1979 The Japan Foundation Special Prize

Australia-Japan Research Centre
The Australian National University

[Australia]

Japan Foundation Awards 50th Anniversary

The Japan Foundation’s investment in the early careers of researchers around the world like my own and that of my students and many colleagues has enriched the international community’s engagement with Japan across so many facets of social exchange and dealings. It also played a crucial role in intermediating the birth of the Centre I am now privileged to run, the Australia-Japan Research Centre at The Australian National University, as a new institution that at the time uniquely allowed the Japanese and Australian communities to jointly invest in a large scale program of research on their shared future in Asia.

(c)Tess Harwood

Through the Japan Foundation’s investment in research, exchange and intellectual collaborations, key Australian institutions of learning have maintained a capacity in the study of Japan’s people, language, its economy and culture. Much of the funding for this effort was a national effort, the product of national commitment to understanding and benefiting from the relationship with Japan, But the Japan Foundation catalysed that and its networks opened doors for new connections and elevated existing ones, enabling the two countries to expand programs and initiatives together.

The prestigious Japan Foundation Awards acknowledge and celebrate the excellence, dedication and leadership of its recipients. They also encourage others to commit to building up the links with Japan and creating opportunities and partnerships, with the Foundation’s support. The recognition that the Awards bring are an important signal and symbol of this commitment.

Support and leadership from the Japan Foundation and its Awardees is needed now more than ever. The assumptions that past international engagement was built on are being tested. Uncertainty, tensions and conflict are driving many more communities to retreat from international engagement in the manner of more optimistic times, and putting barriers in the way of doing so. It’s precisely at times like these that we need to continue to engage in cross-cultural and cross-national activities and deepen understanding of other cultures and communities.

Awardees are leaders in cross-cultural initiatives who, with the continued support from the Japan Foundation, must play an important mediating role in times of uncertainty and retreat from intellectual and cultural openness.

Shiro Armstrong
Director
Australia-Japan Research Centre
The Australian National University

(Original text in English)

※The awardee (The Australia, Japan and Western Pacific Economic Relations Research Committee, A.N.U.) became Australia-Japan Research Centre, A.N.U. in 1980, due to organizational changes.

Awards and Special Prizes: Recipients List 1973 - 1995