Well over a year after plowing the field, Japan and Brazil have finally begun to sow the seed in hopes of reaping their first crop as early as autumn.
It's not about real farming, of course; it's about a joint diplomatic aid initiative between the world's largest-single aid donor and by far Latin America's biggest economic power.
Amid a lot of fanfare, top government aid officials of the two countries signed the Japan-Brazil Partnership Program in March 2000 to promote bilateral cooperation in providing technical assistance to other developing countries.