As Japan pledges more aid for Ukraine, is Tokyo turning into 'ATM' for a war-torn nation?

Japan will pledge 15.8 billion yen (US$105 million) when it unveils a raft of plans on Monday to help rebuild Ukraine, with a conference in Tokyo to encourage other countries to help the war-battered nation.

However, in an echo of growing opposition to more help for Kyiv that is reflected across the US and parts of Europe, more Japanese are protesting that the money earmarked for Ukraine would be better spent on the elderly, the survivors of last month's earthquake in central Japan and even to reduce the national debt.

The sense among some, analysts say, is that Ukraine is geographically distant from Japan and that the problem should be handled by European nations.

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At least 20 collaborative agreements are expected to come out of the conference, including a 10 billion yen plan for a telemedicine network across the country as soon as peace can be assured.

Japan has identified seven priority areas of help, including the energy sector, improvements in humanitarian conditions and investment in agriculture development.

Heavy engineering firm IHI - one of around 50 private sector companies set to attend the conference - plans to offer temporary bridges that are easy to assemble and will replace spans knocked out in the fighting. The company also plans to establish a manufacturing facility in neighbouring Romania and transport the components to Ukraine for final assembly.

Japan is also helping to fund the creation of a new department at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute to teach the safe location and removal of landmines.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will also attend the conference, saying in a preparatory meeting on January 30: "We have positioned recovery and reconstruction as a pillar of contribution unique to Japan.

"It is important for both the public and private sectors to work as one to provide support through an all-Japan approach, involving small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups, to say nothing of large enterprises."

Japan has provided anti-mine technology, medical equipment, helmets, body armour and other non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine. And despite pressure earlier in the conflict to provide weapons to Kyiv, Kishida has made it clear that the terms of the constitution make it impossible to provide lethal equipment.

Ukraine has nevertheless welcomed Japan's initiative, with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal telling Kyodo News on Saturday that his country is "interested in comprehensive cooperation with Japanese businesses" and that he sees "huge potential" for the relationship between Japanese firms and Ukraine.

Shmyhal expressed hope that Japanese car manufacturers will share their expertise with firms in Ukraine and that others will invest in the extraction and processing of minerals and other critical raw materials. Kyiv is also hoping for help with its nuclear energy sector.

After nearly two years of war, the scale of the required economic support is colossal. The World Bank estimated last year that recovery will cost US$411 billion over the next decade - meaning that Tokyo's US$105 million will be a fraction of what is required.

And that does not sit well with many Japanese.

"My feeling is that Japan, under the Kishida administration, is becoming an ATM dispensing cash with no principles," said Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University.

"The amount of tax that the Japanese government collects each year is limited and the responsibility of the government should be to provide for the Japanese people and to defend the nation," he told This Week in Asia. "It is irresponsible for Japan to provide more money to Ukraine."

Shimada believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin was wrong to invade Ukraine and that Russian troops are responsible for widespread destruction and misery, but that Tokyo needs to focus on its priorities.

"We need to provide more money to help the people of the Noto Peninsula to recover from the January 1 earthquake, but on a more fundamental level, we must realise that Ukraine is in a geographical area where European member states of Nato have to assume responsibility.

"Japan needs to be able to focus on its own security threats, and that means we have to be ready and able to defend Taiwan and, by extension, the Japanese islands," he said. "There needs to be a better division of labour and on this, I find myself agreeing with [former US President Donald] Trump."

Koichi Nakano, a professor of politics at Tokyo's Sophia University, agreed that a degree of "war weariness" has set in among the Japanese public as the conflict drags on with seemingly few opportunities to end the fighting.

And as Japan is not a member of Nato or a part of Europe, many people in Japan feel it is unreasonable for European powers to pressure Japan to contribute more.

"There are some hawkish optimists who have claimed that Japan needs to show commitment to Europe because that will mean those nations will come to help us in East Asia if we need it in the future, but it is naive to believe that," Nakano said.

"People here are not happy with the idea that Putin might get away with such aggression but, like many people in the US, the Japanese public is becoming less keen on further support for Ukraine because they just see no way out.

"There is a sense that we need to be less ideological and more pragmatic."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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