ISSN 0285-9033

OCCASIONAL REPORT No. 35
THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION

June 2005

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

Two Awakenings
Shosaburo Kimura
President, The Toyota Foundation
Today, as the Toyota Foundation looks back on its 30
years of existence, it is clearer than ever that thegroup needs to dedicate itself to the goal it set out toaccomplish in 1975—to achieve an “increase in human happiness.” All around theworld, people are increasingly
traveling beyond their own borders in pursuit of future sourcesof happiness, of the wisdom andenjoyment they can find in lifeand living.
Nearly 700 million people
have traveled to foreign countries—more than 1 out of every
10 people in the world. This year Japan’s Aichi Prefecture is playing host to the 2005 World Exposition,with “Nature’s Wisdom” as its main theme. Anotherofficial description of the Expo—“A Grand Intercultural Symphony”—was chosen because this is an ageof exchange on such a large scale. Around the globe
a number of countries—particularly the BRICs nations of Brazil, Russia, India, and China—are risingto new prominence on the world stage. The steady
growth in global ties will require Japan to concentrate on exchange, communication, and friendshipbuilding, especially with its Asian neighbors.
In 2003 the Japanese government announced aplan to make the nation a global tourism power byincreasing the annual number of foreign visitors to
10 million by 2010. The world is composed of different lands with different cultures and ways of life, andexchange activities or tourism bringing these lands
closer together will be essential ways to secure ourhappiness and prosperity in the years to come.
One key issue now is how we can craft specificcommunication efforts aimed mainly at Asian nations. The modern age is one of great change, andnow more than ever we are called on to study ways
to communicate and make friends with one another—ways that are rooted deeply in our lives andCONTENTS
Two Awakenings .................................................................................................................1
Celebrating the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Toyota Foundation ..........................................3
Our 13-Year “Golden Age” .................................................................................................4“Doing What It Has Done Thus Far” ...................................................................................4
Hopes for the Toyota Foundation ........................................................................................5
Plan for Establishing a Southeast Asia Program Secretariat in Rural Southeast Asia .............6
Constructing a Discourse on Global Civil Society ...............................................................6
Turning the Spinning Wheel in a Time of Upheaval ............................................................7
Nurturing the Next Ryoma Sakamoto ..................................................................................7
Memories of the Toyota Foundation ....................................................................................8
Looking Beyond Corporate Logic to the Needs of Society ...................................................9
Meeting the Toyota Foundation ...........................................................................................9
Learning from History .......................................................................................................10

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

June 2005

tween two of the tables only to be stopped by a village elder, who told him firmly not to break the line.
The old man explained that to break the line oftables would be to break the unity of the villagers
lined up along it. When I read this passage, I could
not help but nod my head as I finally grasped the significance of that long row of tables. In 1989, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, people across France lined up tables rightacross the land, bisecting the country on a line going
through Paris. Citizens came to these tables to sharebread, cheese, and wine. Here, too, the gathering
symbolized the solidarity of the people.
Participants at the Toyota Foundation’s Tenth Anniversary SympoIn Japan as well as Europe, the image of people
sium in October 1984. From left: President Eiji Toyoda, Executive Dijoining
hands to dance in a circle is a powerful image
rector Yujiro Hayashi, and American foundation expert Waldemar A.
of solidarity. When such a circle is formed, it goes
Nielsen. Mr. Nielsen is holding a copy of the Japanese translation of his
against all etiquette to break its links. Henri Matisse’s
book The Big Foundations, which was translated and published inJapan as a project to mark the Foundation’s tenth anniversary.
1910 masterpiece La Danse depicts five nude women
dancing upon the grass, but shows two of them tohave lost their grasp of each other’s hands. Their outcultures, that are firmly grounded in reality, and thatstretched arms, striving but unable to reach one anare concrete, not abstract.
other, are a magnificent portrayal of the lonelinessI recently had two eye-opening experiences thatand unease that modern humanity feels.
relate closely to the points described above. The first
My second eye-opening experience came when Iof these valuable experiences was a passage I read inread a book written by a young friend of mine, Chinaa recently published book, a collection of photoexpert Seiichiro Aso. I had the pleasure of teachinggraphs and writings by Kenji Aoyagi titled Ajia no
him when he was a university student; today he is atanada Nihon no tanada (Asian Terraced Fields, Japayoung man in possession of a unique view of history
nese Terraced Fields, Heibonsha, 2004). This book isgained through his experiences living as a laborer
filled with moving essays and beautiful photographs
among some of the poorest people in China.
of paddies and scenes of human life taken in Yunnan
One often hears stories of Chinese exchange stuand Guizhou Provinces and the autonomous ethnic
dents
who come to Japan and leave with only antiregion of Qiwan in Guangxi Province in China, asJapanese sentiment, having been unable to make any
well as in South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, thereal friends during their time here. I had always
Philippines, and Japan.
thought this was because they found the Japanese to
Lugging his heavy camera gear from one remote
be standoffish or cool to strangers. But Aso’s second
location to another, the author showed formidable
book, Kokoro atsuku bukotsu
physical strength, a quickde uzattai Chugoku: Kaku koto
wit, and a powerful spirit.
o kinjirareta nagatabi (ExcitWhile visiting Yunnanable, Uncouth, Annoying
Province’s Yuanyang, near
China: The Tale of a Long
the Vietnamese border,
Journey That Could Not Be
Aoyagi photographed theWritten, Joho Center PubHani people as they cellishing, 2004), showed me
ebrated their “feast of thethat this was not the case.
long street.” In this festival
A Chinese person mighttables piled high with foodhave a close Japanese acare lined up in a long row.
quaintance for 10 years or
The villagers gather to eat at
more, spending long hours
this row, which stretches for
an amazing 200 meters. President Shuichi Iijima addresses the Exhibition of Champa in friendly chat and taking
While shooting his photos, Kingdom Ruins and Culture, held in Tokyo in January 1995 to part in events together. But
this will be enough only to
Aoyagi began to walk be- mark the Foundation’s twentieth anniversary.
2THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

