Japan Foundation


The Japan Foundation is a Japanese foundation that spreads Japanese culture around the world. Based in Tokyo, it was established in 1972 by an Act of the National Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture. It then became an Independent Administrative Institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of [Foreign Affairs |Ministry of Foreign Affairs] on 1 October 2003 under the "Independent Administrative Institution Japan Foundation Law".
The Japan Foundation aims towards comprehensive and effective development of its international cultural exchange programs in the following categories:
  1. Promotion of arts and cultural exchange
  2. Promotion of Japanese-language education
  3. Promotion of Japanese studies and intellectual exchange – Japan Foundation Information Centers collect and provide information about international exchange and international cultural exchange standard bearers.
Prince Takamado served as administrator of the Japan Foundation from 1981 to 2002.

Japan Foundations worldwide

The Japan Foundation is headquartered in Shinjuku, Tokyo and has a subsidiary office in Kyoto. There are also two domestic Japanese-Language Institutes in Saitama and Tajiri, Osaka.
Internationally, the Japan Foundation maintains 25 overseas branches in 24 countries:

Asia and Oceania

  • The Americas

  • Europe, Middle East and Africa

  • Wochi Kochi Magazine

The Wochi Kochi Magazine is a Japanese website designed by the Japan Foundation to enhance the strength of information transmission about Japanese culture to the world. It replaced the paper magazines Kokusai-Kouryu and Wochi-Kochi . Those were the only domestic paper magazines which were especially published for "international cultural exchanges". The word "wochi-kochi" itself is a pronoun from ancient Japanese "Yamato" language meaning "here and there" or "the future and the present". As the web magazine title, "wochi-kochi" demonstrates places and times, and it expresses the desires to spread Japanese language/culture overseas, moreover, play a role as the cultural bridge among countries and people. Keeping those aspects from previous magazines, the Wochi-Kochi Magazine website carries interviews, contributed articles and serialized stories written by the experts from various professional fields each month.

Japanese Film Database (JFDB)

The Japanese Film Database is an online information directory of films made in Japan. The database is co-produced by the Japan Foundation together with UniJapan, and exhibited bilingually in Japanese and English.

JFF Theater

In August 2024, the Japan Foundation launched JFF Theater, a free online platform for streaming Japanese films worldwide with multilingual subtitles.

Activities

From 1995 onward regularly inviting leading cartoonists from various Asian countries to conduct Asian Cartoon Exhibition and Conference at The Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo as an annual event. Later on the same exhibition travels to the various Asian countries. In the process, it has employed the friendly medium of cartoons for introducing Asian societies to those who would like to know more about them and appreciate people other than their own kind.