Author: Takuo Iwata.

During the last decade, Asian countries have become more noticeable in Africa. "China in Africa, " and then "India in Africa, " have been talked about as hot topics in academia and journalism. We have already seen an enormous amount of research about "China in Africa." Before China and India, the issue of "Japan in Africa" was focused on in the 1990s. "South Korea in Africa" is the next issue. This article aims to understand the "Asian" character of African policy through a comparative study of four major Asian countries: China, India, Japan, and South Korea. This article firstly summarizes the history of relations between these four Asian countries and Africa. Secondly, it analyzes principal features of the African policies of the four Asian countries. Finally this article compares the four countries' approaches to Africa to consider the Asian character of African policy and Asia-Africa relations for the coming decades.