make the Chinese see the Japanese as something
more than an acquaintance and something less thana real friend. Why does the feeling of true friendshipnot develop between these two? The answer lies in
the fact that Chinese people give the title pengyou, orfriend, to people who are willing to invite them into
their homes. Even a very recent acquaintance can begreeted as a friend if he makes this overture, inviting
the Chinese person to his home and offering him ameal. This makes it difficult for Japanese people—
who will usually make excuses like “my place is too
cramped and messy to have you over”—to achieve
the status of “friend.” To Chinese people it does notmatter whether your home is large or small, spotlessor filthy. The important thing is for you to show yourwillingness to invite them into it.
As I read this it was like a light coming on for me.
During the short time I spent in France I experienced
something similar to this, sensing the deeper message that a person delivers through such an invitation: “From now on I intend to treat you like amember of my own family.” A visitor from China
who does not receive any invitations from his Japanese acquaintances can only see this as a total lack ofwillingness to become true friends. This may indeed
be the case for most peoples of the world—it may be
the Japanese who are out of the ordinary in this respect.
I find it most heartening that these enlightening
experiences of mine were brought about thanks tothe statements of energetic young people who are
out there in the world, taking an active part in it. I see
this as an encouraging sign for the Toyota Foundation as well.

Celebrating the Thirtieth Anniversaryof the Toyota Foundation
Tatsuo Ota
President and CEO, Japan Association of Charitable Organizations
I have many memories fromthe time when the Toyota
Foundation was established,probably because it was justthen that I first encounteredphilanthropy.

June 2005

Thirtieth Citizen Contest “Observing the Community Environment:
The Past Ten Years and the Future of the Research Contest” (November 1991). Toshitaka Hidaka, former chair of the selection committee(left); Hideo Obara, chair of the selection committee (center).

I had contributed an essay on charitable trusts to a
magazine, which led to a joint research project on thepractical use of charitable trusts undertaken by thePrime Minister’s Office, the Trust Companies Association of Japan, and the newly established Japan Association of Charitable Organizations. As part of thateffort, from 1973 to 1974 I visited well-known charitable foundations and umbrella organizations, including some in the United States and Britain, tostudy charities and philanthropy. That was when I
became acquainted with legal and tax systems andlearned the meanings of some terms and concepts I
had previously known nothing about, such as semipublic joint ventures, altruism, enlightened self-interest, and corporate citizenship. With JACO as mybase, I was able to draw on the knowledge of numerous philanthropists and scholars.
It was at just this time that the Toyota Foundation
was established, and I had a number of opportunities
to speak with Yujiro Hayashi and Iwao Aida. They
were kind enough to listen patiently to the halfbaked ideas of a rookie in the field of philanthropy. I
also became friendly with some excellent up-andcoming young people, such as Ms. Iwamoto, Mr.
Yamaoka, and Ms. Wakayama, who gathered at
Ryozanpaku. These are precious, unforgettable
memories from three decades ago.
The emergence of the Toyota Foundation marked
a new era in the activities undertaken by private corporations for the public good in Japan. The Foundation had so many revolutionary features—its
multiple objectives, its appointment of distinguishedresearchers to act as CEOs, its introduction of a program-officer system and of methods for actively de3

