It is my pleasure to inform you that I have recently assumed the position of President of the Japan Foundation. Ever since its establishment in 1972, the Japan Foundation has played a key role in promoting cultural exchange between Japan and other countries. I am honored and privileged to have been appointed President of an organization with such a history and tradition as this Foundation possesses.

I was a diplomat for almost as long as the Japan Foundation has been in existence. I still clearly remember the time 40 years ago, while still a young diplomat assigned to Washington D.C., when I assisted in the preparations for the establishment of the Japan Foundation. Since then, I was engaged in diplomatic activities in various regions and fields in the world. But I have always been deeply interested in the cultures of different countries and international exchange, and I have been directly involved in major cultural projects such as the Japan Festival held in London in 1991. I am proud to have been a supporter of the Japan Foundation and its activities all that time.

I have been selected as President of the Japan Foundation under its first open application system, a highly transparent process. I am determined to respond, with a grave sense of responsibility, to the high hopes and expectations of you all.

Today, a swelling tide of change is sweeping through Japan and the world. At a time when the Japanese government faces an extremely severe financial condition and when reconstruction of the nation from the devastation of the March 11th disaster has become an urgent and challenging task, the relevance of international cultural exchange programs and projects is being questioned once again. Japan needs the strength that is created by culture and its exchange activities. It needs to share this uniquely Japanese strength with the rest of the world. Japan’s position has been undergoing change amid the swiftly shifting international situation, the people and organizations involved in diplomatic affairs and international cultural exchanges have become increasingly diverse, and the role of these exchange activities itself has drastically changed. I think the time has come when, in the face of these changes both in and outside Japan, we have to re-examine the role of the Japan Foundation and the kind of activity it should pursue in the future.

As President of the Japan Foundation in an age when countries of divergent cultures have to co-exist in a tumultuous world, I would like to listen to your views and opinions, actively express my own beliefs and convictions, discuss them all with sincerity, and thus contribute to further promoting international cultural exchange. We now have to take the initiative. We cannot afford to sit idly by. As the name “The Japan Foundation” suggests, we have to think about this country as a whole as well as about the international community in which it is a member. I hope we can walk hand in hand with the rest of the world along the path that will lead to greater, mutual cultural awareness.

 

October 1, 2011

 

Brief History
Hiroyasu Ando

1970　Graduated from Tokyo University
1970　Entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1980　Private Secretary to the Foreign Minister
1986　Director, Second Southeast Asia Division
1988　Counselor, Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom
1992　Director, Overseas Establishment Division
1994　Deputy Director General, Economic Affairs Bureau
1996　Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
1998　Deputy Director General, Asian Affairs Bureau
1999　Minister, Embassy of Japan in the United States
2002　Director General, Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau

2003　Ambassador and Consul General,
Consulate General in New York

2006　Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary
2008　Ambassador to Italy
2011　President, the Japan Foundation

 

 

 

Page Top