ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the transformations in Japan's diplomacy in Africa in relation to Japan's own shifting identities, interests and foreign policy priorities over the past 50 years. It shows that continuity has marked the foreign policy behaviours of Japan in Africa even as Japan strived to make adjustments to the changing nature of the international system while, at the same time, trying to change the system itself in desirable ways. The latest formulation of Japan's understanding of its lukewarm attitude toward Africa revolves around the idea of 'psychological distance'. In the words of the distinguished Japanese Africanist Hideo Oda: Geographically, Japan and Africa are separated by a great distance, but the psychological distance may be as great. The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) is an international forum launched by Japan in 1993 to deliberate about how the human condition can be improved in Africa.
