ISSN 0285-9033

OCCASIONAL REPORT No. 34
THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION

August 2004

Shinjuku Mitsui Building 37F • 2-1-1 Nishi-Shinjuku • Shinjuku-ku • Tokyo 163-0437, Japan • Tel: (03) 3344-1701 • Fax: (03) 3342-6911

The Second Coming of China andIndia
Shosaburo Kimura
President, The Toyota Foundation
On May 1, 2004, the European Union expanded tothe east, north, and south as its membership increased from 15 to 25 nations. In April 1951, France,
West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and theNetherlands signed the Treaty ofParis, establishing the European
Coal and Steel Community, thefirst step toward today’s EU. Yet
who then could have imagined
the EU in its current form?
It is easy to criticize the problems and difficulties the enlarged
EU faces. But what cannot be denied is the giant, steady strides
that the countries of Europe have taken from being
nineteenth-century-style nation states toward becoming a twenty-first-century-style continental composite
state. Instead of its previous 11 official languages, theEU now has 20: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian,
Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish.
As a uni-national state sandwiched between two
continental composite states—the United States tothe east and the EU to the west—how should Japan
conduct itself?

In addition to the developments of the past 50
years, the US securities firm Goldman Sachs forecasts that over the next half-century the so-called
BRICs countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China)
will advance to such an extent that in 2050 China will
have the world’s highest gross national product ($44trillion), followed by the United States ($37 trillion)
in second place, India ($25 trillion) in third, Japan ($6trillion) in fourth, Brazil ($6 trillion) in fifth, Russia($5 trillion) in sixth, and Germany, Britain, andFrance (each $3 trillion) in seventh, eighth, and ninth.
With the world at such a historic turning pointthat this bold prediction might well come true, in
October 2004 the Toyota Foundation celebrates its
thirtieth anniversary. In the next 30 years, China may
take over the mantle of global economic champion
from the United States. China, like America, is a continental composite state and a federal country. It istime for Japan, which learned so much from China
and India in exchanges that began over 1,000 years
ago, to launch new economic, diplomatic, and cultural policies that place China and India in Japan’s
direct field of vision once again. Indeed, work on thishas already begun in the economic field.
Just as Japan is being forced to review its entire
foreign policy, in light of the structural shift affecting
the whole of Asia the Toyota Foundation has no
choice but to review its Southeast Asian Programs, towhich it has devoted considerable energy. At thesame time, in this period of major global transition,
how can the Foundation tap Japan’s natural qualities, merits, and attractions to contribute to the prosperity and happiness of Asia as a whole?

CONTENTSThe Second Coming of China and India .............................................................................1
The Advisory Committee on the Toyota Foundation’s Vision and Initiative .......................... 2
A Milestone for Foundation Reform ....................................................................................3
Management Plan for Fiscal 2004 .......................................................................................5
Compiling the 30-Year History of the Toyota Foundation ....................................................6
As a Member of the Compilation Committee ......................................................................7

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

I believe that the answer lies in raising the technological strength that Japan has cultivated to a level
where it becomes a form of globally attractive cultural capacity and in polishing this cultural capacitywith every kind of wisdom regarding colors, shapes,
ways of living, and life itself.

The Advisory Committee on the
Toyota Foundation’s Vision andInitiative
Takeshi Ryusawa
Chair, Advisory Committee on the Toyota Foundation’s
Vision and Initiative
The Advisory Committee on the Toyota Foundation’s Vision and Initiative was launched by theFoundation in October 2003. The committee, whichmeets once a month, presented
its First Interim Report to theFoundation in February 2004. I
would like to take this opportunity to provide a little supplementary information about thecommittee and its report.
The task assigned to the committee by the Managing Directorof the Foundation has two mainfeatures. First, the committee has been commissioned to examine every aspect of the Foundation’s
activities—from its programs and management
policies and systems to its concepts and mission—and present proposals for reform to coincide with theFoundation’s thirtieth anniversary. Second, although
the committee will operate for a term of two years,
the Foundation intends to swiftly implement thecommittee’s concrete reform proposals as they are
produced, rather than receiving a comprehensive
report at the end of the two-year period. It should
be noted that the Foundation’s activities are governed by a management system centering on the
Board of Directors and the Secretariat; the Advisory
Committee is a consultative body and does not
implement policies. Decisions about whether toimplement the committee’s recommendations—including, of course, judgments on the suitability of
those recommendations—are taken by the Board of
Directors and the Secretariat. The committee’s assignment is to examine the full range of the Foun2

