How can Africa develop sustainably? In times where government promises for a brighter tomorrow fail to address core issues and heads of states accept loans which do not only seem impossible to pay back but furthermore fail to have a structural impact, distrust in political solutions and foreign aid are considered with suspicion in the African context.
However, besides the usual suspects such as the IMF, the World Bank or China, the African continent entertains a plethora of other bilateral partners trying to cocreate functioning institutions to solve structural issues.
Japan is one of such countries, which tries to strengthen its economic ties with the continent in a mutually beneficial fashion similar to Germany or Turkey.
Even though the far Eastern nation might not be mentioned as often in the discussion on foreign aid in Africa, its membership in the G5 and overall economic performance make it a considerable partner for today’s international business and political environment.
What have they done so far?
Under the umbrella of the in 1993 formed “Tokyo International Conference on African Development” (TICAD), Japan publicly states their willingness to support sustainable and long-term growth and self sufficiency in terms of infrastructure and innovation.
Therefore, beyond giving out a 108 USD million loan to support food security in Nigeria, Japan’s national organization for international cooperation JICA assists in post-harvest technology training and support, providing modern milling equipment and creating R&D initiatives with Nigerian universities and local institutions, such as the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI).
In Egypt Japan supports infrastructure projects like the construction of the new Metro line 4 in Cairo, the modernization of the Burg Al Arab airport in Alexandria as well as cofinancing the project for onshore wind farming on the Red Sea costal line.
Outlook of Japan’s future role for Africa
As the ninth edition of Japan’s African Development forum will be held in August 2025, the issue areas up to discussion will probably not change much from the usual outline consisting of environmental sustainability, agriculture & food security, as well as the development of the private sector.
However, one certain topic in bilateral cooperation could become more relevant as Japan is facing an increasingly worrying issue: its aging population.
While Africa is the continent with the youngest average population on earth, Japan’s population is increasingly aging due to lack of newborn Japanese; an issue which is connected to a deeply rooted societal problem.
A progressive open-door policy for African workers in Japan could be a sustainable new opportunity.
On one hand, higher salaries and the country’s profitable economic situation could attract young Africans to work in Japan due to, while on the other hand certain jobs supposed to be taken by young Japanese would be filled and facilitate the everyday life of Japanese society.
That would be a similar approach to the German government, which facilitates working opportunities for young African professionals in the understaffed health sector to work in Germany.
Nevertheless, while such a policy sounds mutually beneficial at first, it can be debated to what extent this idea is actually a beneficial solution to the African continent or whether it might backfire by the Africans not wanting to come back.
On top of that, the question of social integration might be utmost challenging in a country such as Japan, which socially has not had much exposure to foreigners on the degree as several western European countries or the USA.
In conclusion, Japan is quite engaged in economic development cooperation activities in Africa and plans to extend its influence even more.
While it is not in the same league as its Asian neighbor country powerhouse, JICA’s efforts reach the system in a sustainable way.
However, it is always difficult to tell whether a country is acting in the best interest of its beneficiary, as Japan is investing in controversial infrastructure projects while majority of the population finds themselves in a devastating economic crisis.
And can we be sure that the far Eastern nation really goes beyond creating financial dependencies and actually believes in capacity building and Africa’s long-term success?
As of now, the answer remains unclear but might be lifted at least a bit further in the upcoming TICAD summit.
