Author Description

"Japan's Foreign Aid Challenge" presents an analysis of Japan's aid philosophy and how it is being changed to meet new international expectations. This is linked with the nature of public attitudes to Japanese policy. Alan Rix examines the wide range of criticism of Japanese aid from within Japan, and the way in which public support for aid is reflected in greater involvement in non-government aid organizations. He goes on to deal with some of the most pressing issues in Japan's international relations today: how Japan is to reform its massive aid programme (now the world's second largest, involving nearly US$10 billion per annum) to meet the demands of the new global and political structures of the 1990s, and whether and how Japan can exert its influence on the wider international aid community. There is extensive examination of the Asian bias to Japan's aid-giving and the way in which Japan has built up strong relations of dependence between its aid and Asian recipients. This is carried through to discussions of the scope for Japan's aid leadership. The author concludes that there is a strong process of reform and innovation in the Japanese aid program.