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The Activities of the Japan Foundation

Dialogue: Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange Education Overseas
The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP)

CGPThe Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP) was established in 1991 with the goal of fostering Japan-U.S. cooperation in tackling global issues. The center promotes dialogue and exchange between all facets of Japanese and U.S. society in order to create a solid partnership based on mutual understanding and joint Japan-U.S. contribution to the global community.

Abe Fellowship Program/Abe Fellows Global Forum

The Abe Fellowship is a research fellowship program jointly operated since 1991 by CGP and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) of the United States to support researchers and journalists involved with global-scale policy issues. Fellows made lively result presentations, and there were 22 Japanese-language works and 68 English-language works among published papers by Abe Fellows announced during FY2018. Also in FY2018, the Abe Fellows Global Forums were held in Atlanta and Washington D.C., and six past Abe fellows serving as panelists engaged in brisk debate on the theme "Innovation and Environmental Technology." These events aimed at further strengthening Japan-U.S. relations and promoting mutual understanding by disseminating knowledge and holding dialogue by Abe Fellows.

Forum held at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) on December 1, 2018

Photo of presentation by John Walsh (2001 Abe Fellow), Professor of the Georgia Institute of Technology

Presentation by John Walsh (2001 Abe Fellow), Professor of the Georgia Institute of Technology

Forum held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Washington D.C.) on December 3, 2018

Photo of Abe Fellows with James Schoff (far right), Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace at the forum

Together with James Schoff (far right), Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace at the forum

Photo of four Abe Fellows at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Foundation

From right: Masaru Yarime (Specially Appointed Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Innovation Governance, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo, Abe Fellow 2014), Takahiro Ueyama (Visiting Professor of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Abe Fellow 2000), Kathryn Ibatha-Arens (Professor of Department of Political Science, DePaul University, Abe Fellow 2004) and Marie C. Anchordoguy (Professor of the Jackson School of International Studies, the University of Washington, Abe Fellow 1997).

Grassroots Exchange Programs with the United States
The Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) Program and Grassroots Exchange Network-Japan (GEN-J) Program

The Japan Foundation and a U.S. non-profit organization, Laurasian Institution, co-sponsor two programs that are firmly established in local communities in the U.S. Midwest and South, which are regions with relatively little opportunity for exchanges with Japan. These programs aim at deepening interest in and understanding of Japan at a grassroots level. The first program, the Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) Program, dispatched five new Coordinators (17th group) to the United States. Together with nine other previously dispatched Coordinators, a total of 14 Coordinators carried out wide-ranging activities that introduced Japanese culture at schools, libraries and other locations in local communities. Under the second program, the Grassroots Exchange Network-Japan (GEN-J) Program, which was established in FY2018 with the aim of strengthening collaboration between local communities and Japanese companies in the United States, we dispatched seven Japan-U.S. exchange Facilitators to Japan-America Societies in five states in the Midwest and South.

Photo of JOI 15 Coordinator Airi Yamamoto (Murray State University in the state of Kentucky) at a local workshop

JOI 15 Coordinator Airi Yamamoto (Murray State University in the state of Kentucky) at a local workshop