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

veloping grant programs, and its sheer size as afoundation. Although all these things were taken for
granted in the United States, I have nothing but admiration for the keen vision of Eiji Toyoda, thefounding president, in making them a reality in a
Japanese context.
I worked for 44 years for a trust bank, but when
we talked about what trust really means, the thingthat was always cited was Sakichi Toyoda’s definition in January 1926 of the trust that encourages invention. Toyoda pledged to pay ¥1 million to theperson who could develop a machine that weighed
60 kan (225 kg) or less, had a volume of 10 cubic shaku(a shaku is about 30 cm) or less, could generate 100
horsepower continuously for 36 hours, and could be
put to industrial use. Truly, this was the model for
public trusts.
The role of the Toyota Foundation, which stems
from the influence of Sakichi Toyoda, who paved theway for the pursuit of the public trust, will be evenmore important in the future.
A fundamental revision of the public-interest corporation system, which was established in 1929, iscurrently underway and is proceeding at a rapid
pace. At JACO, we are working to create a publicinterest corporation system that is of the people, by
the people, and for the people. I ask for your continued assistance and guidance in making the Toyota
Foundation the leading private-sector public-interest corporation.

Our 13-Year “Golden Age”
Yujiro Hayashi
Trustee, The Toyota Foundation
Served as the first executive director of the Toyota Foundation from 1974 to 1987.
“Today I’ve come to offer an apology.”
I launched into my speechwithout any preamble, standing
before Eiji Toyoda, the president, who wore a baffled expression. “In the past, at meetings ofthe board of directors and elsewhere, I’ve cited the Ford Foundation as a precedent, but theFord Foundation is a family
4June 2005

foundation, completely different from the Toyota
Foundation, which is a corporate foundation, so I
was wrong to use it as a model . . . .”I carried on in this vein for a while. The president
listened in silence until I finished and then said, “I’ve
known this all along. It’s nothing to worry about.
Please continue to do whatever you think is best.
This is nothing to trouble yourself over.” With thesewords, he resumed his customary genial countenance, without the slightest hint of concern.
I have done a lot of different things, and when I
look back now I feel that I have been deeply fortunate in the people I have worked with. I have been
truly happy, but particularly so during my 13 years
with the Toyota Foundation, and especially in making the acquaintance of Eiji Toyoda. Far more thanme, as the preceding anecdote shows, he had a very
deep and broad understanding of all of the principles and actual circumstances of philanthropy andfirmly upheld those principles. And yet, without
ever showing off his knowledge, he entrusted everything to me. He was inimitable. For me those 13
years truly were a golden age.

“Doing What It Has Done Thus Far”
Hideo Yamaguchi
Auditor, The Toyota Foundation
Served as secretary general of the Toyota Foundation from1981 to 1992 and as managing director from 1990 to 1994.
When I came over to the Toyota Foundation fromToyota Motor Corporation in 1981, President Eiji
Toyoda told me that the Foundation would “do well to go on doing what it has done thus far.” By
that he meant unconstrained act i v i t i e s t h a t re s p e c t t h eFoundation’s independence,transcend the corporate framework, and actively address theneeds of society.
When I made the rounds ofthe company offices to say my goodbyes after receiving my new assignment, however, I found that someof the executives were hoping the Foundation would
not go on doing what it had done before. Later on,
the president lamented the fact that certain people

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

were saying “Yamaguchi isn’t doing anything tohelp the company.” After Mr. Hayashi, the executive
director, stepped down, people appeared around me
who openly questioned whether the company
wanted us to continue on the same course as in thepast. It was generally considered to be common
sense for a corporate foundation to do the bidding of
its founding company.
In spite of this, I tried to ensure that the Foundation continued to do as it had always done, not forthe sake of clinging to old ways but in the interest ofcontinually preserving the original spirit that inspired the Foundation’s establishment.
Now, 30 years later, it seems to me that the Foundation has become a little more mature. Has its
splendid stature as an independent foundation, true
to Eiji Toyoda’s convictions, faded away? And whatof the brilliant impression that prompted one American foundation expert to remark that “foundations in
the United States could learn a lot from the Toyota
Foundation”?
As the saying goes, we learn from the past, and theFoundation’s 30-year history offers an excellent opportunity to do so. Let us return to our starting point,
to once again be told to go on doing what we havedone thus far.

