50th anniversary of the Japan Foundation Awards

I would like to congratulate the Japan Foundation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Japan Foundation Awards! This anniversary is a great testament to how Japan Foundation, whose goals are fostering friendship between Japan and other countries and promoting mutual understanding through culture, language and dialogue, has continually, for half a century now, recognized individuals and organizations whose work aligns with these goals. I am extremely honored that I too, a Japanese Studies scholar from the University of Warsaw, was among the honorees, and that my educational and scientific work, including the results of my research on the history of Poland-Japan relations, were recognized as important and valuable. I would like to give my thanks for this award, which has been of great significance to me! This significance has also another dimension; I received this award as the second person from Poland, and the first (in 1990) was my master, my Daisensei, and my first supervisor, Professor Wiesław Kotański, the founder of Japanese Studies in Warsaw and in Poland. In 2002, the award was given to the Chair of Japanese Studies at the University of Warsaw, where I have worked as a student, researcher and educator for… 51 years, so for as many years as the Japan Foundation has existed. I owe a great deal in my professional career to the Japan Foundation. Thanks to the first scholarship as a Japan Foundation fellow (1990/1991), I started my research on Poland-Japan relations (before 1945), which eventually led to a position of a professor at the Chair of Japanese Studies. With further support from the Foundation (2013), I was able to continue this research, expanding it to include the contemporary period. The results of this research also led me to be awarded the Japan Foundation Award in 2019.

Once again, I would like to wholeheartedly thank the Japan Foundation for the award and I promise to continue to spread Japanese culture in Poland. It is with great gratitude that I congratulate the Japan Foundation on this golden jubilee.

Ewa Pałasz-Rutkowska

(Original text in English)

The Japan Foundation Awards (2019)