The Activities of the Japan Foundation

Dialogue: Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange
Japanese Studies Overseas and Intellectual Exchange

To deepen understanding of Japan overseas, the Japan Foundation is supporting Japanese Studies in various countries by providing opportunities, such as intellectual exchange projects for networking, that facilitate dialogue and collaboration between persons in Japan and overseas, which we hope will contribute to resolving global issues.

Producing the “Giants of Japanese Studies: The Lives of Donald Keene & Ezra Vogel” Documentary

We produced and released a documentary telling the life stories of Ezra Vogel, author of "Japan as Number One," who made peerless contributions towards a deeper understanding of Japan overseas, and Donald Keene, a Japanese literature scholar who devoted his life to broadcasting the appeal of Japan throughout the world. The documentary looked back on their backgrounds and histories until they began Japanese Studies and told of their passions and hopes for Japanese Studies, interspersed with priceless images from their pasts and interviews with persons close to them.

The 3rd Collaborative Research Workshop for Aspiring Scholars in Japanese Studies

Since FY2018, we have been organizing workshops for graduate students of principal Japanese Studies institutions in Asia. In FY2021 the course was carried out online over three months, with 21 participants from 16 institutions in 8 countries/regions. With the cooperation of excellent lecturers from several different countries, course-takers considered the uniqueness and social significance of their research and their careers as researchers. We also held a mock panel presentation as a practice of diverse collaborative research beyond locations and disciplines. Through this program, we encouraged the building of networks between the participants as well as other Japanese studies scholars.

International Japanese Studies Symposium

Releasing Cover Videos of the Easy Japanese Rap Song “Kind World” Worldwide

“Kind World” (Yasashii Sekai) is a rap song in plain-form Japanese with the message of “Using simple, easy-to-understand Japanese and creating a world with kind feelings in order to realize a multicultural and inclusive society.” It was created by the Plain Japanese Tourism Initiative in cooperation with the Yamawaki Keizo Seminar at the School of Global Japanese Studies of Meiji University, and supported by the Japan Foundation. JF asked for submissions of videos of people performing this rap song with their own original Japanese lyrics, and we received outstanding works that were unique and dynamic from all over the globe. We also held an online exchange between the students of Yamawaki Seminar who did the judging and the winners, and the winning entries and the Global Mix version were released on the JF YouTube Channel.

Japanese-German Panel Discussion, “The Future of Communication and Us”

To address the issue of how to interact with digital communications are continuously developing in diverse ways, we held a symposium on the topic "The Future of Communication and Us" with the Japanese-German Center Berlin. Japanese and German experts held a highly insightful online discussion on how to use evolving digital communications to coexist with people with a variety of opinions while prioritizing our own individuality and wellbeing.