# 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 forty seven 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 since 1973.

## Description

The awards help to further the mission of the foundation in language and culture.
Two types of awards (the Japan Foundation Awards and the Japan Foundation Special Prizes) 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 (Professor, Harvard University / Japanese Studies) | 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 (Former Senator) | U.S.A. |
| 1974 | Bernard Howell Leach (Potter) | U.K. |
| 1975 | Edwin Oldfather Reischauer (Professor, Harvard University; Former Ambassador to Japan / Japanese Studies) | U.S.A. |
| 1975 | Kojiro Yoshikawa (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University; Chairman, The Institute of Eastern Culture) | Japan |
| 1976 | * John Whitney Hall (Professor, Yale University / Modern Japanese History) | U.S.A. |
| 1976 | Robert E. Ward (Professor, Stanford University / Politics) | U.S.A. |
| 1976 | The Toyo Bunko | Japan |
| 1977 | Ronald Philip Dore (Professor, University of Sussex) | U.K. |
| 1977 | Choei Ishibashi (Chairman, International Medical Society of Japan / Pediatrics) | Japan |
| 1977 | Meiji Newspapers and Magazine Library, the Faculty of Laws, the University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 1978 | Frank James Daniels (Professor Emeritus, University of London / Japanese Language Teaching Methodology) | U.K. |
| 1978 | James Lanius Stewart (Representative in Japan, The Asian Foundation) | U.S.A. |
| 1978 | Yasaka Takagi (Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo; Member, The Japan Academy / U.S. Political History) | Japan |
| 1979 | Charles Burton Fahs (Former Minister at U.S. Embassy in Tokyo; Former Professor, Miami University) | U.S.A. |
| 1979 | Robert Guillain (Journalist) | France |
| 1979 | Shigeharu Matsumoto (Chairman, The International House of Japan, Inc.) | Japan |
| 1980 | George Cyril Allen (Professor Emeritus, University of London / Japanese Studies) | U.K. |
| 1980 | Hugh Borton (Senior Researcher, Asian Institute, Columbia University) | U.S.A. |
| 1980 | Shinobu Iwamura (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University / Eastern Studies) | Japan |
| 1981 | Ungku Abdul Aziz (Vice Chancellor, University of Malaya / Economics) | Malaysia |
| 1981 | George Richard Storry (Professor Emeritus, University of Oxford / Japanese Studies) | U.K. |
| 1981 | The Institute of Eastern Culture | Japan |
| 1982 | Yoshitaro Amano (Honorary Director, The Museo Amano of Peru) | Peru |
| 1982 | Marius Berthus Jansen (Professor, Princeton University / Japanese Studies) | U.S.A. |
| 1982 | Akira Kurosawa (Film Director) | Japan |
| 1983 | Donald Keene (Professor, Columbia University / Japanese Literature) | U.S.A. |
| 1983 | René Sieffert (President, l'Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales [INALCO]) | France |
| 1983 | Shin'ichi Suzuki (President & Director, Talent Education Institute) | Japan |
| 1984 | Sir John Grenfell Crawford (Former Chancellor, Australian National University / Economics) | Australia |
| 1984 | Yoichi Maeda (Managing Director, The International House of Japan, Inc.) | Japan |
| 1984 | Edward George Seidensticker (Professor, Columbia University / Japanese Literature) | U.S.A. |
| 1985 | Bernard Frank (Professor, College de France / Japanese Literature, Religious Thought) | France |
| 1985 | Eleanor Harz Jorden (Professor, Cornell University / Linguistics, Japanese Language Teaching) | U.S.A. |
| 1986 | Fosco Maraini (President, Italian Association for Japanese Studies / Anthropology) | Italy |
| 1986 | The Japan Society of Northern California | U.S.A. |
| 1987 | James William Morley (Professor, Columbia University / International Relations) | U.S.A. |
| 1987 | Chie Nakane (Professor Emerita, University of Tokyo / Social Anthropology) | Japan |
| 1988 | Seiji Ozawa (Music Director, Boston Symphony Orchestra) | Japan |
| 1988 | Xia Yan (Vice-President, All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles) | China |
| 1989 | David MacEachron (Advisor to the Board of Directors, the Japan Society (NY)) | U.S.A. |
| 1989 | Alexander Slawik (Professor Emeritus, The University of Vienna / Ethnology, Asian Studies) | Austria |
| 1990 | Wieslaw Roman Kotanski (Professor, The University of Warsaw / Japanese Studies) | Poland |
| 1990 | Tadao Umesao (Director-General, National Museum of Ethnology) | Japan |
