This year Japan marks the 50th anniversary of the official development assistance program it launched after getting out of the postwar economic chaos. The Foreign Ministry's 2004 white paper on ODA boasts that Japan, now one of the world's largest ODA providers, has made major contributions to the economic development and the improvement of welfare in developing countries.
It says Japanese ODA has contributed to the phenomenal economic expansion of East Asian countries through the improvement of infrastructure and development of human resources.
In 2003, however, Japan's actual ODA spending posted the fourth year-on-year decline. In 2001, Japan was replaced by the United States as the top ODA provider. In the coming years, it could be overtaken by France, Germany and Italy in the ODA rankings.