The Activities of the Japan Foundation
Through interacting and collaborating in Japanese-language education, arts and culture, sports, and grassroots and intellectual exchange, the Asia Center conducts and supports collaborative initiatives with its Asian—primarily ASEAN—counterparts. The Asia Center aims to develop the sense of kinship and coexistence as neighboring inhabitants of Asia and nurture human resources who form a bridge between Asian countries.
Support for Japanese-Language Learning
Students taught (total) 349,000 students
Number of "NIHONGO Partners" dispatched1,225 persons
Arts and Cultural Exchange
Number of events organized/supported 1,525
Participants (total) 3,631,000 participants
* Accumulative total from FY2014 to FY2017
Background of the Establishment of the Asia Center
The Asia Center was established in April 2014 to be the body responsible for the new Asian cultural exchange policy "WA Project: Toward Interactive Asia through Fusion and Harmony" announced by the Japanese government at the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit Meeting in Tokyo in December 2013.
The Asia Center organizes and supports mutual exchange programs between Japan and other Asian communities in and around the ASEAN region. Through exchange programs and collaborative initiatives in a wide range of fields such as arts and culture, sports, and grassroots and intellectual exchange, the Center seeks to develop a sense of kinship and coexistence as neighboring inhabitants of Asia and nurture human resources who form a bridge between Asian countries.
Photo courtesy of Cabinet Public Relations Secretary
"NIHONGO Partners" to support Japanese-Language Learning
The "NIHONGO Partners" program sends native Japanese speakers to secondary schools mainly in the ASEAN region to serve as partners to local Japanese teachers and their students by providing in-class assistance and introducing Japanese culture. Over 3,000 people will be dispatched as "NIHONGO Partners" by FY2020.
Arts and Cultural Exchange
The Asia Center promotes exchange programs among the people of Asia in a wide range of fields such as art, films, performing arts, sports, and grassroots and intellectual exchange. Valuing reciprocity and collaboration, and respecting the identities and diversity of each region and country, we aim to together create new cultures of Asia.
SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now
The National Art Center, Tokyo and Mori Art Museum, 2017
Photo: Kioku Keizo Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo