During the three-day fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development that ended Monday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made full use of a once in five years chance to bolster ties with African countries by vigorously holding bilateral talks with the leaders of about 40 nations from the continent.

Japanese leaders, however, have not set foot on African soil in the past six years. Abe was the last to do so when he visited Egypt in 2007 during his first prime ministership. As for sub-Saharan Africa, the last visits were in 2006 by his then-predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, who visited Ethiopia and Ghana.

During this past Golden Week, Abe and 10 of his Cabinet ministers traveled abroad, but none went to Africa.