August 2004

dation’s activities and to produce reports outlining
practical reform suggestions. The committee regards
highly the decision by a private-sector foundation ofsuch tradition and public repute to conduct a frankreview of its own activities, shed light on areas thatshould be reformed, and swiftly implement recommended measures. Equally, the committee must accept that the task entrusted to it places on its
shoulders a heavy responsibility. This is why thecommittee’s discussions were marked by high expectations of the Foundation and, at times, by harsh
criticism of the current situation.
The Advisory Committee has nine members:
Kang Sang-Jung (Professor, Interfaculty Initiative inInformation Studies, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo),
Ken’ichi Goto (Professor, Graduate School of AsiaPacific Studies, Waseda University), Narifumi
Tachimoto (Professor, Institute of Global Humanics,
Chubu University), Koji Tanaka (Director, Center forSoutheast Asian Studies, Kyoto University), Hisao
Nakai (Director, Hyogo Institute for TraumaticStress), Takeshi Hamashita (Professor, Center forSoutheast Asian Studies, Kyoto University), Yumiko
Himemoto (Chief Program Officer, Toyota Foundation), Kazue Iwamoto (Senior Advisor, Toyota Foundation), and myself. All of the external committee
members have been involved with the Toyota
Foundation’s activities in the past and, needless tosay, hold its work in high esteem. Having read vast
amounts of material (documents collected during thecompilation of a 30-year history of the Foundation,
which is taking place alongside the Advisory
Committee’s deliberations, and documents requested by committee members during their discussions), the committee members hold long, lively
discussions every time they convene. It should be
noted that the Managing Director’s role in thecommittee’s proceedings is to pose questions; he is
not a member of the committee. To ensure the objectivity of its deliberations and reports, the Advisory
Committee has ruled that the Managing Director has
the status of an audience member and can speak only
when requested by the committee to explain a document or an aspect of the Foundation’s activities.
The Advisory Committee had a choice between
two approaches: It could begin by tackling the highly
abstract issues of the Foundation’s concepts and mission and then move on to the programs and management system, or it could first focus on individual
programs and how they are currently operated. In
the end, the committee chose the latter course, opting

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

to examine more concrete matters, rather than starting with abstract discussions. But in order to tackle
practical matters, committee members need common
standards for evaluating the overall state of theFoundation’s activities and for making judgments
about the individual programs that make up these
activities. In other words, they need to have a shared
basic perspective on their deliberations.
Looking, for example, at the distribution of budgetary resources, while it is true that selection
methods and the characteristics of the selection committees vary from program to program and thatthese differences stem from the unique history ofeach program, there are in this setup inherent problems. Following some discussion, in its First Interim
Report the committee established five interim criteria for the Foundation’s activities. The criteria are (1)that programs should have clearly defined objectives, (2) that priority fields should be identified andbudget allocations optimized under a strategy of selection and concentration, (3) that horizontal development across multiple fields is needed, (4) that
selection processes should be fair and transparent,and (5) that programs and systems should be appropriate for a private foundation. In summary, theAdvisory Committee laid out the direction the Foundation should take while thoroughly examining theFoundation’s current programs and how they are
managed from these five perspectives.
The Foundation’s Southeast Asian Programs werea particular focus of attention in the First Interim
Report. Four of the external committee members canbroadly be described as experts in Southeast Asian
research and possess the insight to place the Southeast Asian research conducted in this region and inJapan within a broader context. From an early stage,
they and the other committee members agreed that,viewed from the perspective of the five criteria listed
above, the current Southeast Asian Programs should
be fundamentally reviewed. The First Interim Report
proposed “the termination of the Southeast Asian
Programs as a separate area of endeavor.” This, ofcourse, does not mean ceasing to accept applications
from Southeast Asia. In the committee’s opinion,
what is required is to place grant applications fromSoutheast Asia and grants to this region within amore horizontal, multi-tiered framework. We believethat the duty of the Foundation as a pioneer in its
field—and, moreover, the challenge for the Advisory
Committee—is to formulate a new program framework that taps the experience and expertise accumulated by the Foundation during its first 30 years.

