The Activities of the Japan Foundation

Dialogue: Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange
Intellectual Exchange

In order to provide opportunities for experts to engage in dialogues on global issues and topics, and to further deepen their intellectual exchanges, we support international conferences and symposiums, as well as mutual visits by public intellectuals. We seek to make a contribution toward global development and stability by promoting mutual understanding in international society, and by fostering the next generations necessary to advance future intellectual exchange.

Inviting Chinese Intellectuals to Japan

To deepen an understanding of Japan and to build an intellectual network (between Japan and China), the Japan Foundation invites influential young and mid-career researchers and intellectuals from China to Japan. In FY2017, we invited legal scholar He Bing, who used his personal mini-blog to convey various aspects of Japan to his one million followers by widely communicating his thoughts on a broad scope of topics, ranging from his observations of Japan's judicial system to everyday life in Tokyo. Meanwhile, One Year in Tokyo, written by author Jiang Fangzhou based on her visit to Japan when she was invited by the Japan Foundation in FY2015, has become a best seller in China and has already run to several editions.

Forming Japan-U.S.-Southeast Asian Networks
Summer Institute 2017

The Japan Foundation's Summer Institute 2017 brought together 24 young researchers from Japan, the U.S., and Southeast Asia for a summer intensive training program for five days at Shonan Village in Kanagawa Prefecture. Through small-group discussions, the researchers brushed up their research skills as well as expanded networks across disciplines and countries and regions. Following this program, 22 participants visited Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, for three days and deepened their understanding of the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and of the subsequent reconstruction.

Association for Asian Studies (AAS)

The Japan Foundation provided support that enables young Southeast Asian researchers to participate in the Annual Conference and the AAS-in-Asia conferences of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), which is headquartered in the U.S. At the Annual Conference held in March 2018 in Washington, D.C., eight of our past support recipients and three participants in the above-mentioned Summer Institute were chosen to serve as presenters.