Japan Institute for National Fundamentals
The or Kokkiken (国基研) is a public and foreign policy think tank in Tokyo, Japan, privately funded and founded in December 2007 by Yoshiko Sakurai. Overview. On its English website about JINF: "We take great pride in our time-honored Japanese civilization and intend to reconsider Japan as it should be, in a wide and global perspective. At the same time, in order to cope with the sea change that is taking place internationally, we urgently hope to reconstruct Japan, which is now malfunctioning in many sectors of our society. Consequently, with a view to  re-addressing fundamental issues that Japan faces, we have established the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (JINF)." At a press conference, Yoshiko Sakurai stated the purpose of establishing the organization: "This has been my dream for a long time. How can we rebuild post-war Japan, a nation that can hardly be called a nation, and what should the Japanese people do to achieve this? A series of questions have been running through my mind and heart throughout my life. Each time, I wrote articles and continued to appeal. The National Institute for National Fundamentals, which I just established, is  an extension of this process". It regularly gives policy proposals to the Japanese government and holds monthly "study" meetings and international symposiums. Membership. JINF has close ties to the ultranationalist organization Nippon Kaigi and many of its members also come from various ultranationalist textbook reform organizations/movements like Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, Japan Education Rebirth Institute (Kyoiku Saisei), and Society to Improve Textbooks. From Nippon Kaigi, some prominent members include chairman Tadae Takubo, secretary general Yuzo Kabashima, former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, and policy committee member Akira Momochi. Organization. References. Publication. JINF publishes weekly short commentaries written by  various professionals on current issues. The institute also publishes a newsletter reporting activities every other month for its members. Awards. Since 2014, the JINF has administered two annual prizes, a Kokkiken Japan Study Award and Japan Study Encouragement Award. Through these awards, the Foundation "encourages and honors outstanding works in the field of Japanese studies at home and abroad that contribute to the furthering of understanding of Japan in the areas of politics, national security, diplomacy, history, education and culture, among others." Funding. The Japan Institute for National Fundamentals is a fully private-funded think tank. There are three types  of membership of the institute, Individual, Supporter and Corporate membership, all of which are completely open. Suspicion. Yoshiko Sakurai, serving as the President, and Tadae Takubo (Professor Emeritus of Kyorin University and the chairman of Nippon Kaigi), serving as the VP, are considered by some left-wing pundits to be revisionists of history.