August 2004

A Milestone for Foundation Reform
Norio Kanie
Managing Director, The Toyota Foundation
At a meeting of the Board of Directors in October
2003, a decision was taken to establish the Advisory
Committee on the Toyota Foundation’s Vision andInitiative to consider the Foundation’s mid- and long-term vision and other matters. As theFoundation approaches its thirtieth anniversary in October 2004,
the committee was launched toprepare the Foundation for new
developments in its activities.
The first step taken to mark thiscoming anniversary was thelaunch in April 2003 of the Committee on 30-Year
History Compilation to oversee the production of abook tracing the Foundation’s 30-year history. Following a decision by the Board of Directors, theCompilation Committee has also begun its work. We
envision that the 30-year history, which is scheduled
to be completed in three years, will be a publicationthat looks back on the Foundation’s activities so far
while also pointing to the future. We originallyplanned for the history to be compiled by membersof the Foundation staff. However, Yujiro Hayashi, theFoundation’s first Executive Director and a memberof the Board of Trustees, pointed out that what is required in a history book is historical fact, not historical views, and that to have the book compiled bystaff alone would restrict the work’s objectivity,
which is the most important quality in such a book.
That is why we formed a compilation committee that
includes not only those members of staff previously
assigned but also directors, trustees, selection committee members, and publishing experts and will,
therefore, be able to consider issues from a variety ofperspectives. It is, if you like, a “hybrid” committee
composed of a mixture of internal and external members. Mr. Hayashi himself, of course, has become oneof the compilation committee members. The committee, whose lively discussions run for several hours at
each session, had met 10 times as of April 2004.
As those involved in the Compilation Committee’s work have researched and gathered information, it has gradually become clear that the scope of
the Foundation’s history and achievements extends
far beyond what has so far been publicly presented.
3

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

I believe that my predecessors at the Foundation
have made vast accomplishments. Much of its success has been due to the many talented people thathave been involved in its work. However, a certain
amount of institutional exhaustion is bound to appear in the systems of any organization that has been
operating for nearly 30 years. Only recently did thenumber of staff at the Foundation rise above 20. In
the beginning it had fewer than 10 staff members,
and even during its period of stability there werebarely more than 10. In the past few years the number of new faces has increased, and this has made itdifficult to carry on some aspects of the Foundation’s
important “institutional memory,” such as the senseof mission and the passion that marked the Foundation immediately after it was founded. Recently
there have also been concerns that some staff members lack the desire to learn from the Foundation’s
institutional memory and that the qualities requiredby program officers are not sufficiently understood.
There have also been signs of overlap among theFoundation’s programs, and some of the ways inwhich projects are selected need to be reviewed toensure transparency and fairness. What is more, adecade of low interest rates has put a severe squeeze
on the Foundation’s finances.
With this situation in mind, I came to the conclusion that the time had come to reform the Foundation. When considering reforms, it is important todistinguish between things that must not be changed
and things that should be changed. One must have aclear understanding of the Foundation’s strengths
and weaknesses and must not meddle with things
that are beyond its capacity. Last summer, as I recognized the need to consider the Foundation’s vision, I
began to think about setting up some sort of body forthis purpose. I also came to realize that a body composed solely of Foundation staff members would
only come up with reform proposals of limited
scope. It is extremely difficult to think up proposals
for fundamental reform while carrying out one’s everyday duties, especially as the reforms may sometimes involve discontinuing aspects of one’s own
work. I then came to think that the process of formulating reform proposals should be separate from thatof implementing them, in other words, that an advisory committee should consider questions put to it
by the Foundation and come up with answers, while
the task of putting the committee’s suggestions into
action would be left to the Foundation’s Board of
Directors and Secretariat. As with the 30-Year History Compilation Committee, I envisioned that the4August 2004

