Deadline: 28-Feb-23

Nominations are now open for the 2023 Japan Foundation Awards to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to promoting international mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and other countries through academic, artistic and other cultural pursuits.

Inaugurated in 1973, the year following the Japan Foundation’s establishment, the fiscal year 2023 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Japan Foundation Awards.

Field of Activities

• Arts and Cultural Exchange: Individuals or organizations that have significantly contributed to international cultural exchange and the enhancement of mutual understanding between Japan and other countries through the introduction or promotion of Japanese arts and culture abroad, or creative activities such as joint research or coproduction projects.
• Japanese-Language Education Overseas: Individuals or organizations that have significantly contributed to the progress of Japanese language education and academia, the improvement of the international status of Japanese language as well as the enhancement of mutual understanding between Japan and other countries through remarkable commitment to Japanese language education and research as well as continued efforts to train and organize Japanese language teachers, or through translations, writings in Japanese or other activities strongly connected to the Japanese language.
• Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Individuals or organizations that have significantly contributed to foster better understanding of Japan through education and research and strengthen intellectual networks between Japan and foreign countries through original and authoritative accomplishments and the development of Japanese studies abroad.

Benefits

• Three (in principle). Each recipient of the Japan Foundation Award will receive a certificate and a prize of their prize money.
• Presentation Ceremony: Individual recipients or the representative of a recipient organization will be invited and requested to attend the presentation ceremony, which will be held in Tokyo in Autumn 2023, and the commemorative events specified by the Japan Foundation. Commemorative lectures by the recipients are also to be held as well. The schedule is subject to change due to the spread of COVID-19.

Eligible Candidates

Candidates must be an individual person or an organization established inside or outside of Japan. Self-nominations, including nominations of an organization or head of an organization to which the nominator belongs, will not be considered.

Ineligible

• Individuals who are currently employed by their national or local governments, as well as those employed by similar organizations (e.g. governmental corporations) and whose main occupation pertains to international activities (excluding those in research-related positions). However, individuals who currently fall under the conditions stated above may be nominated if they made contributions conforming to the award criteria with a different affiliation or position in the past.
• Domestic or overseas organizations that are national or local governmental agencies as well as similar bodies.
• Domestic organizations that are mostly publicly-funded, those that were established by law, as well as those with a strong public character.
• Organizations supported by the Japanese government or the Japan Foundation that receive an amount of subsidies representing more than half of their annual budget.
• Organizations that are closely related, organizationally or financially, to their nominator.
• Individuals and organizations whose main activities are profit-making, religious, political or electoral.
• Individuals and organizations whose main field of activity is different than the Japan Foundation’s, such as scientific or technological fields.
• Individuals and organizations whose main purposes are recreational activities or friendship through exchange between sister cities or sister schools, as well as those who perform activities that benefit to a restricted specific group or association.
• Joint activities by two or more organizations may be nominated as a single nomination only if their engagements are justifiably regarded as an inseparable whole.

For more information, visit Japan Foundation.