Japanese academic Mitsugi Endo gives his assessment of the recent Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8) in Tunisia. While it was announced that Japan's public and private sectors combined would make investments in Africa amounting to US$30 billion over the next three years, the impact of great power politics in Africa, including by players such as China and Russia, may have an impact on Japan's future engagement with the continent.

Tunisia will host the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) on 27-28 August, during which various topics will come under discussion. How can Japan set itself apart from other powers such as China who are aggressively supporting Africa's development?