Advisory Committee would be a “hybrid” composed of a mix of members from inside and outside
the Foundation. Takeshi Ryusawa, a member of the
30-Year History Compilation Committee, and Kazue
Iwamoto, a member of the Foundation staff, wereinvaluable sounding boards as I mulled over theseissues. I consulted them because I felt that the task ofreforming the Foundation fitted neatly with the compilation of the 30-year history. Selecting people toserve on the Advisory Committee from among thepossible candidates was a big challenge. The committee members would need a thorough grasp of theFoundation’s position and would have to back thegoal of reforming the Foundation wholeheartedly.
Throughout the month of September I was engaged in selecting candidates for the committee. Fitting this task around other Foundation business, I
traveled around Japan—to Tokyo, Aichi, Kyoto,
Hyogo, and other places—to meet the candidates inperson, explain the significance of reforming theFoundation, and ask them to join the committee. As
a result, at the October 2003 Board of Directors meeting I was able to put forward Takeshi Ryusawa as
chair; Kang Sang-Jung, Ken’ichi Goto, Narifumi
Tachimoto, Koji Tanaka, Hisao Nakai, and Takeshi
Hamashita as external members; and Foundation
staff members Kazue Iwamoto and Yumiko Himemoto as internal members of the Advisory Committee on the Toyota Foundation’s Vision and Initiative.
As I have mentioned, Takeshi Ryusawa, the chair of
the Advisory Committee, is also a member of the 30Year History Compilation Committee in his capacity
as a publishing expert who is thoroughly versed in
the social sciences and the humanities. He has contributed some highly perceptive comments to theCompilation Committee, and I can think of no one
more suited to chairing the Advisory Committee.
Kazue Iwamoto, meanwhile, is a pioneer as a program officer who traveled around Southeast Asia at
the behest of Executive Director Hayashi in the earlydays of the Foundation and has achieved manythings for it. She left once but has now returned as aconsultant. Yumiko Himemoto is a 17-year veteran of
the Foundation’s Southeast Asian Programs and wasselected in April 2003 to lead those programs. Despite many tough challenges during the transition
period of these programs, she made an invaluable
contribution to the development of the Southeast
Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program(SEASREP), which has an excellent international
reputation.
At its monthly meetings, the Advisory Committee

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

holds lively discussions lasting more than half a day.
In January 2004 the Advisory Committee held a twoday gathering at the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya, an
institution about which the Foundation had suggested ideas at the time of its founding. Besides attending the meetings, committee members also haveto read vast amounts of supporting materials. The
committee has heard the opinions of the Foundation’s three program leaders, as well as those of its
young program officers. Following six months ofdetermined activity, the Advisory Committee presented its First Interim Report in February 2004. Theinterim report was produced because it was thoughtthat the Board of Directors and the Secretariat would
have difficulty producing action plans to implement
the committee’s various recommendations if thesewere compiled into one final report. The Foundation
has solemnly accepted the Advisory Committee’sinterim report.
The new fiscal year that began in April 2004 is thefirst year of Foundation reform. The Secretariat paid
due respect to the Advisory Committee’s interim report when drawing up plans for the new year andsubmitting them to the Board of Directors. It is often
said that reforms cause pain, and a certain amount of
discomfort may be unavoidable. Indeed, one must
experience some pain in order to give birth to something new. No organization will make progress if it ismarked only by an attachment to the familiar andcontinued inertia. The Foundation must be flexible
in a variety of areas, because it demands this same
flexibility from grant recipients. We must continue
our efforts while never losing sight of our basic purpose, which is to contribute to society.

