Japan Foundation Awards

The Japan Foundation Awards honor individuals and organizations for significant contributions to "the enhancement of mutual understanding between Japan and other countries."

History

Activities in an academic or cultural field have been presented by the Japan Foundation annually since 1973.
In 1985, Eleanor Harz Jorden was the first woman to receive a Japan Foundation Award.
In 2020, the award selection that continued for 47 years was canceled for the first time due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, the nominated application for that year was carried over to the following year, and in 2021 four recipients were listed.

Description

The awards help to further the mission of the foundation in language and culture.
Two types of awards previously composed the Japan Foundation Awards. But these awards are integrated into “The Japan Foundation Awards” in three categories: "Arts and Culture", "Japanese Language", and "Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange" from 2008.

Recipients

Japan Foundation Awards

Year	Recipients	Country
1973	Serge Elisseeff	U.S.A.
1973	The International House of Japan, Inc.	Japan
1973	Japan Society	U.S.A.
1973	Sophia University	Japan
1974	James William Fulbright	U.S.A.
1974	Bernard Howell Leach	U.K.
1975	Edwin Oldfather Reischauer	U.S.A.
1975	Kojiro Yoshikawa	Japan
1976	* John Whitney Hall	U.S.A.
1976	Robert E. Ward	U.S.A.
1976	The Toyo Bunko	Japan
1977	Ronald Philip Dore	U.K.
1977	Choei Ishibashi	Japan
1977	Meiji Newspapers and Magazine Library, the Faculty of Laws, the University of Tokyo	Japan
1978	Frank James Daniels	U.K.
1978	James Lanius Stewart	U.S.A.
1978	Yasaka Takagi	Japan
1979	Charles Burton Fahs	U.S.A.
1979	Robert Guillain	France
1979	Shigeharu Matsumoto	Japan
1980	George Cyril Allen	U.K.
1980	Hugh Borton	U.S.A.
1980	Shinobu Iwamura	Japan
1981	Ungku Abdul Aziz	Malaysia
1981	George Richard Storry	U.K.
1981	The Institute of Eastern Culture	Japan
1982	Yoshitaro Amano	Peru
1982	Marius Berthus Jansen	U.S.A.
1982	Akira Kurosawa	Japan
1983	Donald Keene	U.S.A.
1983	René Sieffert	France
1983	Shin'ichi Suzuki	Japan
1984	Sir John Grenfell Crawford	Australia
1984	Yoichi Maeda	Japan
1984	Edward George Seidensticker	U.S.A.
1985	Bernard Frank	France
1985	Eleanor Harz Jorden	U.S.A.
1986	Fosco Maraini	Italy
1986	The Japan Society of Northern California	U.S.A.
1987	James William Morley	U.S.A.
1987	Chie Nakane	Japan
1988	Seiji Ozawa	Japan
1988	Xia Yan	China
1989	David MacEachron	U.S.A.
1989	Alexander Slawik	Austria
1990	Wieslaw Roman Kotanski	Poland
1990	Tadao Umesao	Japan
1991	Byong-sam Han	Korea
1991	Ian Nish	U.K.
1992	Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana	Indonesia
1992	Frits Vos	Netherlands
1993	Josef Pittau, S.J.	Italy
1993	Toru Takemitsu	Japan
1994	Toshio Kawatake	Japan
1994	Heinrich Pfeiffer	Germany
1995	Donald Richie	U.S.A.
1995	Soshitsu Sen	Japan
1996	O-Young Lee	Korea
1996	Ezra Feivel Vogel	U.S.A.
1997	Roger Goepper	Germany
1997	Ping-hua Sun	China
1998	Ikuma Dan	Japan
1998	Robert Anthony Scalapino	U.S.A.
1999	Frank Bray Gibney	U.S.A.
1999	Wolfgang Sawallisch	Germany
2000	Myong Kwan Chi	Korea
2000	Yoneo Ishii	Japan
2001	William G. Beasley	U.K
2001	Ikuo Hirayama	Japan
2002	Gerald L. Curtis	U.S.A.
2002	Makoto Ooka	Japan
2003	Yoshiaki Ishizawa	Japan
2003	Josef Kreiner	Austria
2004	Toshiko Akiyoshi	Japan
2005	Hayao Miyazaki	Japan
2006	Joe and Etsuko Price	U.S.A.
2007	Royall Tyler	Australia
2008	Arts and Culture: Marco Muller	Italy
2008	Japanese Language: Angela Hondru	Romania
2008	Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Kenneth B. Pyle	U.S.A.
2009	Arts and Culture: Boris Akunin	Russia
2009	Japanese Language: Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese	U.S.A.
2009	Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Arthur Stockwin	U.K.
2010	Arts and Culture: Tadao Sato	Japan
2010	Japanese Language: Savitri Vishwanathan	India
2010	Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Ben-Ami Shillony	Israel
2011	Arts and Culture: TAMBUCO Percussion Ensemble	Mexico
2011	Japanese Language: Department of Japanese and Japanese Literature, Faculty of Arts, Cairo University	Egypt
2011	Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Augustin Berque	France
2014	Charles David Allis	U.S.A.
2016	Cai Guo-Qiang	China
2017	Alexandra Munroe	U.S.A.
2018	Spanish-Japanese Cultural Center of the University of Salamanca	Spain
2018	Yoko Tawada	Japan
2019	Shuntaro Tanikawa	Japan
2019	Association of Indonesian Alumni From Japan	Indonesia
2019	Ewa Pałasz-Rutkowska	Poland
2021	Hirokazu KOREEDA	Japan
2021	Mayumi Miyata	Japan
2021	Faculty of Japanese Language and Culture, University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi / Faculty of Japanese, Foreign Trade University / Department of Japanese Studies, Hanoi University	Vietnam
2021	Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit	Germany

