ABSTRACT
Due to the burst of the bubble economy of the 1980s, in the early 1990s Japan's fiscal problems were further aggravated with a series of recessions up until 2002. The recession induced Japan's large public debt and a lack of public support for an expansive economic assistance programme. Budgetary cuts in ODA by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) were unavoidable. Amidst all the ministries involved in foreign aid decision-making, the most affected with the MOF decision was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) because it is the ministry with highest responsibility in African affairs. The MOFA needed a new strategy for its African diplomacy.