Hopes for the Toyota Foundation
Ishii Yoneo
President, National Institutes for the Humanities
Has chaired the selection committees for the International
Research Grant Program and the “Know Our Neighbors”
Translation-Publication Program. Has served as a director
since 1992.
There is a way of thinking called “idealistic realism.”
At first glance it may seem self-contradictory, but forme it is a motto for life. Never to forget one’s ideals
is a simple rule, and it also
sounds good. If one never gets
beyond simply talking about
ideals, however, then those ideals can’t be realized in the world
we live in. The process of realizing ideals actually requires thekind of hardcore realism thatmost idealists abhor. But how

June 2005

The first International Grant Program Symposium was held in
Bangkok, Thailand, in November 1990. Yoneo Ishii, Director, The
Toyota Foundation (far left).

does one get past all the slurs and criticism heaped
upon realists and attain the initial resolve to realize
ideals? This is the true test of the caliber of an individual—or an organization—dedicated to ideals.
Thirty years ago, the Toyota Foundation was established for the purpose of pursuing lofty ideals. In
Japan, a nation with scarcely any tradition of philanthropy, the Toyota Foundation directed its efforts toward realizing the true meaning of philanthropy.
Those efforts have been manifested in theFoundation’s activities thus far, and I believe they
have been adequately rewarded in the words ofpraise bestowed on the Foundation by grant recipients both in Japan and in other countries. The question is: What next?
Organizations are in constant danger of becoming
inflexible in spite of the sincerity and good intentionsof the people involved and must continually reformthemselves if they are to achieve their ideals. In theabsence of mechanisms for constructive criticism, therisk of making innocent mistakes is great. Is there adisparity between the Foundation’s ideals and its
performance? Inquiries of this sort must be conducted unceasingly.
Recently the Foundation, now marking its thirtieth anniversary, completely revised its programs.
This was a wise and courageous move. Thirty years
is about the length of one generation. History teaches
us that “movement” is necessary to bring about“new life” to invigorate organizations that havegrown rigid with age. I sincerely hope that the
Toyota Foundation will use its thirtieth anniversary
as an opportunity for new “movement,” providing
the spark for creativity during the next 30 years.
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June 2005

Plan for Establishing a Southeast
Asia Program Secretariat in
Rural Southeast Asia
Yoshiaki Ishizawa
President, Sophia University
Chaired the International Research Grant Program selection committee from 1992 to 2001. Has served as a trustee
since 2002.
I may be inviting harsh criticism by presenting a proposal like this one prior to seeing the final report of
the Advisory Committee on the Toyota Foundation’s
Vision and Initiative, but I’m hoping it will beviewed as a strategic pipe dream.
I offer the Sophia University Asia Center for Research and Human Development as an example. The Center,
where researchers and contract
employees are now stationed,was established in October 2002
in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It has
four departments—education,
research, international exchange, and public relations—and transmits information from
Asia to the rest of the world. It also serves to receiveand compile information and is connected by networks to the world at large. Unexpected information
pours in, and there is a strong sense that the Centerhas assumed its place in Southeast Asia.
In the past, such Asian research has been based inJapan, so researchers have had to go back and forth
to present their findings. This has meant conducting
research in other Asian countries without having a
research base where the studies were carried out.
This is akin to carrying out astronomical researchwithout an observatory.
The Center conducts ongoing studies and researchin Asia and serves as a sort of stationary observation
post as well as a venue for international exchange.
Researchers there can witness firsthand the wave ofglobalization openly spreading through Cambodia,
study on an ongoing basis the aspects that are painful or contradictory to Cambodians and the advantages and disadvantages of globalization, andpresent findings and field inquiries. Viewed from
Cambodia, the benefits of globalization may seem toaccrue only to the affluent, leaving most of thepeople of the world untouched.
6

The Gyoutoku Bird Observatory’s “Restoration of Shinhama: Cleaning the Water and Bringing Back Birdlife” won the fourth ResearchContest in 1987. The photo shows a water wheel used to mix oxygen
into the water, increasing the oxygen content of a polluted river.

Living in Southeast Asia means experiencing thewinds, the sun, and the humidity through your own
sensory apparatus, and this enables you to get avivid, immediate sense of the climate and the physical world. It may not be something you can see, but I
think the setting enables you to somehow be in sync
with the Southeast Asian mindset. Having a base likethis would surely give the Foundation’s Southeast
Asia Programs firm roots in Southeast Asia.

Constructing a Discourse on
Global Civil Society
Aiko Utsumi
Professor, Keisen University
Chaired the Research Grant Program (Individual Research) selection committee from 2002 to 2004. Has served
as a member of the Grant Program for Community Activities selection committee since 2004.
Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11, while harsh, explained in an easily comprehensible manner why the UnitedStates invaded Iraq. The eventsof September 11, 2001, have, under the banner of the “war on
terrorism,” temporarily suspended the expansion of global
civil society. I believe, however,that the trend toward such a so-THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

