Profile

The Japan Foundation Award and The Japan Foundation Special Prizes are presented each year to recognize those who have made outstanding achievements in the field of international cultural exchange.

*Memorial lectures are going to be held on October 5 and 9, 2007.

[Tokyo] Lecture by Royall TYLER
Venue: Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo
Theme: Genji monogatari and The Tale of Genji: Toward an English Reading of the Tale

[Kyoto/Tokyo] Lecture by Ayşe Selçuk ESENBEL
Date: October 5       Venue: Kinugasa Campus Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto)
Date: October 9       Venue: Ichigaya Campus Hosei University (Tokyo)

The Japan Foundation Award

• Royall TYLER

Former Professor and Head of the Japan Centre, Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University [Australia]
For his contributions to the understanding of Japanese literature and culture in foreign countries through his long-term research into and teaching of Japanese literature, including translations of a collection of Noh plays and the Tale of Genji.

The Japan Foundation Special Prizes for Arts and Culture

• KITAGAWA Fram [Japan]

Art Director
Chairman, Art Front Gallery Co.
General Artistic Director of Naoshima Fukutake Art Museum Foundation
Director of Niigata City Art Museum
Professor, Joshibi University of Art and Design

For organizing pioneering art exhibits and projects, and his role as General Director for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, collaborating with foreign artists and local residents to promote sustained regional development through the power of modern art.

The Japan Foundation Special Prizes for Japanese-Language*

Photo courtesy of The Asahi Shimbun Company

• LEVY Hideo [U.S.A.]

Novelist; Professor, Hosei University

For introducing Japanese literature to foreign readers through his translation of the Man’yoshu and his contributions to the expansion of the possibilities of the Japanese language through his authorship of many novels and critical essays in Japanese.

*This category, which was limited to Japanese-language education until 2006, has been widened to include those who are achieving outstanding works using the Japanese language.

The Japan Foundation Special Prizes for Japanese Studies

• Ayşe Selçuk ESENBEL [Turkey]

Professor, Bosphorus University; President, Japanese Studies Association

For organizing Japan scholars in Turkey through her activities with the Japanese Studies Association, education of junior scholars, and contributions to academic and intellectual exchange between Turkey and Japan.