Junichiro Koizumi, prime minister in 2003 when Japan last hosted an African gathering, managed to meet 23 African leaders virtually back to back. According to local media, Japan’s most dynamic prime minister in years found the experience exhausting and said he would not want to repeat it.

This week, Yasuo Fukuda, at 71 a full 10 years older than Mr Koizumi was then, plans to go one better. Over three days he will hold 17 hours of bilateral talks with 45 African heads of state, prime ministers and vice-presidents during the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad IV).