Each year, the Japan Foundation confers The Japan Foundation Awards and the Japan Foundation Special Prizes on individuals and organizations who have made outstanding contributions to cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and other countries. The awards are made in recognition of these achievements, and to encourage the recipients in future endeavors. The Awards are conferred in recognition of conspicuous past contributions upon those whom it is thought will continue to be influential; the Special Prizes are awarded to individuals or organizations of impressive achievement, in the particular hope that they will be increasingly active in the future.
   The Awards Ceremony and Reception for the recipients will take place on Thursday, October 7, from 11:00 a.m. at the ANA Hotel Tokyo.

• The Japan Foundation Awards
  Frank B. Gibney
  Wolfgang Sawallisch
  
• The Japan Foundation Special Prizes
  Ahmet Mete Tuncoku
  Tadashi Yamamoto
  Japanese American National Museum

Frank B. Gibney
President, The Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College
As a journalist and a publisher, Professor Gibney has made a great contribution toward a better understanding of Japan and East Asia in the U.S., and, as founding director of the Pacific Basin Institute, has also served to bring American and Asian people together into intellectual dialogue through its many symposiums, seminars, and other programs.

[Brief Personal History]

[Awards Received]

[Major Publications]
Five Gentlemen of Japan. New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1953 (Japanese translation: Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbun-sha, 1953).
Fragile Super Power: Japan. New York: Norton, 1975 (Japanese translation: Tokyo: Simul Press, 1995).
The Pacific Century. New York: Scribner's, 1992 (Japanese translation: Tokyo: Kodansha, 1992).

Wolfgang Sawallisch
Conductor, Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra
Honorary Conductor Laureate of the NHK Symphony Orchestra

  Professor Sawallisch has led the NHK Symphony Orchestra for many years as its honorary conductor, and also conducted numerous distinguished orchestras and operas from Europe and the United States on their performances in Japan, and thus has greatly contributed to the promotion and understanding of Western music in Japan.

[Brief Personal History]

Professor Sawallisch regulary conducts nearly all of the world's major orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, and the Orchestre National de France, and many of the orchestras of the major opera houses, such as La Scala of Milan and the Cologne Opera. He has also made guest appearances at many music festivals in such places around the world as Bayreuth, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Prague, and Lucerne.
In Japan, in adition to conducting the NHK Symphony Orchestra almost every year since his first appearance with the orchestra in 1964, he has led the many major orchestras and operas from overseas including the Philadelphia Orchestra, of which he is the Music Director.

[Awards Received]

Tadashi Yamamoto
President, Japan Center for International Exchange
Mr. Yamamoto has successfully led numerous international exchange programs between Japan and the United States, Europe, and Asian countries for more than three decades. His leadership has made great contributions to the promotion of mutual understanding and intellectual dialogue among various groups of people, including youth, women, journalists, scholars, business and NGO leaders, and politicians.

[Brief Personal History]

[Major Publications]
Emerging Civil Society in the Asia Pacific Community. Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1995 (Masayoshi Ohira Award, 1996).
The Nonprofit Sector in Japan. Manchester (U.K.): Manchester University Press, 1998.
Deciding the Public Good: Governance and Civil Society in Japan. Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 1999.

Japanese American National Museum (http://www.janm.org)
Through its unique and thoughtful exhibitions and research projects, the Japanese American National Museum has raised public awareness of the history and culture of Americans of Japanese ancestry, and has made great contributions toward the promotion of dialogue on ethnic issues and an appreciation of cultural diversity in the United States and worldwide.

[Brief History]

[Mission and Programs]
  Under the mission statement of "Make known the Japanese-American experience as an integral part of our nation's [American] heritage to improve understanding and appreciation for America's ethnic and cultural diversity," the Museum aims to build brigdes between Japanese-Americans and Americans of all other ethnicities, between Japanese-Americans and Japanese, and also between the peoples of Japan and the U.S. The Museum owns the world most extensive collection on Japanese-American history and culture, including more than 20,000 objects, 40,000 photographs, and 150,000 feet of film, and, in addition to its exhibitions and public programs, it organizes touring exhibition, lectures, and educational programs around the U.S.