Japan’s 70 Years of International Cooperation: Diversification in ODA from the Late 1990s to the Present

In the 1990s, Japan—the world’s largest provider of Official Development Assistance during that decade—was compelled to respond to emerging domestic and international circumstances, leading to adjustments in its cooperation policies and priority sectors. The defining feature of these changes was a “diversification in cooperation.” As the third installment in the series commemorating the “70 Years of Japan’s Official Development Assistance,” this article focuses on the period from the late 1990s to the present. It first outlines major international trends in development cooperation, then it examines domestic conditions and Japan’s development cooperation policies. After identifying the background and factors that facilitated the diversification in cooperation, the article describes concrete development cooperation initiatives and projects during the period. The concluding section emphasizes that, given today’s international environment, it is essential to ascribe new value to development cooperation—particularly through contributions to national comprehensive security and enhancing the attractiveness of the cooperation.