Under the Development Cooperation Charter, first enacted in 2015 and revised in 2022, Japan's ODA is going through a substantial change that the author calls the “securitization of ODA ver.2”. This means that ODA is now tasked with serving Japan's national interest of national security defined in military terms. Indeed, ODA has already begun to be granted on the basis of a realist thinking of balance-of-power that seeks to deter China, together with ally and like-minded countries, from unilaterally changing the international status quo. This article raises a reasonable doubt that this new trend may not be in the interests of the recipient countries and may also not be an effective security policy for Japan. It also proposes that the Development Cooperation Charter should be changed from the current “strategic document of realism” to a “soft law of idealism” in order to mitigate the risk that security policies, which should be diverse, become excessively focused on deterrence by force, and ODA is subordinated to this policy.

The Development Cooperation Charter was revised in June 2023. In this renewed charter, national interest to the Japanese was adopted as an objective of Japan's cooperation for the first time in the series of ODA/Development Cooperation charters. This author argues a foundation of this policy change is the win-win discourse that Japan's national interests and recipient country's interests can be met at the same time with one ODA project. This article claims that there are three logics to justify the discourse. They are analyzed with the Tinbergen Rule, Median Voter Theorem and White Man's Burden Claim, respectively. A main conclusion of this article is that since there are two independent objectives, i.e. “building a peaceful, stable, and prosperous international community” and Japan's national interest, two independent policies are necessary to meet them. The most reasonable combination would be the international cooperation policy for the prosperity of international community and security policy for national interests. In that context, benefits to recipient countries should be prioritized over Japan's national interests in the international cooperation policy.

This study examines how Japan's revised 2023 Development Cooperation Charter is perceived overseas, from the perspective of China, which is often portrayed as a ‘competitor or ‘security concern’ in Japan's development cooperation efforts. Drawing on academic research and reports written in Chinese, this study explores the historical and contemporary discourse surrounding Japan's Development Cooperation Charter, including its most recent revisions. The analysis demonstrates that China's perception of the Japan's Development Cooperation Charter has changed over time and has varied amongst researchers since the emergence of Japan-focused development studies in China in the 1990s. While there is limited literature on the latest revision, a report from a think tank under China's Ministry of Commerce offers a comprehensive explanation, emphasising the securitisation of aid while also highlighting efforts to promote cooperative relations between Japan and China. This study argues that considering diverse perspectives within China is essential for a nuanced and critically informed understanding of the discourse on Japan's development cooperation policy.

One of the recent controversial issues related to the Japan's Development Cooperation Charter (DCC)is “aid securitization”. The 2015 Charter is the first charter which allowed the armed forces or members of the armed forces in recipient countries to be involved in development cooperation if they are for non-military purposes. While most of the academic articles on DCC discuss the background of its establishment and its amendments, analyze their characteristics and the process of the amendments, or compare the past charters (1992, 2003, 2015), very few focus on the implementation of them, particularly in the context of aid securitization. This paper analyzes how the new clause on armed forces of the 2015 Charter mentioned above had been applied for projects since 2015. The research target is the Development Project Accountability Committee (DPAC) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was established in 2011 consisting of several independent experts on development cooperation from academia, NGOs, business societies and journalism to ensure the accountability of the Japanese ODA. The projects involving the armed forces or members of the armed forces are reported to DPAC regularly to discuss whether they are for non-military purposes in transparent manner.

This paper reveals that more than 130 projects had involved armed forces or members of armed forces in recipient countries since 2015 and the Japanese government monitors each project to check their involvement and to ensure the projects not to be implemented for military purposes. On the other hands, two challenges are identified. One is the monitoring term, whether present “one year” and “three years” after the project are enough timing to fulfill this clause of the charter. The other is the “grey zone” between military purposes and non-military purposes. Even in the projects which do not involve armed forces or members of armed forces, hot discussion has been made over the grey zone at DPAC. Independent monitoring other than the governmental one should be necessary to check aid securitization and to advocate for the next amendment of the charter.

The author has been concerned in the decision-making and revisions of the ODA Charter or Development Cooperation Charter (hereafter referred to as the Charter) as a member of the international cooperation NGO community in Japan. In particular, at the time of the 2015 revision, I participated as an NGO member in the Expert Advisory Panel. In light of this, the author has summarized here the ways in which NGOs were involved in the revisions of this outline, the arguments they made, and the results of those arguments.

Specifically, Section 1 looks back at the background and history of the past calls by citizens, NGOs, and opposition parties for a basic law rather than the Charter, and asks whether the current status quo of the Charter is sufficient.

Section 2 reviews the revision processes of the Charter, which has been conducted three times so far, and summarizes how NGOs should be involved and what improvements are required.

In section 3, the author looks back on the Expert Advisory Panel in 2002, which he participated in as the NGO member, and the several points that he particularly emphasized. I strongly urged a need for change so that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and related agencies, which handle ODA with an emphasis on economic growth, will firmly recognize the importance and value of social and human development.

The subsequent section 4 presents the main issues raised by the NGO side in this revision process. There is a need for change so that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and related agencies, which handle ODA with an emphasis on economic growth, will firmly recognize the importance and value of social and human development In the final section, Section 5, the author reviewed the historical background against which the NGOs'previous arguments have been formed and the historical background at the time of the recent revision, and confirmed the appropriateness of these arguments and the need to revise their wording and other aspects.