Special Prizes

From 1974 to 2007, Special Prizes have been conferred, supplementing the list of those recognized by the Foundation.

Year	Recipients	Country
1974	Japan Center for International Exchange	Japan
1974	The Japanese Cultural Society, Singapore	Singapore
1975	The Asian Students Cultural Association	Japan
1975	The European Association for Japanese Studies	Europe
1975	The Maison Franco-Japonaise	Japan
1976	Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur-und Völkerkunde Ostasiens in Tokyo	Germany
1976	The Fukuoka UNESCO Association	Japan
1977	The International Society for Educational Information	Japan
1977	Simul International, Inc.	Japan
1978	The Tokyo School of Japanese Language, The Institute for Research in Linguistic Culture	Japan
1978	The Kodokan	Japan
1979	The Australia, Japan and Western Pacific Economic Relations Research Committee, A.N.U.	Australia
1979	Ken Kurihara	Japan
1980	Africa Society of Japan	Japan
1980	The Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language	Japan
1981	The Nihon Ki-in	Japan
1981	Publishers Association for Cultural Exchange, Japan	Japan
1982	The Asiatic Society of Japan in Tokyo
1982	The Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo
1983	The Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO	Japan
1983	The International Students Institute	Japan
1984	AFS International / Intercultural Programs, Inc.	U.S.A.
1984	Kawakita Memorial Film Institute	Japan
1985	The International Education Center	Japan
1985	Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association	Japan
1986	Shotaro Iida	Canada
1986	The Japan-Netherlands Institute	Japan
1987	Lokesh Chandra	India
1987	Josef Kreiner	Austria
1988	Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre	Canada
1988	Jean-Jacques Origas	France
1989	Akio Hosono	Japan
1989	Japan Association for Foreign Student Affairs	Japan
1990	The Indonesian Foundation for Intercultural Learning	Indonesia
1990	The University of Tokyo Press	Japan
1991	La Asociacion Argentino-Japonesa	Argentine
1991	Japan Silver Volunteers, Inc.	Japan
1992	The Association for Japanese-Language Teaching	Japan
1992	Peter Kornicki / Nozomu Hayashi	Japan
1992	Yuriko Kuronuma	Mexico
1993	Iwanami Hall	Japan
1993	Tatyana Lyvovna Sokolova-Delyusina	Russia
1994	Kodansha International Ltd.	Japan
1994	Phaisith Phipatanakul	Thailand
1995	The Association for the Conservation of National Treasures	Japan
1995	Haji Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid	Malaysia]
1996	Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Columbia University	U.S.A.
1996	Midori Goto	Japan / U.S.A.
1997	Centre of Japanese Art and Technology "Manggha" in Cracow	Poland
1997	Kai Nieminen	Finland
1998	Thomas Erdos	France
1998	Pusan Korea-Japan Cultural Exchange Association	Korea
1998	Suntory Foundation	Japan
1999	Japanese American National Museum	U.S.A.
1999	Ahmet Mete Tuncoku	Turkey
1999	Tadashi Yamamoto	Japan
2000	The Daido Life Foundation	Japan
2000	Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa Museums	Israel
2000	Willy Freddy Vande Walle	Belgium
2001	Kosta Balabanov	Macedonia
2001	The Berliner Festspiele	Germany
2001	Naoyuki Miura	Japan
2002	"Japanese Mothers for Foreign Students" Movement of the Tokyo YWCA	Japan
2002	The Old Japan Students' Association, Thailand	Thailand
2002	Warsaw University, Oriental Studies Institute, Department of Japanese and Korean Studies	Poland
2003	Far Eastern National University, Institute of Oriental Studies	Russia
2003	Mikio Kato	Japan
2003	Turkish Japanese Foundation	Turkey
2004	James Quandt	Canada
2004	Kurayoshi Takara	Japan
2004	Dok Bong Yi	Korea
2005	China Japanese Educational Association	China
2005	Tabassum Kashmiri	Pakistan
2005	Philippine Educational Theater Association	Philippines
2006	Yongdeok Kim	Korea
2006	Saint-Petersburg State University, Faculty of Asian and African Studies	Russia
2006	Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee	Japan
2007	Ayse Selçuk Esenbel	Turkey
2007	Levy Hideo	U.S.A.
2007	Fram Kitagawa	Japan