Message on the 50th Anniversary of the Japan Foundation Awards

I grew up in the United States, Norway, Australia, and Japan, where I moved at the age of fifteen. As a result, I’ve always been interested in intercultural communication. After many decades of working with Japan as an interpreter, a translator, and a writer, I am convinced that Japanese and American people, in particular, have much to learn from each other; I also like to think that in some tiny way I might have been able to help. I have written extensively on popular culture, technology, and history, and translated several books, but without the Japan Foundation my career might never have gotten off the ground.

I wrote my first book, Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, in 1983, and without some assistance from the Japan Foundation, the publisher (Kodansha International) might never have agreed to issue it. In those days, outside of Japan, there wasn’t so much interest in manga because most people had never heard of them. Another book of mine, about another niche subject, also received help from the Foundation. Titled Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe: How an American Acrobat Introduced Circus to Japan—and Japan to the West (Stone Bridge Press, 2012), it was again about something few people knew about, that I thought they should know. In addition to some of my own books, in 2016 a translation of mine, of a manga biography that I thought was important, has also received publication support. Titled The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime (by Toshio Ban and Tezuka Productions), it is over 900 pages long and expensive to print. I suspect that Stone Bridge Press, the small publisher, agreed to take on the project partly because of some assistance from the Foundation.

I have yet another reason to be grateful. In 2017 I received the Japan Foundation Award and I was able to go to Japan for the award ceremony. After many years of work, it was an extraordinary honor.

In observing how the Japan Foundation has worked over the years to further communication between different cultures, and to promote understanding of Japan, I can only recommend it in the highest terms.

Frederik L. Schodt
Welcome to the World of Frederik L. Schodt (AKA Fred)!

(Original text in English)

The Japan Foundation Awards (2017)