Japanese companies have geared up to operate in Africa in recent years, with demand for products such as food and medicine growing in the resource-rich continent on the back of population booms in many countries.
At the Japan-led Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD)that convened in Nairobi over the weekend, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged that Japan will bolster measures to boost investment in Africa.
But Japan is likely to lag behind Europe that has historical relations with African nations, as well as China, which has rapidly expanded its presence in the continent, some economists say.