Message from the President

The Japan Foundation celebrated the milestone of its 50th anniversary in 2022.

The year 2022 saw the spread of COVID-19 begin to show signs of slowing to a certain extent as the world gradually transitioned toward "living with COVID-19" and "post-pandemic" phases. Under these conditions, the Japan Foundation was able to fully resume programs involving the exchange of people in the three fields of "culture, language and dialogue" and we could once again truly sense the significance of these "real" in-person programs. At the same time, the Japan Foundation received a variety of suggestions regarding the ideal shape of its programs based on experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Japan Foundation Awards held an in-person award ceremony for the first time in three years. This award ceremony was attended by Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino, who offered us their words of encouragement by stating, "The role of the Japan Foundation will become more important than ever before as cultural exchanges become increasingly necessary in the future international community."

In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the Japan Foundation launched a special website Weaving Ties with the World for 50 Years and Onward. This commemorative site posts articles spotlighting the main activities undertaken by the Japan Foundation to the present as well as articles introducing people who are active on the front lines of international cultural exchanges in regions across the world. I would be grateful if you visit this website and take a look back on our half century of international cultural exchanges.

In FY2022, the Japan Foundation resumed various programs in each field making use of its experiences and accumulated knowledge gained during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the field of "Culture," we established a new video portal site that introduces Japan's diverse arts and culture providing multilingual subtitles while also implementing numerous face-to-face people exchange programs, such as inviting overseas curators to Japan and dispatching experts to international bookfairs, that were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, for our Japanese film screening programs, we accelerated hybrid initiatives that effectively combine on-site and online screenings to expand the circle of audiences around the world. In the field of "Language," the results of the Survey Report on Japanese-Language Education Abroad 2021 were announced in November. This survey confirmed that over 3.79 million people are learning Japanese at more than 18,000 educational institutions in 141 countries and regions, with a wide variety of purposes and reasons for learning. In the field of "Dialogue," the international symposium "International Cultural Exchange in a Fragile World: Views from Germany, the U.K., and Japan" was held in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut and the British Council. Representatives from various organizations and experts in related fields deepened their discussions on new possibilities and future visions for cultural exchange while interjecting their own experiences and practices. Additionally, the Japan Foundation held an international symposium in Tokyo that brought together leading intellectuals from Southeast Asia and Japan and the next-generation of experts to discuss a variety of issues regarding new ASEAN-Japan relations for the next half century.

The year 2023 marks the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation. The Japan Foundation intends to implement appealing cultural exchange programs to contribute to the further development of ASEAN-Japan relations while taking full advantage of the excitement of this anniversary and the achievements of the "WA Project": Toward Interactive Asia through "Fusion and Harmony" implemented by the Japan Foundation from 2014 through 2021.

Furthermore, the Japan Foundation will continue to carry out activities throughout the world that capture current trends and opportunities to ensure it can make further leaps forward over the next 50 years. I ask for your continued understanding and support.

UMEMOTO Kazuyoshi
President
The Japan Foundation
October 2023