Management Plan for Fiscal 2004
Keisuke Sasaki
Secretary General, The Toyota Foundation
In the management plan for fiscal 2004, the contents and operating procedures of the Toyota
Foundation’s various programs
were broadly reexamined andrevised based on the First Interim Report of the Advisory
Committee on the Toyota Foun-

August 2004

dation’s Vision and Initiative. The following changes
were made to the programs.
(1) Research Grant Program• As this is a period in which preparations are being
made for a complete overhaul of the program,
there will be no changes in fiscal 2004, and thebasic theme will remain “Creating a Society with
Pluralistic Values.”• The structure of the Selection Committees that examine applications for grants has been reevaluated, however. With regard to Category B grants
for joint research projects, whereas there had previously been a separate selection committee foreach of the three categories of humanities, society,and the environment, these have now been consolidated into a single committee. This step was
taken to allow committee members to fully evaluate projects in the interdisciplinary fields andacross research areas.
(2) Grant Program for Civil Society• Though the Advisory Committee plans to continue discussions with regard to the future shapeof the Grant Program for Civil Society, a reevaluation of operational aspects of the program will be
carried out in fiscal 2004.
• Regarding Grants for Projects on Civil Society, in
addition to shifting from a framework of nonpublicly solicited applications to one of publicly
solicited applications, a Selection Committee willbe established to screen applications.
• Regarding Grants for Citizens’ Activities, applications for which have up to now covered a wide variety of areas, thematic and disciplinary guidelines
will be narrowed and a suitable Selection Committee established.
(3) Southeast Asian Programs• The Research Skills Training Program will be terminated and integrated into the Southeast Asian
National Research Program (SEANRP). Only
those projects that place a high priority on training
young researchers will be transferred to SEANRP.
• The newly consolidated SEANRP will be added to
the roster of the Research Grant Program in fiscal
2005. As preparation for this, in fiscal 2004 the application system will be amended to publicly
solicit applications, and applications will bescreened by the Selection Committee based on discussions among all its members.
• The Regional Collaboration Grants of the South5

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

east Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program(SEASREP) will be transferred to the SEASREP
Council in Manila in April 2005.
(4) Foundation Initiative Grant Program/Research
Report Grant Program
Expansion of these programs has been considered,and it has been decided to increase their budgets. __Budget for Fiscal 2004
(Unit: ¥1,000)

ProgramAmountResearch Grant Program
Research Grants (Category A)
Research Grants (Category B) *45,000120,000

Grant Program for Civil Society
Grants for Citizens’ Activities
Grants for Special Projects on Civil Society

40,00015,000Southeast Asian Programs
Southeast Asian National Research Program(SEANRP)
Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program(SEASREP)

71,50038,500Foundation Initiative Grant Program
Research Report Grant Program

60,00020,000Total

410,000* Includes the “Asian Neighbors’ Network” and “Special Subjects: Roots of Japanese Modernity” subprograms

Compiling the 30-Year History of the
Toyota Foundation
Yoshiko Wakayama
General Manager, 30-Year History Compilation Office
The Toyota Foundation will mark the thirtieth anniversary of its founding on October 15, 2004. In order
to compile and publish a definitive 30-year history of
the Foundation, the Committee on 30-Year History
Compilation was launched in April 2003. The committee is chaired by Foundation
Managing Director Norio Kanie
and includes the following
members: Foundation Trustee
and former Executive Director
Yujiro Hayashi; Director Yoneo
Ishii, who previously served aschairman of the Selection Committee for International Grants
6