ciety cannot be reversed. From Indonesia to Thailand
to South Korea, NGOs are carrying out pioneering
activities aimed at creating a global society. The establishment of an Internet media channel called
Ohmynews as an alternative to the mainstream media
played a major role in the recent election upset inSouth Korea, and the Internet has also figured prominently in a movement to establish a peace museum.
The subject of atrocities committed by South Korean
soldiers in the Vietnam War has been taken up, andin a related effort, a movable peace museum has beencreated. Researchers and NGO officials speak passionately about these developments, overwhelmedby the energy, the wealth of ideas, and the unique nature of these movements in South Korea. In Indonesia and Thailand, too, NGOs are passionately settingout dreams for the future.
When traveling around Asia, one is struck by thefeeling that scholars and NGO activists in Asia whohave been bloodied in the struggle for democracy,
human rights, and regional progress are seeking
ways to establish civil societies and making dynamic
efforts to bring them about. The vision of these Asian
pioneers extends to concepts of civil society that go
beyond those advanced by NGOs in Japan and Western nations.
Together with the people in other Asian countries,
we can create dynamic research and activities directed toward formulating a theory of a global civilsociety. I hope the Toyota Foundation will continue
to be a foundation I can march along with, supporting research and activities brimming with the energy
to break through the status quo.

Turning the Spinning Wheel in a
Time of Upheaval
Kazuyoshi Fujita
President, Daichi-o-Mamoru-Kai (Association to Preserve the Earth)
Chaired the Grants for Citizen Activities selection committee
from 2002 to 2004. Has been a member of the Grant Programfor Community Activities selection committee since 2004.
The twenty-first century is here, but the world has
not achieved peace; war and bloodthirsty terrorism
continue. Humanity hasn’t even found a clue to solving its population, environmental, or food-supply

June 2005

problems. Japan itself is undergoing a period of political andeconomic confusion. Every day I
see the newspaper or watch television and ask myself what I
should and can do.
Shin’ichi Tsuji, a professor at
Meiji Gakuin University, tells astory about a letter that Mahatma Gandhi received from a young person. In the letter, the person noted that great movements weretaking place in the world but that Gandhi did nottalk about politics or economics, talking instead about
the importance of a balanced diet and other inconsequential subjects. The letter writer asked him why.
In his reply, Gandhi noted that his correspondent
seemed to think that people should not clean theirhouses until the great changes referred to in his letter had taken place. People who can’t even manage
small changes are in no way capable of achieving big
changes, he wrote.
Gandhi used to spin his own thread, turning his
own spinning wheel, and he recommended thispractice to others. That’s how people in the Gandhi
household had lived since his grandmother’s timeand long before. The little things that make up everyday life are important. Gandhi taught that the way
we live can provide us with the power to change theworld. This year the Toyota Foundation marks thethirtieth anniversary of its founding. I hope its future
activities will continue to illuminate the true roots ofsociety, just as Gandhi taught us to do.

Nurturing the Next Ryoma Sakamoto
Yoshikazu Takaya
Professor, Seisen University
Received grants for “An Experiment to Improve the Economic Viability of Traditional Sago-Producing Communities” in fiscal 1983 and 1985 and for “Reconstructing theAgro-Aquacultural Way of Life from Excavations at the
Yayoi Site in Moriyama City, with the Aim of Fostering
Pride in Local Communities and Community Development” in fiscal 2003.
At Ehime University, Associate Professor Katsuya
Osozawa is busy providing opportunities to middle
and high school students in an effort to raise the next
7

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

Ryoma Sakamoto. When he was a graduate student,
Osozawa received a grant from the Toyota Foundation and traveled to the tropical forests of Sulawesi.
The theme of the project he took part in was “An Experiment to Improve the Economic Viability of Traditional Sago-Producing Communities” (fiscal 2003).
In the years since then, he has
spent a great deal of time livingin the villages where people subsist on sago, creating sago factories, forming a union of sago
producers, and going throughvarious changes hand-in-handwith the villagers.
During this time, there was amajor clash among the young
people of the village that resulted in a complicatedand intractable situation. Osozawa, who found himself entangled in the dispute, suddenly hit on an idea
and suggested that he would bring a large sailingship to the village. Immediately one of the village
leaders agreed that going out to sea would bring everyone together again, and the mood changed completely. For the people of the area, the sea is a place
for learning skills, testing one’s fortitude, and earning a livelihood.
Osozawa then set about the task of constructing aship. His plan was to build a 70-ton pinisi sailing ship
and then use it to circle Wallacea with a crew of 20.
The goals of the voyage would be to conduct commercial activities, study the lives of seafarers, andtrain the crew in body and mind. The crew of 20 is a
mix of Indonesians and Japanese. The ship has been
completed, and the crew has set sail on its voyage.
Osozawa says that he wants to raise the next
Ryoma Sakamoto. I am pleased to report how far his
project has come since he received a grant more than
20 years ago.