This paper aims to provide tips on conducting fieldwork for (development) economists. I focus on exploratory fieldwork to find a research question that should be conducted in the early research stage. Section 2 discusses three reasons why such fieldwork is important. First, fieldwork is a critical step in developing a hypothesis, or a research question, to be qualitatively tested in your empirical analysis. Second, information obtained in the field helps you write the introduction and the setting section of your paper. Third, a research question found through fieldwork helps you write an application for a research grant. Section 3 describes how exploratory fieldwork goes. I explain the preparation of fieldwork, what you should do in the field, and what you should do after returning home. As a preparation, you need to find a reliable local collaborator. Then, you need to develop preliminary hypotheses based on your experience and existing research as well as the opinions of experts and practitioners, media reports, and other sources of information. Once in the field, you will probably face various difficulties and may encounter information that is different from what was previously anticipated. You should develop a hypothesis by integrating your existing knowledge and new information obtained in the field. Once you find a hypothesis, the next step is to prepare a survey and a questionnaire while you are in the field. The last but important part of the exploratory fieldwork is to write a trip report. A trip report is a report that summarizes your fieldwork. The report should explain your hypothesis, how it was derived (i.e., what information or observation led to the hypothesis), what data needs to be collected to test it, and how to collect the data. You should write such a trip report soon after returning from the field when your memory and excitement are fresh.

In Indonesia, where nutritional problems are common, attention is being paid to understanding social background of food consumption in each community. This study identifies the current status of social relations and food consumption, and their relations, using the results of a survey conducted in 2021 and 2023 among women living in neighborhoods of a rice farming village in West Java. The methods used included clarifying the actual situation based on indicators related to social relations and food consumption, conducting a quantitative analysis of the indicators, and evaluating case studies. The findings were as follows.

First, most participants frequently consumed both traditional foods and snacks, and a relatively diverse range of foods during the week. Second, the influence of religion and local culture has created close social relations among the residents. Some people eat with large numbers of people at religious services, weddings, and funerals. Third, there are associations among socioeconomic characteristics, with the indicators comprising social relations and food consumption. For instance, living with children and producing food are associated with eating a variety of foods on a regular basis. Having a high level of education and a food partner are associated with eating a variety of foods within a given period of time. Community involvement and having more food partners are associated with more frequent consumption of rice and meat and so on through increased opportunities for food-related interactions. Those with abundant social relations are more likely than those who are socially isolated to gather with others at religious events and on a daily basis to consume a variety of meals. Food acquisition and food-related exchanges through non-market channels can support food self-sufficiency and consumption of a variety of foods on a steady basis or even within a given period of time.

This study examines the production activities and skills training conducted by the Disabled People's Organizations (DPOs) in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, and analyzes how the skills of persons with impairments are developed through these activities. Furthermore, the relationship between skills and impairments is examined by focusing on skills acquired in previous careers of persons with impairments and their educational level, and then the role of DPOs in the skills formation of persons with impairments is discussed.

Three DPOs engaged in production activities were selected for the study, and eighteen members of DPOs were selected for interviews. The survey showed that in the three DPOs, skilled persons with impairments serve as leaders (managers) to develop production activities related to the manufacture of assistive devices such as wheelchairs. Also, the DPOs provided a variety of skills training, not only on-the-job training, but also short- and long-term training and international training.

Focusing on the relationship between the skills of persons with impairments and their previous educational background, it was found that DPO members have educational disparities based on their educational background, and that these educational gaps lead to differences in the patterns of skill formation pathways after joining DPOs, which in turn lead to disparities in the skills acquired and income of DPO members.

From the perspective of reducing disparities, it would be crucial to provide opportunities for basic education to persons with impairments, such as offering off-the-job training (off-JT) and on-the-Job Training (OJT) in mathematics education to the members of DPOs, with the support of International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), to encourage them to acquire more advanced knowledge and skills and to increase their wages.

Finally, it can be argued that DPOs play an important role in job creation by providing a variety of skills training opportunities for persons with moderate to severe impairments with educational back-grounds who are often excluded from the labor market.

The development of a sense of ASEAN awareness through an ASEAN study abroad program has been a major focus of the higher education institutions of Thailand and ASEAN. This study investigates the development of ASEAN awareness among Thai students through the study abroad experience in ASEAN. This study used a web-based survey conducted with two groups of students: 1) ASEAN study-abroad Thai alumni, and 2) non-ASEAN study-abroad Thai students. The results indicate significantly higher scores of ASEAN awareness among ASEAN study-abroad alumni than they did for the non-ASEAN study-abroad group. However, no significant association was found between ASEAN study abroad experience and students' engagement with ASEAN. This study partly supports the intergroup contact theory. An ASEAN awareness-raising program towards the non-mobile Thai students, an ASEAN-student social networks-related program, other platforms of educational exchange (an internship, e.g.) should be promoted.

Until the early 1990s of hydropower projects involving resettlement in Lao PDR (Laos), the lack of safeguard policies of financial institutions and the country's guidelines hindered the reliable implementation of resettlement action plans. In order to minimize project costs, care for the Project Affected Peoples (PAPs) tended to be neglected. In the Nam Ngiep 1 hydropower project (Project) in Laos, 3,500 residents were to be resettled. There was strong opposition to the implementation of the Project and resettlement from a large number of the PAPs. In addition, some risks related to resettlement became apparent during the planning and implementation stages of the Project, and it took a long time to obtain the consent of the PAPs. The update of financial institutions' safeguard policies was one of the risks which emerged during the Project development. Although the addition of social studies and the increased cost of implementing countermeasures to cope with the update of the safeguard policies were painful for the Project owner, it can be said that it was an indispensable process for the Project to obtain the consent of the PAPs and to formulate a resettlement action plan which included livelihood restoration.