At the latest TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) gathering, Japan assured that its primary diplomatic objectives are promoting UN reform and obtaining a permanent Security Council seat, by gaining African nations' support.
The Tokyo International Conference on African Development operates under Japanese government leadership and is currently co-organized with the United Nations, the UN Development Program, the World Bank, and the African Union Commission. Beginning in 2013, the conference takes place every three years, rotating between venues in Japan and Africa.
Wakabayashi subsequently assumed the role of executive director at the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation, an alliance of more than 100 Japanese nongovernmental organizations, and currently holds the position of policy advisor.
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Following the burst of Japan's economic bubble, the nation's growth had come to a standstill, yet its Official Development Assistance budget kept increasing, positioning Japan as the leading global aid provider. After the Cold War concluded, Western assistance to Africa—previously a theater for East-West proxy wars—started decreasing, as the continent lost its strategic significance.
"Japan also sought to ensure access to rare metals. I'm certain they recognized our motives," Wakabayashi admits, while noting that Japan's involvement was still genuinely appreciated.
African nations largely welcomed Japan’s aid, recognizing the sincerity of its approach. Japan’s ODA is guided by a request-based principle, tailoring its cooperation to the needs expressed by partner countries. Wakabayashi contrasts this with practices by other donors that have met with criticism: “We’ve made a point of responding earnestly to local requests, rather than just following directives from Tokyo, and this has been positively received. Japan doesn’t leave countries saddled with debt, nor does it bypass local businesses and workers by sending its own people. Instead, we work to embed the necessary technologies and know-how locally. This approach has been appreciated not only in Africa but across Asia as well.”
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Africa's economic expansion and the development of an attractive marketplace led to changes in TICAD's approach as well. TICAD V in 2013 adopted the theme "Hand in Hand with a More Dynamic Africa," indicating a transition from assistance to investment. A plenary session was conducted for the first time to facilitate direct interaction between African leadership and Japanese business representatives. This same year witnessed the introduction of the African Business Education Initiative for Youth (ABE Initiative), providing 1,000 young people from Africa with opportunities to pursue education at Japanese universities and complete internships with Japanese corporations.
A current development in Japan's international cooperation efforts across Africa and other regions is the increasing influence of youth-driven social enterprises. Sunda Technology Global represents one such example—a Ugandan startup working to deliver safe and clean water throughout Africa through the expansion of a prepaid, usage-based water metering system known as Sunda. The company's founder, Tsuboi Aya, temporarily left her position at Panasonic in 2018 to work as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer, focusing on enhancing well maintenance and management practices in Uganda.
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For maintaining wells established by aid organizations, personnel would visit individual homes to collect user fees from every household. Many residents were reluctant to pay, expressing doubts about fund management and utilization, along with dissatisfaction regarding the fixed-rate pricing structure that imposed identical charges irrespective of actual water consumption.