August 2004

and as chairman of the Selection Committee for the“Know Our Neighbors” Program; Director Hideo
Yamaguchi, a former managing director; Ryuho
Hayama, director of NTT Publishing; Takeshi Ryusawa, an advisor with Transart and a former managing editor and member of the board of Heibonsha;
Foundation Senior Fellow Masaaki Kusumi; andFoundation Senior Adviser Kazue Iwamoto.
Committee Chairman Kanie said of his hopes forthe project to compile the 30-year history, “As weapproach the thirtieth anniversary of the Foundation, an important landmark, it is an excellent opportunity both to review the past and to open the door
to the future. I would like to seize the opportunity torevive the energy of the time when the Foundation
began and to seek out new challenges. I would liketo make the 30-year history of the Foundation something that can be regarded highly by people both inJapan and abroad, as well as by future generations. I
hope that it will draw on the vitality of those currently working for the Foundation and that it will beread as a social history by those who have been involved with the Foundation in the past.”
The Formation of the Compilation Committee
The committee formed to compile the history met
eight times between May and November 2003. It decided on a basic plan for the compilation and expressed from a broad viewpoint the direction the
project would take. I would like to introduce heresome of the debate that took place within the committee.
It was decided that the chronicle would focus on
the five main actors involved in Foundation activities: the founder, the Board of Directors, the Selection
Committees, the program officers, and the grant recipients. The founder is Toyota Motor Corp., while
the Board of Directors acts as the supreme decisionmaking body of the Toyota Foundation. The Selection Committees, which were established withineach of the grant programs operated by the Foundation, review applications for grants and present theresults to the Board of Directors as recommendations. The Selection Committees also assist the program officers in their day-to-day duties. The
program officers are the Foundation’s specialists. It isthrough the grant recipients that the work of a foundation is most visible to society, as these are thepeople who use grant funds to conduct projects.
Regarding the historical nature of the Toyota
Foundation, the relationship between a foundationand its founder will generally be the decisive factor

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORTin the nature of that foundation, and this is an issue
that has been debated repeatedly during the 30-year
history of the Toyota Foundation. In particular, whileours is a foundation that was established by a corporation, the founding corporation decided to draw aclear line separating its activities and policies fromthose of the Foundation. Reading through historical
documents reconfirms that the Toyota Foundation
was created to be an independent private-sector
foundation that would serve the public interest.
Program officers are specialists who investigate,plan, and implement on behalf of the grant programs. They have the ability to grasp the needs ofsociety when those needs are still nascent, they form
advanced human networks around the issues they
uncover, and they stay in the background in theimplementation of the program. In other words, theideal candidates are people who perform their roles
magnanimously behind the scenes, rather than seek
the limelight for themselves. At the same time, specialist knowledge is required. At the time the Foundation was created, no one knew anything about therole that program officers would play, so an image ofprogram officers appropriate for a Japanese foundation was created after observing and learning fromfoundations in the West. At this time, though, muchdepended on the personal qualities of individual
program officers, so when the operation of the Foundation became more systematized, the role of program officers was taken up again.
Looking at the financial aspects of the Toyota
Foundation, the committee examined the circumstances between 1997 and 1999, when Toyota Motor
Corp., the Foundation’s founder, expanded theFoundation’s endowment by a total of ¥20 billion. It
is clear that this was the result of a top-down decision made by Toyota Motor that the Foundation
somehow had to be allowed to continue providing
the same level of grants at a time of ultralow interest
rates. The committee also heard reports on theFoundation’s relationship with the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts, and Telecommunications (formerly the Prime Minister’s Office),
the government body overseeing the Foundation.
Plans for the 30-Year History Book
Based on discussions like these within the 30-Year
History Compilation Committee, the format of thebook that will be produced is under consideration. I
would like to introduce the outline as a sort of interim report. The 30-year history will consist of twoparts: a main book and an appendix for data. While

August 2004

focusing on the five groups of people mentioned
above and their roles in the Foundation’s activities,
the main book will also present a chronological history of the Foundation, including the developmentof the grant programs. The book will weave a rich,three-dimensional tapestry of the Foundation andthe people involved with it and will feature interviews with and contributions from such people as
the chairman, president, executive director and managing director, directors, auditors, trustees, selection
committee members, and grant recipients. We would
also like to devise a way to place the Toyota Foundation’s first 30 years within a larger historical context. While the centerpiece of the appendix for data
will be information on the roughly 6,000 grants provided by the Foundation, the question of how themost important of these results should be presented
is a topic for further debate.
The 30-year history of the Toyota Foundation isslated for publication in March 2006. The English
version will be a condensed version of the original
Japanese book and will be released after the Japaneseversion.

