Japan

Struggles within the Democratic Party of Japan and also between the DPJ, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and smaller coalition parties promise more turbulent politics in Japan this...

West Africa is only a recent target of Tokyo’s donor diplomacy and commercial overtures, and just last year Japan opened embassies in Mauritania and Mali. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for...

Known as a ‘China hawk’, Seiji Maehara moved to the Foreign Ministry just as Japan-China relations are at a low. In September, a dispute with China over the...

Since taking power in 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has struggled to distinguish itself from its long-ruling predecessor and turn around Japan's economy. In African relations, however, it projects...

National pride comes before a fall. Reports that Tokyo has routinely bribed at least six African countries to vote in support of its whaling policy have embarrassed the Japanese government. This...

Environmental campaigners such as Greenpeace have long protested about the links between voting at the International Whaling Commission and Japanese aid. That was before evidence that Japanese activities, including the paying...

Faced with popular outcry about profiteering from electricity shortages and opaque ties between political parties and businesses, South Africa’s governing African National Congress is being forced to abandon its stake in...

Japan’s Africa diplomacy is taking a royal turn. Crown Prince Naruhito made his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa this month. During his trip to Ghana on 7-10 March,...

When Premier Yukio Hatoyama and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) came to power in September 2009 promising to focus on domestic issues and budget cutting, African countries feared that...

Tokyo's pledges to double aid to Africa and offer US$4 billion in concessional loans are in question following the landslide election of the Democratic Party of Japan on 30 August....