JAPAN FOUNDATION WORLDWIDE

The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Viet Nam opened on March 10, 2008, as provided in the report of diplomatic delegation on cultural exchange implemented in May 2005 and in the appeal by a former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Japan-Viet Nam meeting held at the APEC summit in November 2006. The Center supports Japanese language students and cooperates Japanese language teaching at secondary school level, the project promoted by the Vietnamese government. In addition to the Japanese language education activities, the Center is planning activities to introduce Japanese culture.

As 2008 was the 35th anniversary for establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Viet Nam, there were various cultural exchange activities both in Japan and in Viet Nam. The Japan Foundation organized “Japan-Vietnam Friendship Music Festival,” photo exhibition “Hidden Japan,” and “Japan Film Festival” to celebrate the anniversary. In the field of Japan Studies, as part of the anniversary activities, the Japan Foundation supported international symposia with Japan Studies experts from home and abroad held at University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University, Hanoi, and at Hanoi University.

The Center held activities such as “Japanese Language Game” for junior college students who were studying Japanese, and the exhibition of children’s toys. Three exhibitions of photograph were also held: ”Tsunagari: Noi Ket” by Megumi Katsu, journalist and photographer who was living in Hanoi; “The Color of the Sun” by Viet Van, Vietnamese　photo-journalist; and “Hanoi, Where I Love” by 44 Japanese photographers who were working and living in Hanoi. All of three exhibitions attracted attention, and many of the audience commented that they gained a new understanding of two countries by viewing Japan from Vietnamese perspective, and vice versa.

In August, the Japan Foundation organized the photo exhibition “World Heritage in Japan” at “Hoi An Festival” held in the Hoi An city in central Viet Nam. Hoi An is an ancient city that has historical relationship with Japan from the era of vermilion-seal certificate trade around the 17th century.

We are aiming to extend our cultural exchange activities to provincial cities of Viet Nam as well as in major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Photo:Paula Court

In 2008, the Japan Foundation, New York, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) co-hosted the U.S.-Japan Curatorial Exchange Project. In late June, three curators from MoMA - Cornelia H. Butler, the Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings; Roxana Marcoci, Assistant Curator, Department of Photograph; and Sarah Suzuki, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books - visited Japan for the first time to enhance their understandings of Japanese contemporary art by interacting with artists, curators, and art experts around the country.

In return, four curators of modern and contemporary art in Japan were invited to MoMa for the public symposium “Postwar Japanese Art” on November 13. Fumihiko Sumitomo, Senior Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, gave an overview of the avant-garde art movement in Japan in the 1950s through 1970s. He was followed by Michiko Kasahara, Chief Curator, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, who discussed the change of the social status and self-consciousness of Japanese women expressed in contemporary art. Dr. Midori Matsui, independent curator and scholar, described the progress of Japanese “pop” art by focusing on a group of artists. Akira Tatehata, Director, National Museum of Art, Osaka, focused on a conceptual artist, On Kawara, to consider the issue of identity of Japanese artists living in the globalizing world.

Photo:Paula Court

It was unfortunately raining that day, but the theater in MoMA where the event was held was packed to capacity and several people had to stand. The audience consisted of people from a wide range of fields: curators from MoMA and other museums; Japanese studies experts and art historians; critics and journalists; representatives of art support organizations; art lovers and art students; and art gallery owners. They all enthusiastically listened to the presentations of four panelists.

Here are some of feedbacks from the audience: “That was an intellectually stimulating symposium.” “I had known some Japanese contemporary artists by name, but this event gave me a clue to understand how revolutionary the works by these artists were in the history of Japanese art.”

Curators are producers of art exhibitions. The Japan Foundation is striving to provide opportunities of quality international collaborations and to contribute to fosterleaders of cultural exchange, by promoting international exchange among curators to build relationship of mutual trust and to understand the art scene of the counterpart.

 

The Japan Foundation, Cairo has been working on translation of Japanese books into Arabic and publishing the translated books to promote understanding of Japan in the Middle East. People in the Middle East are eager to know the key to social and economic developments of Japan that were achieved in a short period after the World War II. To address such needs, we have been working on selecting and translating books for three years. Finally, in November 2008, we published two books: “Meiji-Revolutionaries” and “The Economic Development of Japan: The Path Travelled by Japan as a Developing Country.”

“Meiji-Revolutionaries” is a book based on a series of TV programs broadcasted by NHK. It describes wisdom and ingenuity of people who accomplished modernization and social revolution in the Meiji era to let the readers consider what they should learn from the lessons of the Meiji era. ”The Economic Development of Japan: The Path Travelled by Japan as a Developing Country” is a book based on lectures by Dr. Kenichi Ohno, Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. Dr. Ohno clearly describes the history of Japanese economic development from the end of the Edo era to the Heisei era from multiple perspectives.

On the occasion of releasing the Arabic edition of “The Economic Development of Japan,” The Japan Foundation, Cairo held a lecture by Dr. Ohno on November 25 at Faculty of Economics & Political Studies, Cairo University. Dr. Ohno stated that the success of a country’s economic development depends on whether the country’s own infrastructure system can accommodate foreign system. To achieve success, Dr. Ohno pointed, competent policies are required and the cooperation between the government and the industry is mandatory. About 100 audiences consisting mainly of students listened to the lecture enthusiastically.

We hope that these two books can address the interest of people in the Middle East in the social and economic development of Japan and help them to deepen their understanding of Japan.