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FY2023
“Introducing Foreign Models for Development: Japanese Experience and Cooperation in the Age of New Technology” Published

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“Introducing Foreign Models for Development: Japanese Experience and Cooperation in the Age of New Technology” Published

2023.10.16

A book titled “ Introducing Foreign Models for Development: Japanese Experience and Cooperation in the Age of New Technology ” edited by Ohno Izumi, Jin Kimiaki, Amatsu Kuniaki, and Mori Junichi was published in October 2023.

This book addresses how foreign models of economic development can be learned and applied effectively to today’s developing economies. Policy capacity and societal learning are stressed increasingly as preconditions for any successful catch-up. However, how such learning should be initiated by societies with different features still needs to be explored. The book approaches this issue from the perspective of Japan’s experience and its extensive development cooperation in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, based on rich case studies. Since the late 19th century, Japan has developed a unique philosophy and method for adopting the advanced technologies and systems of the West; and the same philosophy and method govern its current cooperation with the developing world.

The key concepts are local learning and translative adaptation. Translative adaptation requires foreign models to be modified to fit the local realities given the different structures of the home and foreign society. The development process must be wholly owned by the hosting society in a rejection of copy-and-paste acceptance. The book also asks how this learning method should, or should not, be revised in the age of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and digitalization. The book is divided into three parts: Part I provides an overview of translative adaptation in the industrialization process; Part II provides concrete case studies of translative adaptation and local learning in the process of industrialization; and Part III considers translative adaptation in a changing world.

This volume represents the outcome of a project by the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development titled The Japanese Experience of Industrial Development and Development Cooperation: Analysis of Translative Adaptation Processes.

PDF of the book can be downloaded for free from the link below: