Introduction

From the 1970s, Japan deliberately pushed up its official development assistance (ODA) spending as it grew into an economic superpower, becoming the world’s largest bilateral ODA donor by 1989. Japan’s rise and decline as an ODA donor roughly paralleled its trajectory as an economic superpower. According to World Bank indicators, Japan’s share of global gross domestic product in purchasing power terms fell from 8.6 percent to 7.0 percent in the 1990-2002 period. Japan’s sector distribution has also changed somewhat over time, but it retains a characteristic emphasis on modern industrial production-related sectors. The trends from 1970 to 2000 as measured by Development Assistance Committee standards show that Japan has made incremental progress toward meeting the broader international community’s expectations for ODA effort and quality. From the time of Japan’s accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 1960s, Western analysts such as John White looking at Japan’s ODA have noted strong commercial and foreign policy motivations accompanying it.