ABSTRACT
During a speech in New York in May 1978, the Japanese Prime Minister, Fukuda Takeo, announced that his government would double its official development assistance within three years. That promise was reiterated at the summit meeting of heads of government of the advanced countries in Bonn in July 1978 and was later repeated by Mr Fukuda’s successor, Ōhira Masayoshi, at the Fifth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Manila in May 1979. It has been taken up as the catchcry of those perceiving new purpose and direction in Japanese aid policy.
