The Japan Foundation Awards (2026)

Aerial view of Benesse House

Mr. Fukutake's commitment to international cultural exchange dates back to the Benesse Prize, first established at the Venice Biennale in 1995. Since 2016, the prize has also been presented at the Singapore Biennale, supporting outstanding artists from around the world. Since 2009, he has also served as General Producer of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, creating opportunities throughout Japan for local and international artists, particularly in the field of contemporary art, to produce new works and engage with local communities. These achievements have made a significant contribution to advancing mutual understanding and fostering international friendship and goodwill through the arts.

Moreover, the art projects he has spearheaded in response to challenges such as depopulation and demographic ageing have attracted growing international attention from regions facing similar issues. In recent years, volunteers from across Asia, including Taiwan, have participated in the operation of these projects, further expanding opportunities for cross-cultural exchange.

In 2004, Mr. Fukutake established the Naoshima Fukutake Art Museum Foundation, the predecessor of today's Fukutake Foundation, through a personal endowment. Guided by the principle of "contributing to the development of vibrant and distinctive local communities through culture and the arts," the Foundation provides a lasting framework for the operation of museums and artistic initiatives on Naoshima, support for community revitalization through culture and the arts, and the promotion of international art festivals.

Over many years, Mr. Fukutake has made an outstanding contribution to promoting mutual understanding through contemporary art and international art festivals. His achievements make him a most deserving recipient of the Japan Foundation Award.

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (c) SANAA

Their recent projects include the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Naala Badu building (2022) and the Taichung Green Museumbrary (2025), which dynamically integrates an art museum and a public library into a single continuous space. Rooted in the history of their respective sites, both projects look towards the future of culture. In doing so, they demonstrate the further evolution of SANAA’s ongoing exploration of architecture as a “park” or “plaza.”

SANAA’s accomplishments have made an outstanding contribution to international cultural exchange, creating spaces that foster mutual respect and understanding across borders while contributing significantly to greater mutual understanding between Japan and the world. The universal significance of their work has earned widespread recognition, making SANAA a most deserving recipient of the Japan Foundation Award. We look forward to their continued contributions and achievements in the years ahead.

Book presentation at the Japan Market Berlin
“Festsaal Kreuzberg”
(c) Sabine Sommerkamp

Among its most distinguished achievements is the compilation and publication of the monumental Wa–Doku Daijiten (Japanese–German Dictionary), a project involving around 80 contributors that began in 1997, and which culminated in the completion of its three-volume edition in 2022. Each volume exceeds 2,500 pages, and the dictionary features an extraordinary wealth of example sentences for each headword, covering language from Meiji-period (1868-1889) literature and historical texts to contemporary colloquial Japanese. The result is an outstanding foreign-language dictionary of exceptional breadth and scholarly value. The publisher’s dedication to supporting this landmark project throughout its quarter-century journey—from compilation to publication, despite considerable fundraising challenges—represents an achievement of immense significance.

Iudicium Publishing has also maintained a long-standing commitment to ensuring continued access to its publications by preserving out-of-print titles in digital form for on-demand reproduction, while progressively making previously published works available through open access. This consistent dedication to serving the needs of scholars is particularly noteworthy in academic publishing, where commercial viability is often difficult to achieve. At a time when the global print publishing industry faces unprecedented challenges, the contribution made by a small independent publisher to international scholarly exchange is truly remarkable and worthy of the highest commendation.

Through its sustained commitment to publishing works of exceptional scholarly quality, Iudicium Publishing has, over many years, enriched academic and cultural exchange between Japan and the German-speaking world. Its outstanding contribution to international mutual understanding makes it a most deserving recipient of the Japan Foundation Award.