As a Member of the Compilation Committee
What is the emerging spirit of the Toyota Foundation, which was founded 30 years ago? In order tohave this understood not just by Japanese but by
thoughtful people around the world, I have included
my thoughts as opening remarksin the Foundation’s annual report,
which shares with society the activities of the Foundation. Rather
than simply being my own personal opinions, a thorough debate
was held within the Foundationahead of the publication of these
opening remarks in order to ensurethat they reflect the view of the Foundation as awhole. As a result of the many discussions and debates, I found that I myself learned a great manythings. It was also good to know that these were notsimply my own individual ideas but that they havecome to be shared by the Foundation as a whole.
Such considerations from the Foundation’s earlyyears are proving to be an important part of therecord of the various periods in the Foundation’s history, as well as a source of inspiration as we look to
7

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

return to our roots. I am pleased that this sense is being strengthened by the Compilation Committee.
(Yujiro Hayashi)***

I am very pleased to be able to participate as a member of the 30-Year History Compilation Committee.
This is because the Toyota Foundation is well awareof the significance of the compilation of its history, is aiming to create something that will be usefulfor years to come, and is approaching the task with a near ideal levelof careful preparation in terms of
personnel, funding, and time; I
sense this very keenly each time I
attend the meetings of the committee. Two of the people on the committee are veteranprofessional editors, and efforts will be overseen by
the general manager, who has a wealth of experience. The resulting history will present the rich experience of the Toyota Foundation in grant activities ina way that other Japanese grant-providing foundations, which are still at their embryonic stage, canlearn from. This history will undoubtedly contribute
greatly to the future development of grant-providing
foundations in Japan. I eagerly hope the history canbe completed as soon as possible. (Yoneo Ishii)***

It is difficult to get people to understand the motivation of a foundation; the number of people who do
are limited. As an individual, I wanted to test thepossibilities of a private sector
foundation within Japanese society, and I worked to publicize its
efforts. I heard, however, thatsome people felt I did not do anything to help my company. Manyof the things that benefit society,though, are of little use to a company. Moreover, the essence of a
grant-providing foundation is to do its work without
expecting it to be reported.
I moved from Toyota Motor Corp. to the Toyota
Foundation in 1981 and retired in 1994. I remember
our leadership thought up to that point that ourwork should be modest and steady. Afterwards, I
served as a part-time member of the board of directors and auditor. By serving as a member of the Com8

August 2004

pilation Committee since a year ago, however, I havebeen surprised by the changes in the Foundation.
Rather than hastily reaching a conclusion, I would
like for us to reconsider what the Foundation should
be. There is no mistaking that the 30-year history of
the Toyota Foundation will be a valuable resource.
(Hideo Yamaguchi)***

I have been very moved each time I have had the opportunity to listen to the deep discussions among thepeople who built the very foundations of the Toyota Foundation andthose who are working to create
the organization’s future vision. As
the only complete outsider, andone without any special knowledge or experience that would allow me to make a contribution, I
wondered why I was there. I recognized, though, that I was a fan and supporter of
the Toyota Foundation, and I felt strongly that its activities were what led Japanese corporations to contribute to culture and that such contributions would
not have taken place otherwise. I hope that we canput together a history of this independent, privatesector foundation that includes good points and bad,is enjoyable to read, and provides many hints for the
future, a history of the Toyota Foundation that will
set a precedent for other foundations with its directness and depth of thought. (Ryuho Hayama)

View the First Interim Report of the Advisory Committee
on the Toyota Foundation’s Vision and Initiative on theFoundation’s website (www.toyotafound.or.jp/etop.htm).

The Toyota Foundation welcomes responses fromreaders of the Occasional Report. Comments andquestions should be addressed to the International
Division, The Toyota Foundation, Shinjuku Mitsui
Building 37F, 2-1-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 163-0437, Japan. The articles in the Occasional
Report reflect the authors’ opinions and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Foundation.
Coordinating editor: Keisuke Sasaki. Production: Japan Echo Inc., Tokyo.
Copyright ©2004 by The Toyota Foundation; all rights reserved. Printed
in Japan.