hokkaido one month after the African conference. Africa and the emerging food crisis are two important issues to be dealt with at that meeting.
Japan is also courting African nations, as well as others, to support Japan's initiative in charting a post-Kyoto course of action in reducing carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.
Japan’s involvement with Africa dates to the early 1990s, when the Cold War rivals of East and West had wearied of pouring aid into Africa in their tug-of-war for influence in the continent. Japan stepped into the vacuum.
Naturally, Japan's Africa initiatives have been driven not only by sympathy toward the continent’s suffering peoples, but also by Japan's own political and economic interests. Japan sees Africa's 53 nations as potential supporters of its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Japan is also interested in Africa’s resources, including oil, rare metals and marine products. Its approach to the continent has been more subtle than that of China, however, whose advancement into Africa has raised many eyebrows in the past decade.
It was China's diplomatic offensive, however, that spurred Japanese politicians to do more for Africa. In an attempt to outshine China in generosity and ingenuity, Japan is sounding out a continent-wide road network construction project.
Following a steady decline in Japan's official development assistance in recent years, the Fukuda government has reportedly decided to double the overall amount of ODA to Africa only.
Also, urged by the latest surge of food prices worldwide, most acutely felt by the poorer nations in Africa and elsewhere, Japan is advocating major agricultural assistance programs, particularly with its rice species called NERICA, or “new rice for Africa.”
The rice specimen has been under joint development by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, interested African countries and international aid organizations.
In spite of Japan's heightened interest in Africa, several African diplomats are not sure how this would contribute to the actual solutions in the field. "Africa is portrayed with too many negative images," complained a diplomat from Uganda at a recent seminar.
"Japanese people are so slow to jump into African ventures," said another diplomat from Tanzania, comparing this to the mass migration of Chinese into Africa and the numbers of independent Korean ventures that have sprung up across the continent. "Japan's cautious style will lose many chances," he said.
For many Japanese, however, Africa is still a far-away land of wonder and curiosity. It is not only a question of geography; the two have no shared history. This is in stark contrast to Asia, where Japan has a history of aggression followed by massive development aid that helped create the “Asian miracle” in the post-war decades.
Thus, in spite of official enthusiasm, the majority of the nation’s people are not quite convinced that Japan has a role to play in Africa.
Part of the success of the upcoming conference, as far as Japan is concerned, will be measured by how much popular empathy toward Africa is stirred up in Japan by the time the conference hall is emptied.