Memories of the Toyota Foundation
Setsuho Ikehata
President, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Served as a member of the International Grant Program
selection committee from 1984 to 1996.
From 1984 to 1996 I served on the selection committee for the Toyota Foundation’s International Grant
8

June 2005

Program. At the time, the focus of the program was“Preserving and Revitalizing Indigenous Cultures”
in Southeast Asia. I was in charge of the Philippines,
but every one of the committee members felt a responsibility that extended to all of Southeast Asia,
so the passionate debates thattook place during our committee
meetings always went well over
the originally allotted time.
In Southeast Asia in the 1980s,
while there was a lot of international assistance relating to development economics anddevelopment politics, there waslittle money available to support
research in such areas as culture and history. Much
was therefore expected of the Toyota Foundation andof its pioneering commitment to research in these
relatively neglected fields.
Program officers and members of the selection
committee felt a sense of mission and togetherness as
they went about the task of identifying and supporting serious research projects and scholars that would
steadily drive forward research in the various countries. And all of us were young enough to turn ourgoals into action. Looking back on what we did,those feelings are even stronger now. To pursue its
mission, the Foundation needs insight based on abroad, accomplished vision, as well as the passion ofyouth.
During the 1980s the Toyota Foundation actively
provided assistance for research on regional culture,
literature, and history in Southeast Asia based on thetheme of “Preserving and Revitalizing Indigenous
Cultures.” The Foundation’s unstinting support for
research in these areas produced substantive resultsin terms of delving into the origins and current stateof the multilingual and multicultural societies thatexist in Southeast Asian countries.
In the 1990s, meanwhile, the Toyota Foundation
began providing grants to research projects that address regional themes spanning national borders andto projects designed to build networks among the
researchers and scholars of Southeast Asian countries. As with any organization, the role of the Foundation has indeed changed with the times, but what
is important in any age is to maintain the passion andvibrant spirit of finding and nurturing creativity on
the frontlines of research.

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

Looking Beyond Corporate Logic to
the Needs of Society
Minoru Kashiwagi
Japan Wetlands Action Network
The Japan Wetlands Action Network received Grants for
Citizen Activities for the project “Preservation and Conservation of Japan’s Wetlands” in fiscal 1991 and 1992
and a Research Grant for the project “Action to Protect
Breeding Grounds and Staging Areas Used by the Spoonbilled Piper and Red-backed Sandpiper” in fiscal 2001.
I first heard of the Toyota Foundation in the late1970s, soon after it was established. I was part of a
support group for a seriously illpatient in the town in which I
lived, and among the others in
the group was one of the key figures in a comprehensive survey
on Minamata disease funded by
the Foundation. I was surprisedthat one of the largest corporations in the world was supporting a survey on environmental
pollution caused by corporate activities.
Some 20 years later, I became the conduit between
the Toyota Foundation and a group receiving grants
through my connection with the late Hirofumi
Yamashita, who was the head of the Japan Wetlands
Action Network. What pleased me most was the factthat the program officer was readily available for
consultation not only on how to write an application
but also with regard to our goals and plans, as wellMembers of the Study Group on Hakodate Color Culture, which won
the top prize in the fifth Research Contest (July 1988). The club investigated the color of paint used on wooden houses, which are a feature of
the Hakodate landscape, and used this information to promote urban
regeneration.

June 2005

as how we might express individual conditions.
In addition to encouraging in me feelings offriendship toward the program officer personally,
this made me realize that this was the way the Toyota
Foundation had conducted its affairs ever since its
inception. This may just be my own opinion, but I
wonder whether this is not a manifestation of theFoundation’s attitude of standing alongside those
who step away from concerns of corporate profitability and conduct surveys and projects based on theneeds of society, and of providing the funding to ensure such efforts succeed. This stance leads to therealization of the things that society needs most by
the most appropriate methods.
It is my wish that the cooperative undertaking ofproviding grant funding is one that will lead, however gradually, to a situation in which both private
corporations and citizens’ groups can accept eachother’s different means of expression and can work
together to realize a better society.

Meeting the Toyota Foundation
Masako Sakai
Dandansha
Received 14 grants under the “Know Our Neighbors”
Translation-Publication Program during the period from1982 to 2002 for the translation and publication of literaryworks from Southeast and South Asia.
The first time I met people from the Toyota Foundation, I was very unsure of myself, tentatively explaining that I wanted to publish a series of works by
Asian woman authors. The immediate reaction of
Kazue Iwamoto, the creator of the “Know Our
Neighbors” Program, was to ask, “So, how about using women translators?” Without asking a single
question about my professional
background, Iwamoto moved
the conversation forward andsmiled as she told me that she
wanted me to create betterthan-average books. I was
deeply moved by the big heartof this slim woman.
That was in 1983, and overthe next 20 years we published9THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

June 2005

Learning from History
Norio Kanie
Managing Director, The Toyota Foundation

Over 600 books have been published through the “Know Our Neighbors” Translation-Publication Program.

