ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to compare Japanese official development assistance (ODA) to the ODA program of the United States (US). In the 1960s Japan’s membership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development brought its economic assistance under review within the Development Assistance Committee at a time when Japan was finishing its reparations negotiations. Japan is seeking to introduce greater transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability into its aid programs. In the area of technical cooperation there has been some adjustment to Japan’s traditional role of supporting the design, construction, and initial operation of aid projects. The bilateral and developmental aid philosophies of Japan and the US grow out of very different national experiences, cultural values, foreign policy priorities, and political institutions. With respect to technical assistance, the US traditionally has emphasized the transfer of know-how to aid recipients, and it views with suspicion the simple transfer of capital resources in development assistance.
