Africa in Japanese Diplomatic Thought

Adem, Seifudein

doi:10.1177/0021934708319522

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Images of Africa and black people are not unfamiliar in Japan. However, as noted by Adem (2010), from a diplomatic perspective, Japan waited until the 21st century before building close ties with African countries. The first Prime Minister of Japan to visit African countries was Mori Yoshiro, who visited South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria on a five-day tour from 7 January 2001.…”

Section: Representations Of Congomentioning

confidence: 99%

Representations of Foreigners and Japanese National Identity at the 1964 Olympics in Idaten

Pratama¹

2021

IRHS

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The 2020 Olympics are not Tokyo's first experience of hosting the Games. Previously, the city hosted the 1964 Olympics. This historical background generated nostalgia for the 1964 Olympics ahead of the 2020 Olympics. The 1964 Olympics are remembered for exposing Japanese society to various interactions with foreigners, which eventually provided the setting for expressions of Japanese national identity through comparisons between "us" (Japanese) and "them" (foreigners). In this sense, representations of foreigners, and their roles as essential elements of Japanese national identity discourse, have been the integral parts of 1964 Olympics nostalgia. Ahead of the 2020 Olympics, numerous popular culture forms depicting the 1964 Olympics were produced in Japan. One notable work was the television drama IDATEN Orimupikku Banashi (hereafter: IDATEN), broadcast by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) from January-December 2019. The drama depicted Japan's Olympic movement from the 1912 to 1964 Olympics and featured a wide variety of foreign characters. IDATEN's portrayal of the 1964 Olympics features not only foreign countries widely represented in Japanese popular culture, such as the US, but also less featured countries such as Indonesia and the Republic of the Congo. This article analyzes depictions of these three nations to examine critically the role of representations of foreigners in Japanese national identity discourse within the drama. It argues that as a drama produced ahead of the 2020 Olympics IDATEN signifies the aspirations of 21st century Japan rather than reflecting the actual situation during the 1964 Olympics, especially in how it portrays Japan through the country’s relations with other countries.

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Section: Representations Of Congomentioning

confidence: 99%

Representations of Foreigners and Japanese National Identity at the 1964 Olympics in Idaten

Pratama¹

2021

IRHS

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“…2 As for Japan, since 1993, the nation has been providing aid to African nations through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) initiative; the initiative has been a welcome development on the continent. The most important anticipation of the initiative is to enhance Africa's democratic reforms with a view to attaining economic transformation of Africa, through further integration of African nations into the global economy, particularly for augmented trade between both parties (Adem, 2010). The TICAD initiative is meant to be a win-win option for both Africa and Japan, and as such it was designed with the guiding philosophies of local ownership, self-help, and partnership to alleviate poverty; and enhancing education, industrial development, and local production to snowball Africa-Japan trade cooperation.…”

Section: When Africa's Needs Meet China's Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the importance of the Sino-Africa swap formula in creating backward and forward linkages

Omoruyi

2020

Asian Journal of Comparative Politics

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African nations are trying to diversify their economies in order to induce industrialization that will help them eradicate poverty and create employment for their young workforce. One of the continent’s key challenges continues to be the shortage of physical infrastructure. Therefore, finding ways to overcome this problem has become of large importance. China has identified this and has thus enhanced its involvement in Africa primarily via its swap formula. The formula enables the financing and development of infrastructure that African nations critically need by depending on their resource wealth. However, the mounting involvement of the formula has continued to stimulate questions on its impact regarding creating backward and forward linkages. As such, one of the significant aims of this article is to identify linkages that emerge from the Chinese swap formula that involve long-term concessionary loans from China’s Exim Bank to finance major infrastructure projects in Africa. It examines whether the swap formula is creating backward and forward linkages in Africa, and what the infrastructure leads to concerning creating novel opportunities for the continent, by theoretically answering this question: “Can China’s swap formula create backward and forward linkages?” Furthermore, the article theoretically identifies the benefits and linkages of the formula via a case study – that of Abuja-Kaduna railway. Arguably, the article discovers that the formula has multiple benefits and linkages for Africa. It is also seen by the Chinese government as a way of fulfilling its strategic goals in Africa.

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“…In the immediate postwar period, Japan had no aid commitment to Africa, because Japan's primary focus was on Southeast Asia, where its reparations were also a sort of development aid (Lehman, p. 27). Japan's experience during and after the war made it retreat into what Sato (Lehman, p. 9) calls a 'reactive state,' which is capable of initiating its economic and foreign policies, but succumbs to gaiatsu (foreign pressure, especially from the United States; see also Adem, 2010). Thus, it is not surprising that Japan decided to extend aid to Africa following pressure from the US government (Sato, in Lehman, p. 14).…”

Section: Migrations Religio-economics Of Diasporic Identity and Aidmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stories of the ‘dark’ continent: Crude constructions, diasporic identity, and international aid to Africa

Omobowale

2015

International Sociology

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Africa's emergence into the geography of the known world has not been without controversies and the contradictions of crudity and underdevelopment in spite of the continent's rich history as well as its natural and human resources. The crude conceptions of black Africa (as opposed to North Africa) are appositely captured in the literature and records of early Greek and Roman superpowers, European medieval explorers and Crusaders, Arab travelers and conquerors, and colonial anthropologists, archeologists, and historians. The 'stories' of Africa in modern times have remained that of despair and underdevelopment leading to emigration and the deployment of international aid. This review essay captures the reality and context of crude constructions of Africa by non-Africans and Africans; migrants' appeal to religious identity in an attempt to relive and reconstruct their 'Africanness' for the purpose of survival; and Japanese aid to Africa.

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Africa in Japanese Diplomatic Thought

Cited by 10 publications

References 9 publications

Representations of Foreigners and Japanese National Identity at the 1964 Olympics in Idaten

Representations of Foreigners and Japanese National Identity at the 1964 Olympics in Idaten

Examining the importance of the Sino-Africa swap formula in creating backward and forward linkages

Stories of the ‘dark’ continent: Crude constructions, diasporic identity, and international aid to Africa

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