Curiously, few feel that a closer association between Africa and Japan risks dragging the continent further down into the swamp. This fresh perspective on African development and enthusiasm for economic integration on the continent sharply contrasts with the attitudes of Western financial institutions. African countries have long complained that a critical examination of the role of the IMF and World Bank is long overdue. However, the IMF has in turn strongly criticised international lenders for dabbling primarily in risky emerging markets. Prudence begins at home.
Japan is the world's second largest economy and by far Asia's biggest.
Africans hope that Miyazawa will deal decisively with Japan's recession and bad-loan crisis. But expectations seem to have been raised too high too soon. Miyazawa, one of the architects of the plan drafted under Hashimoto's premiership to set right the Japanese banking system, cautioned restraint. Other influential Japanese newspapers were equally blunt. Today, stabilisation of the financial sector and boosting consumption are the buzz words in Japanese papers.