Five Milestons in African-Japan Cooperation: A Decade of the TICAD Process an Challenges Ahead.

Japan is a relative newcomer to Africa despite having had long trade relations with Africa during the post-war years. In point of fact, as far back as 1580s, a delegation dispatched from Japan by Christian feudal lords rounder the Cape of Good Hope en route to Lisbon and Rome and on the way back home landed in Mozambique in 1586. Norwithstanding, the year 1993 served to mark a new beginning in Japan's policies of engagement with Africa. It was in October 1993 that the Japanese government took the initiative to host the first TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Developpement), with was destined to evolve into Japan's primary vehicle for its African politicies. "TICAD has, over the past ten years, stedily contributed to African development by providing one of the largest international platforms for global cooperation and promoting South-South cooperation, especially Asia-Africa cooperation by engaging Asian countries in TICAD". The TICAD initiative coincided with the end of the apartheid in SouthAfrica, as well as with the end of the Cold War. It timeously occurred just at a juncture when Mr. Toshinori Shugeie is the Japanese Ambassadfor to South Africa. This essay is an extrapolation of the talk given by the author at the African Institute of South Africa on 30 June 2004. The interests of the world's major powers were shifting away from Africa, toward Eastern Europe and elsewhere. For that reason this initiative by Japan was received with a bit of surprise by many countries in the world. Donor countries had begun feeling "assistance fatigue". A feeling of so-called 'Afro-pessimism' was spreading. And yet, it happened to be a time at which Japan was attempting to redefine its international role in the wake of the traumatic national experience during the first Gulf War of 1990 and after.