The Japan Foundation Awards

Lee O-Young
Chair Professor, Ewha Women's University (Korea)

Dr. Lee has continuously made a major contribution to the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and Korea as a scholar and as a journalist, through his personal interpretation of the special characteristics of Japan and Korea and comparison of their cultures in lectures and such publications as In This Earth and in That Wind, and The Compact Culture : The Japanese Tradition of Smaller is Better.

Ezra F. Vogel
Director, Fairbank Center for East-Asia Research,Harvard University (U.S.A.)

For many long years, Prof. Vogel has exerted great efforts toward the development of Japanese studies and the guiding and nurturing of young Japanologists, as well as toward academic exchange with Japan. He has made major contributions to the better understanding of Japan in many countries of the world and the development of Japan-U.S. relations through the publication of Japan's New Middle Class and Japan as Number One.

The Japan Foundation Special Prizes

Midori Goto
Violinist, Founder and President of the Midori Foundation, Inc. (Japan)

Along with her worldwide renown as a violinist, Ms. Goto has received high praise on both the artistic and social levels for the founding of the Midori Foundation, Inc., under the auspices of which she carries out charity concerts throughout the world centered around Japan and the United States and other activities to convey the joy of music to great numbers of children.

Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Columbia University (U.S.A.)

The Donald Keene Center is one of the most outstanding Japanese studies organizations for the carrying out of all types of Japanese culture projects and programs. It has made major contributions to better understanding of Japanese culture in the United States and the furthering of Japanese studies through the development of such original projects as the Kobo Abe Commemoration Festival with symposiums, film screenings, photography exhibitions, and performances as part of its own tenth anniversary celebration in 1996.