My sincere congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the Japan Foundation Awards. I offer you my heartfelt felicitations as the representative of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ).

The predecessor of the AATJ, the Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ), was founded in 1963, meaning that we are now celebrating our 60th anniversary. All our members, led by our executives, are coming together and working day and night to make even greater contributions to education on Japanese language and Japanese culture in the U.S. The AATJ headquarters shares communications in both Japanese and English, and presents research as an organization under the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in the spring and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) in the fall. In addition, we have supported teachers who are members by running online webinars and online discussions on timely topics several times a year since the pandemic, when online networks developed.

In 2009, we received the Japan Foundation Award for our work in furthering Japanese-language education, and since then AATJ has created an even closer cooperative relationship with the Japan Foundation’s Los Angeles office (in terms of Japanese-language education) and the New York office (in terms of Japanese studies) as we have moved forward. For example, when holding conferences, we are able to invite the so-called “person of the hour.” In the near future, we will have the honor of hosting the International Conference on Research on Japanese-Language Education in the summer of 2024 in Wisconsin, during which people involved in Japanese-language education around the world will meet in the same place. This is possible because of the continuous assistance and support from the Japan Foundation, and all the people involved in Japanese-language education in the U.S. cannot thank you enough.

The AATJ intends to continue contributing to international peace on a global scale beyond Japan and the U.S. through positive activities in the fields of not only Japanese-language education but also international cultural exchange, as we deepen our collaboration with related organizations, including the Japan Foundation.

SATSUTANI Shingo
President
American Association of Teachers of Japanese

(Original text in Japanese)

* After receiving the Japan Foundation Award, the Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese changed its name to the American Association of Teachers of Japanese.

The Japan Foundation Award (2009)