ABSTRACT
The “overseas” experience of the Japanese is relatively recent, and even today those who have spent more than a short time in other countries, particularly in the developing world, are relatively few. Japanese aid policy has tended, especially since the 1980s, to provide an alternative vision of development to that presented by the “West.” British aid policy, although distinctive in its approach and implementation in the postwar period, has since the 1970s increasingly followed that of the United States and the international agencies, particularly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The early colonies were seen essentially as British settlements overseas, but with increasing involvement in southern Africa and India it became apparent that “native administration” would be a crucial concern. In the case of Japan, the relationship between its overseas links and its own national development has always been clear and explicit. During the 1960s, Japan was less concerned with overseas development than with its own national development.
