International Dialogue and Networking

The Japan Foundation is engaged in promoting dialogue on common global issues through international symposia, seminars and workshops, and in building human networks as well as pioneering dialogue aimed at creating and sharing new values. We also organize citizen and youth exchange programs, along with human resource development initiatives, designed to lay the groundwork for future interactions.

Indo-Pacific Partnership Program (JFIPP)
Research Fellowship / Network Fellowship

Group photo of participants for “Climate Change and Adaptation Group Training”
Climate Change and Adaptation group training

The Japan Foundation launched a new fellowship program to provide intellectual cooperation opportunities for a new generation of experts, with the purpose of building partnerships and human networks in the Indo-Pacific region. Through the Research Fellowship, we supported research and survey projects on shared regional policy issues for 16 individual researchers and practitioners from Japan, the U.S., Australia, and India. For the Network Fellowship, we conducted group training programs in various locations across the Indo-Pacific for 31 next-generation specialists, collaborating with the East-West Center (U.S.) on climate change and adaptation, and the Australian Institute of International Affairs on disaster resilience.

Photo of “Climate Change and Adaptation Group Training”
Climate Change and Adaptation group training

Disaster Resilience group training

The U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Program

The Japan Foundation, in collaboration with the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, supports this program with an aim to foster a network of new generation scholars and professionals specializing in Japan and policy issues pertinent to the U.S.-Japan relationship. The program provides opportunities to further the participants’ understanding of agendas in both countries and build upon their networks.
In June 2023, the sixth cohort participated in training in Tokyo, Yamaguchi, and Fukuoka (Kitakyushu), and in August, they attended a retreat in Montana, U.S., for research presentations and other activities.

Group photo of participants for“Training in Japan”

Study tour in Japan

“Heart to Heart: Long-term Invitation Program for Chinese High School Students” 15th Cohort

To promote youth exchange between Japan and China and build lasting relationships of trust, the Japan Foundation offers Chinese high school students the opportunity to experience Japanese high school life for about ten months. Following a nearly four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 15th group of nine students arrived in Japan in FY2023, bringing the total number of participants to 451.

Photos of three female students in school uniform standing around a desk talking

Photo of close-up of a student taking a class in a classroom

Photo of nine participants in two rows with crossed hands with their neighbors at the welcome reception venue.

15th group of students studying at high schools across Japan, from Hokkaido to Kagoshima

Invitation Program of Ukrainian Poet Ostap SLYVYNSKY

The Japan Foundation invited poet Ostap SLYVYNSKY, who compiled A Ukrainian Dictionary of War based on testimonies from citizens forced to flee within and outside Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. Along with Robert CAMPBELL, a Japanese literature scholar who translated the book into Japanese, we organized various events, including discussions with Japanese cultural figures and intellectuals such as writers KIRINO Natsuo and HIRANO Keiichiro and philosopher WASHIDA Kiyokazu, exploring how the meanings of words transform during wartime.

Photo of roundtable discussion ”So You Want to Know What Pain Smells Like? Gauging the State of Our Discourse through testimonies of Ukraine’s War”on stage.
Round table talk: ”So You Want to Know What Pain Smells Like? Gauging the State of Our Discourse Through Testimonies of Ukraine’s War”

Photo of Ostap SLYVYNSKY speaking with his book in hand
“That is How We Have Survived: International Forum on Contemporary Language through the Voices of Ukrainian Evacuees” (co-hosted by the Japan Foundation and Waseda University)

Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) Program

Co-sponsored with the U.S. nonprofit organization the Laurasian Institution, the Japan Foundation dispatches coordinators to the Southern, Midwestern, and Mountain regions of the United States to deepen grassroots exchange and enhance interest in and understanding of Japan. In FY2023, we dispatched eight new coordinators (21st group) who, together with 17 continuing coordinators, totaled 25 individuals conducting various activities to introduce Japanese culture at local schools and cultural facilities.

Photo of the coordinator introducing the furoshiki
A 20th group coordinator introducing furoshiki

Photo of coordinators sitting on the floor reading Japanese picture books to children
A 21st group coordinator reading a Japanese picture book

International Dialogue by Experts

The Japan Foundation facilitated dialogues and network building between Japanese and international experts through events such as a discussion between explorer KAKUHATA Yusuke and bestselling author Oliver BURKEMAN questioning modern society’s obsession with efficiency (a special joint session at the Asahi World Forum 2023) and a symposium where Japanese and German experts discussed food education (co-hosted with the Japanese-German Center Berlin: “THE FUTURE OF FOOD II Nutritional Education and Communication – a Japanese-German Dialogue”).

Photo of a monitor showing a male bust-up, with a woman standing to the left and a man to the right across it.
The Japan Foundation and the Asahi World Forum 2023 Special Joint Session: “Embarking on Adventures in Our Limited Time: Living with Uncertainty”

Photo of the venue with a screen projected on a screen and seven experts sitting in a row in front of it.
Scene from the symposium co-hosted with the Japanese-German Center Berlin

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