Abstract: Since the beginning of the Cold War, with the independence of African colonies, Japan has begun to pay attention to the emergence of young countries on the African continent. For Japan, Africa is of unique strategic importance, not only because it contains a lot of natural resources, but also has a market with a large population, and the cooperation of African countries helps Japan to pursue its UN diplomacy. Compared with research on China-Japan, Japan-U.S., and Japan-Europe related issues, domestic academics started late in the study of Japan-Africa related issues. But as China-Africa cooperation becomes closer and the African continent has once again become the stage of the great power game,studying Japan-Africa relations, Japans strategy towards Africa and Japan's dynamics in Africa can not only enrich our understanding of Japan's future direction, but also, by looking into the case of Japan's assistance to Africa, provide important implications for China to play an active role in international affairs.

Key words: domestic academics, Japan, Africa, academic dynamics