The Japan Foundation Award 50th Anniversary Messages from Previous Awardees - Andrej Bekeš

2017 The Japan Foundation Award
Professor Emiritus of Japanese Studies, University of Ljubljana
Andrej Bekeš
[Slovenia]
Congratulatory Message on the 50th Anniversary of the Japan Foundation Award
50 years ago, in 1973, I was a graduate student at Osaka University, preparing my master's thesis in mathematics. I heard from my friends in the humanities that an interesting new organisation had been established the previous year to promote cultural exchange and international understanding, called the Japan Foundation. At that time, I never dreamed that 44 years later, in 2017, I would be among the recipients of the Japan Foundation Awards for my activities in the field of Japanese Studies.
I am both honoured and humbled to be in the company of the film director Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese scholar Donald Keene, the poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, and many other prominent figures, and I try not to forget that while sometimes it is the individual merit of the recipient, sometimes it is the contribution of the collective to which the recipient belongs that leads to such high recognition.
I must say that in the case of the collective to which I belong, the Chair of Japanese Studies at the Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, the Japan Foundation has played an extremely important role. In the early years, the progress and growth of Japanese Studies in Slovenia would have been much slower without the support in terms of teaching staff, teaching materials, library materials and personal exchanges with our partner universities in Japan. Thanks also to this support and recognition of our work, our collective at the Chair of Japanese Studies grew in confidence, which was reflected in the number of students, and in about ten years Japanese Studies became one of the most popular programmes at the Faculty of Arts. Under these circumstances, we were able to successfully complete the 14th EAJS International Conference to the great satisfaction of all participants.
Our example is just a small sample of the very successful support that the Japan Foundation provides to academia in the field of Japanese Studies. At the same time, cultural exchange, bringing together the cultures of Japan and countries from around the world, is another vibrant area in which the Japan Foundation contributes to international understanding and peace.
In these times of increasing international friction, the Japan Foundation's contribution is of immense importance. And the Japan Foundation Awards, among others, are a prominent way of recognising the contributions of individuals and organisations to its lofty goals.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the 50th anniversary of the Japan Foundation Awards and sincerely hope that the understanding and support for the activities of the Japan Foundation, including the Japan Foundation Awards, will continue to grow in the future.
Andrej Bekeš
(Original text in English)
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