| 1991 | Byong-sam Han (Director-General, National Museum of Korea / Anthropology) | Korea |
| 1991 | Ian Nish (Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics, University of London / Anglo-Japanese relations) | U.K. |
| 1992 | Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana (Rector, Universitas Nasional / Literature) | Indonesia |
| 1992 | Frits Vos (Professor Emeritus, Leiden University / Japanese Studies) | Netherlands |
| 1993 | Josef Pittau, S.J. (President, The Pontifical Gregorian University) | Italy |
| 1993 | Toru Takemitsu (Composer) | Japan |
| 1994 | Toshio Kawatake (Professor Emeritus, Waseda University) | Japan |
| 1994 | Heinrich Pfeiffer (Secretary General, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) | Germany |
| 1995 | Donald Richie (Writer / Film Historian) | U.S.A. |
| 1995 | Soshitsu Sen (Grand Master, Urasenke Tradition of Tea) | Japan |
| 1996 | O-Young Lee (Chair Professor, Ewha Womans University) | Korea |
| 1996 | Ezra Feivel Vogel (Director, Fairbank Center for East-Asia Research, Harvard University) | U.S.A. |
| 1997 | Roger Goepper (Professor, University of Cologne) | Germany |
| 1997 | Ping-hua Sun (President, The China-Japan Friendship Association) | China |
| 1998 | Ikuma Dan (Composer, Member of the Art Academy of Japan) | Japan |
| 1998 | Robert Anthony Scalapino (Robson Research Professor of Government Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley) | U.S.A. |
| 1999 | Frank Bray Gibney (President, The Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College) | U.S.A. |
| 1999 | Wolfgang Sawallisch (Conductor, Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra Honorary Conductor Laureate of the NHK Symphony Orchestra) | Germany |
| 2000 | Myong Kwan Chi (Director,Institute of Japanese Studies, Hallym University) | Korea |
| 2000 | Yoneo Ishii (President, Kanda University of International Studies) | Japan |
| 2001 | William G. Beasley (Emeritus Professor of the History of the Far East, University of London) | U.K |
| 2001 | Ikuo Hirayama (Artist) | Japan |
| 2002 | Gerald L. Curtis (Burgess Professor of Political Science, Columbia University) | U.S.A. |
| 2002 | Makoto Ooka (Poet) | Japan |
| 2003 | Yoshiaki Ishizawa (Professor, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University) | Japan |
| 2003 | Josef Kreiner (Director, Institute of Japanese Studies, The University of Bonn) | Austria |
| 2004 | Toshiko Akiyoshi (Jazz Pianist, Jazz Music Composer) | Japan |
| 2005 | Hayao Miyazaki (Animated Film Director) | Japan |
| 2006 | Joe and Etsuko Price (Directors, The Shin'enKan Foundation) | U.S.A. |
| 2007 | Royall Tyler (Former Professor and Head of the Japan Centre, Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University) | Australia |
| 2008 | Arts and Culture: Marco Muller (Director of the Venice International Film Festival) | Italy |
| 2008 | Japanese Language: Angela Hondru (Professor of Japanese Literature and Civilization, Hyperion University) | Romania |
| 2008 | Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Kenneth B. Pyle (Professor, University of Washington) | U.S.A. |
| 2009 | Arts and Culture: Boris Akunin (Writer) | Russia |
| 2009 | Japanese Language: Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) | U.S.A. |
| 2009 | Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Arthur Stockwin (Former director of the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford) | U.K. |
| 2010 | Arts and Culture: Tadao Sato (Film Critic) | Japan |
| 2010 | Japanese Language: Savitri Vishwanathan (Former Professor of Japanese Studies, University of Delhi) | India |
| 2010 | Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Ben-Ami Shillony (Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) | 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 (Retired Professor, School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) | France |
| 2014 | Charles David Allis | U.S.A. |
| 2016 | Cai Guo-Qiang | China |
| 2017 | Alexandra Munroe (Senior Curator, Asian Art, and Senior Advisor, Global Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum) | U.S.A. |
| 2018 | Spanish-Japanese Cultural Center of the University of Salamanca | Spain |
| 2018 | Yoko Tawada | Japan |
| 2019 | Shuntaro Tanikawa (Poet) | Japan |
| 2019 | Association of Indonesian Alumni From Japan (PERSADA) | Indonesia |
| 2019 | Ewa Pałasz-Rutkowska (Professor, University of Warsaw) | Poland |
| 2021 | Hirokazu KOREEDA (Fim Director) | Japan |