some 14 books, mainly in the series on Asian woman
authors, using the Toyota Foundation grants we received. All of them were translated from local Asian
languages. There are very few translators of Asian
languages in Japan, and there are few opportunities
for those who do exist to show what they can do. I
think this gave the translators a sense of mission andjoy that their work would become a book, leadingthem to give the translations their all.
It usually took three or four years between the selection of a work and the publication of the translation, and during this time there were many issues
relating to contracts and editing to be dealt with. I
was working as a one-person publishing company,
and I took counsel from translators, friends and acquaintances, and related organizations when problems arose. If a problem got out of hand, I turned to
the Foundation for guidance. My liaison with theFoundation changed from Mr. Makita to Ms.
Himemoto to Mr. Honda and then to Ms. Ogawa. But
through it all, the human response that transcends
questions of organization remained the same. We
were always encouraged by the assistance the Foundation provided, which included both the grant
funds and the intangible extras.
We were fortunate in that we were able to get all
14 of the selections turned into books, and the Modern Asian Woman’s Literature Series won the fortieth
Annual Translation Publishing Award of JST (Japan
Society of Translators). I accepted this award on behalf of the Foundation and the translators. On thatfirst day 22 years ago, I was a housewife with nofunds and no organization, but the Foundation took
me seriously as a grant applicant. If they had notdone so, Dandansha would never have come into
existence.
10(1) Thankful for 30 Years of Support
In October 2004 the Toyota Foundation celebrated its
thirtieth birthday. The Toyota Motor Corporation
had lofty goals in mind when it established the Foundation. These goals are spelled out in the Prospectus
issued on September 19, 1974, which describedToyota’s desire to contribute to the good of society
and stated: “This philosophy guided Toyota in its decision to commemorate its fortieth year in the automobile industry by establishing The Toyota
Foundation in 1974. The goal of the Foundation is tocontribute toward the realization of a more peopleoriented society and a resulting increase in humanhappiness.” From its very beginning, the Toyota
Foundation has kept its gaze firmly on these publicbenefits—the happiness of humans and the creationof a society whose focus is on the people within it.
The Foundation was fortunate to begin its existence with amost generous endowment of¥10 billion—an exceptionalamount for that time. Thanks tointerest rates that seem unthinkably high when viewed from thepresent day, we were able to receive some ¥800 million to ¥900
million annually for our operating budget. Interest rates plummeted following thecrash of Japan’s bubble economy at the beginning of
the 1990s, dealing a great blow to our funding, but
Toyota Motor stepped up in the second half of that
decade to provide an additional ¥20 billion for the
principal endowment. Thanks to this generosity we
now have an endowment of ¥30 billion, among thelargest in Japan for organizations like ours, and we
can once again maintain a steady pace in our grantmaking activities. I must take this opportunity tothank the company for its warm support over thesethree decades.
Over the 30 years of the Foundation’s existence,
we have been proud to put together programs thatare regarded very highly, both in Japan and aroundthe world. Broadly speaking, these programs havefocused on areas including support for researchers inJapan, support for researchers throughout Southeast

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORTNature photographer Michio Hoshino presents the findings of his project“Visual Documentation of the Changes in the Seasonal Migrationof Caribou and in Hunting by Eskimos as a Result of Arctic Oil-Field
Exploitation” at the Twenty-Seventh Citizen Contest in May 1990.

Asia, translation and publishing activities aimed atstrengthening cultural ties between Japan and Southeast Asian nations, and assistance for citizen groups
active in Japan. We have made around 6,000 grants inall, distributing more than ¥13 billion in pursuit ofthese goals. The Toyota Foundation has operated ona scale rarely seen among foundations in Japan.
These operations have been made possible by our
support from Toyota Motor. The Foundation has also
enjoyed strong support from its directors, auditors,
and trustees, as well as the members of the selection
committees and external advisors who work onawarding the grants. Last but certainly not least, thegrant recipients themselves have played an important role in keeping us going and making us what weare today. I believe the Toyota Foundation shouldtake the time to thank these people—the parents of
the organization, in a sense—as it looks back on its 30
years of existence to date. In an expression of thisgratitude, we have asked a number of people towrite commemorative essays for this newsletter. It
has been a great pleasure to receive the many encouraging and inspiring manuscripts, and I thank thewriters as well.
The people who have handled the Toyota
Foundation’s day-to-day affairs must not be forgotten in all of this. Their dedication and hard work are
key to the Foundation and have been instrumental inbringing it from its inexperienced state in 1974 towhere it stands today. I hope to see the present staff
tackle their work with just as much passion as those
who have gone before them.

