The Role of Education in the Japanese International Cooperation With Africa: Earlier and Recent Trends

Abstract

This chapter is not a full analytical account on the Japanese system of education, its curriculum, and its philosophy. I reflect on the place and the role of education in Japanese foreign policy, particularly on Japanese development aid policy. However, it is necessary to attempt to understand in general terms the place that education has occupied in Japanese society. Then, I discuss international cooperation in education and the kind of outcome it has intended to produce and the policy implications of the Japanese assistance to education in Africa. In short, this chapter is a reflective essay on the Japanese educational aid to Africa, trends that this type of aid has produced and its expected policy implications. For the purposes of this book, only generalized trends have been identified and discussed.