Abstract
Development communication literature neglects attention to Japanese approaches to development practice as a prominent donor institution. Based on a series of interviews and document reviews, this analysis characterizes how Japanese development projects use communication technologies to address a variety of development goals. Moreover, this research explores how this development discourse constructs social problems, beneficiaries, and appropriate solutions. Japan’s development communication approaches can be seen as resonating with a modernization paradigm, emphasizing the importance of the private sector, along with attention to national development strategies, national identity, and technological innovation. However, there are some important distinctions between Japanese and western approaches: Japanese approaches tend to privilege process over outcomes in development practices, to consider structural and social over individual issues in addressing social problems, and to resist social marketing and other campaign strategies in communication projects. If development communication as a field is to extend beyond its limited origins, it is imperative that scholars attempt to understand how other donors and communities are engaging in strategic intervention. Although development communication may be well ensconced in western communication literature, this field appears much more amorphous in other cultural contexts. Currently conceived in English-language publications as the intentional use of communication technologies and processes in strategic social change, development communication carries with it the historical experiences of western ventures into foreign aid. The disjuncture between western definitions and alternative approaches seems ironic in a field purportedly designed to