June 2005(2) Learning from History(A) Looking at the history of the Foundation“To learn from history” may sound like a needlessly
grand undertaking for an organization like ours. But
I believe that from time to time we need to sit down
and take a lengthy look at what the past has to offer.
In recent years the pace of our activities has been frenetic, and we tend to forget what took place backwhen the Foundation was first established. We needto reexamine that era, though—to humbly take ourlessons from the reasons for the Foundation’s birthand the sort of expectations people had of it. The
people involved with the organization in those earlydays must have had many ideas about what sort ofentity it should be. For the provider of theFoundation’s funding, Toyota Motor, these thoughts
were likely the same ones expressed in the Prospectus described above. It is also worth remembering
the enthusiasm and passion of the people in chargeof the Foundation in its infancy. Rather than rely exclusively on input from Toyota Motor, government
agencies, and established, experienced foundations,they worked as hard as possible to do things on theirown. This dedication—this energy—was truly impressive.
Today, in this milestone year in its existence, theToyota Foundation is taking a serious look at ways
to reform itself. The time has come for the organization to adapt to the changing environment in which
it finds itself and to rethink systems that are out ofsync with the present. While tackling these tasks, itwill be most important to differentiate between
those things that must remain unchanged and thosethat require change. No matter how many years slip
by, we must never alter the principles and aspirations on which the organization was founded. At
the same time, there will always be areas that needretooling to bring them in line with changing eras,societies, and environments. As we consider whatforms the Foundation should take from now on, we
will need to analyze the strengths and weaknessesof the managerial resources at our disposal today,
selecting and focusing on certain areas in order toimprove the organization. We must find ways tomake efficient use of the limited resources that we
have.
The Toyota Foundation is pursuing these reforms
through two main agencies. The first of these is the
30-Year History Compilation Committee, establishedin April 2003 to work for a three-year period on creating a written history of our three decades of opera11

THE TOYOTA FOUNDATION OCCASIONAL REPORT

tion. The second group, the Advisory Committee on
the Toyota Foundation’s Vision and Initiative, wasformed in October 2003 to work for two years on thequestion of what fundamental direction the organization should take from now on. Both of these committees have as their core mission the task of learningfrom the Foundation’s past and crafting the message
it will broadcast for the future.
(B) The Foundation’s independence
In the course of the work carried out by the 30-Year
History Compilation Committee, we have learned agreat many things. Indeed, this process has been so
educational that it cannot be fully described in ashort newsletter such as this. The knowledge obtained by the committee will be treated more fully inthe 30-year history itself when it is published; here I
will touch very briefly on the fruits of this committee’s discussions.
One of the important lessons we have learned concerns the independent nature of the Foundation. As
the Compilation Committee has discovered throughits careful research, from the very beginning Toyota
Motor took a very hands-off approach to the entity it
had established, leaving the management of theFoundation up to the Foundation itself. The first halfof the 1970s was an era of strong public criticism oflarge corporations in Japan, and the automaker was
the scene of vigorous internal debate on the societal
responsibility of companies. This debate led Toyota
Motor to the conclusion that simply establishing anorganization working for the public good was notenough; that organization should also be given thefreedom to chart its own course.
The first president of the Toyota Foundation respected this hands-off approach of the founding
company, keeping clear of the day-to-day operationsof the Foundation and watching quietly over its
progress. He was nicely complemented in this by the
first executive director, who admirably performed
the wide-ranging role the president had assigned
him. The Compilation Committee’s research hasturned up valuable information on the perfect match
between these two early leaders of the organization.
Thanks to the wise decisions that Toyota Motor
made concerning its relationship with the Foundation, the latter had considerable independence fromthe very beginning and has enjoyed a free hand in its
activities, which have been more meaningful as a result. I hope to see the Toyota Foundation give deep
thought to how it will build on this sturdy base as itplans its future moves.
12

June 2005(3) My Thoughts on the Foundation’s Future
The Advisory Committee on the Toyota Foundation’s Vision and Initiative is now working on a midto long-term vision to guide the Foundation. All
grant-making organizations are today grapplingwith the worrying problems of shrinking pools offunds for their activities and the ongoing government reforms of the system governing nonprofit organizations, which may take a wrong turn and start
doing harm to that system. Still, I would like to takea more optimistic view of the future of the Toyota
Foundation.
Now that we have moved into the twenty-first
century and left the twentieth behind, the Foundation will increasingly need to focus on new themesthat are central to the modern age. Everyone in theFoundation, from its directors to its staff, will need towork together to pursue goals that benefit the public. In terms of the interface between the Foundationon the one hand and communities and society on theother, we will see the Foundation serving as a medium for growing exchange between a wide range of
people. Information on the grants provided by theFoundation and the accumulated results of those
grants will also be shared widely, with the organization itself at the hub of these networks of exchange. I
would like to direct the Toyota Foundation downthese paths as it considers its best form for the future.
We will need to broadcast accessible messages if weare to win the understanding of all members of society. I ask humbly for your support as we move ahead
with these efforts.

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 ©2005 by The Toyota Foundation; all rights reserved. Printed
in Japan.