Non-Governmental Organisations in Japanese Foreign Aid Strategy: Partners or Challengers?

Over the last decade, popularity of NGOs in Japan has grown rapidly and drastically after their heroic rescue mission in a site of the Great Awaji-Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 attracted wide media coverage. Acknowledging their popularity in the society, the Japanese government has named them as partners under Japanese official foreign aid strategy called Kao no Mieru Enjyo (Visible Japanese Aid) by establishing cooperative system for them in 1989. However, the initial intentions of the government was to utilise their good reputation to secure credibility for Japanese aid, which has long been internationally criticised. Understanding the intention or not, Japanese NGOs have used various methods of both official and unofficial to be influential over the Japanese official decision-making in foreign aid. This book has examined how they have become externally influential in exclusive political culture, therefore, it is ideal for those who seek to work in NGOs or professional who are already in the field and longing for some logical back-up for their own practice. The analysis should provide a new framework in an international area of NGO study from non-Western perspective.