Bono is due to present a special activism award at the MTV awards in Tokyo tomorrow night.

Today he and Bob Geldof will take Africa into the homes of a staggering 8 million readers when they act as editors of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Bono has been in Japan all week to attend TICAD, a Japanese-led gathering of 42 African heads of state. Yesterday he met Prime Minister Fukuda and addressed the conference with economist Jeff Sachs, Nobel Laureate Wangari Mattai, and Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour. "With the G8 round the corner, Japan will be centre stage" said Bono. "Millions of lives will depend on the decisions made here in July". Taking a break from the official conference, he and Youssou met up with British sculptor Anthony Gormley who had organized an human sculpture to raise awareness of malaria and other infectious diseases that are rampant across Africa. Speaking to activists and NGOs, Bono said "It is very simple : the quality and quantity of aid depend on civil society. The likelihood of the government fulfilling their commitments to fight extreme poverty depends on active social movements."

Earlier this week Bono received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo on Tuesday.


You can find out more on Bono's activism for the poorest countries at one.org