| 2021 | Mayumi Miyata (Shō (Japanese wind instrument) performer) | Japan |
| 2021 | Faculty of Japanese Language and Culture, University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) / 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 (Compilatory Staff, Diplomatic Record Office) | 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 (Associate Professor, University of British Columbia / Indian Studies, Buddhism) | Canada |
| 1986 | The Japan-Netherlands Institute | Japan |
| 1987 | Lokesh Chandra (Director, International Academy of Indian Culture / Buddhism) | India |
| 1987 | Josef Kreiner (Professor, Bonn University / Japanese Ethnology) | Austria |
| 1988 | Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (Toronto) | Canada |
| 1988 | Jean-Jacques Origas (Professor, l'Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales) | France |
| 1989 | Akio Hosono (Professor, The University of Tsukuba / Economics, Latin American Studies) | 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-Japanese Association) | Argentine |
| 1991 | Japan Silver Volunteers, Inc. | Japan |
| 1992 | The Association for Japanese-Language Teaching | Japan |
| 1992 | Peter Kornicki (University Lecturer in Japanese, University of Cambridge) [U.K.] / Nozomu Hayashi (Associate Professor, Toyoko Gakuen Women's College / Japanese Literature) | Japan |
| 1992 | Yuriko Kuronuma (Violinist, President of Academia Yuriko Kuronuma) | Mexico |
| 1993 | Iwanami Hall | Japan |
| 1993 | Tatyana Lyvovna Sokolova-Delyusina (Translator, Member of the Moscow Literator Committee) | Russia |
| 1994 | Kodansha International Ltd. | Japan |
| 1994 | Phaisith Phipatanakul (Secretary General, National Assembly) | Thailand |
| 1995 | The Association for the Conservation of National Treasures | Japan |
| 1995 | Haji Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid (Head, Look East Policy Programme, Centre of Preparatory Education, MARA Institute of Technology) | Malaysia] |
| 1996 | Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Columbia University | U.S.A. |
| 1996 | Midori Goto (Violinist / Founder and President of the Midori Foundation) | Japan / U.S.A. |
| 1997 | Centre of Japanese Art and Technology "Manggha" in Cracow | Poland |
| 1997 | Kai Nieminen (Translator of Japanese Literature, Japanologist, Writer) | Finland |
| 1998 | Thomas Erdos (Artistic Director, Theatre de la Ville) | 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 (Professor, Middle East Technical University) | Turkey |
| 1999 | Tadashi Yamamoto (President, Japan Center for International Exchange) | Japan |
| 2000 | The Daido Life Foundation | Japan |
| 2000 | Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa Museums | Israel |
| 2000 | Willy Freddy Vande Walle (Department Chair Section of Japanese Studies, Department of Oriental and Slavonic Studies, The Catholic University of Leuven) | Belgium |
| 2001 | Kosta Balabanov (President of the Society for Macedonian-Japanese Friendship and Cooperation, Honorary Consul-General of Japan in Skopje) | Macedonia |
| 2001 | The Berliner Festspiele | Germany |
| 2001 | Naoyuki Miura (President, Artistic Director of Music From Japan, Inc.) | Japan |
| 2002 | "Japanese Mothers for Foreign Students" Movement of the Tokyo YWCA | Japan |
| 2002 | The Old Japan Students' Association, Thailand (OJSAT) | 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 (Trustee and Executive Director, International House of Japan) | Japan |
| 2003 | Turkish Japanese Foundation | Turkey |
| 2004 | James Quandt (Senior Programmer, Cinematheque Ontario) | Canada |
| 2004 | Kurayoshi Takara (Professor, Faculty of Law and Letters, the University of the Ryukyus) | Japan |
| 2004 | Dok Bong Yi (Professor, Division of Foreign Languages, Dongduk Women's University) | Korea |
| 2005 | China Japanese Educational Association | China |
| 2005 | Tabassum Kashmiri (Former Foreign Instructor, Osaka University of Foreign Studies) | Pakistan |
| 2005 | Philippine Educational Theater Association | Philippines |
| 2006 | Yongdeok Kim (Dean, Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University) | Korea |
| 2006 | Saint-Petersburg State University, Faculty of Asian and African Studies | Russia |
| 2006 | Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee | Japan |
| 2007 | Ayse Selcuk Esenbel (Professor, Bosphorus University) | Turkey |
| 2007 | Levy Hideo (Novelist; Professor, Hosei University) | U.S.A. |
| 2007 | Fram Kitagawa (Art Director; Chairman, Art Forum Gallery Co.) | Japan |