One advantage Japanese companies have in Asia is the huge sums in ODA their country doles out.
Since 1991, ODA policy has been to refuse to fund or support projects in the tobacco sector. Tobacco Trade or Aid?
"The Japanese are not yet used to the position of a country which is expected to (provide) _ and which is providing _ the largest ODA," said Masamichi Hanabusa, the Foreign Ministry's top aid official.