In this era, people are continually seeking new ideas. To discover pioneering ideas, fixed concepts must be abandoned, and instead all phenomena ought to be viewed as relative. All happenings and events must be regarded with a flexible frame of mind and without the limitations of preconceived notions.

The mission of The Tokyo Foundation is to identify the advent of emerging currents in this new era; to determine the best means of responding to these currents; to discover and foster the growth of people who can respond to such novel challenges; and to provide venues where such insightful individuals can exchange opinions and help shape the future. In essence, the foundation's responsibility is to become a wellspring for the creation of new ideas. Moreover, while striving to improve Japanese society and to transform the awareness of the Japanese people, the foundation is also working to contribute to the international community by taking the intellectual initiative necessary to resolve various global-scale problems that face humanity today and will face us in coming years.

The foundation was established on July 1, 1997, as The Global Foundation for Research and Scholarship. A private, independent foundation governed by independent Boards of Directors and Trustees, the foundation is based in Tokyo, Japan. On May 27, 1999, the foundation officially changed its name to The Tokyo Foundation.

Founded to promote and contribute to the betterment of a rapidly changing and increasingly borderless world, the foundation initiates and promotes intellectual activity within the parameters of the social sciences, humanities, and maritime affairs. Its mission is to help ensure that issues of concern to all humankind are addressed in a proactive and timely manner. The foundation also implements programs that foster the creation of innovative ideas and the development of leadership.

The foundation implements research projects on social, economic, and political issues as well as international relations and other fields to determine - from an independent and non-profit standpoint - the actions necessary to resolve pivotal problems facing the world today, as well as those that are expected to challenge humanity in the near future.

Research projects are designed to identify the essence of global problems and to devise preemptive responses. These projects are classified into three categories: Problem-Discovery Research, intended to identify problems that the international community will have to resolve in the years to come; Policy Proposals, designed to result in the preparation of independent policy recommendations concerning the resolution of various problems presently confronting the world; and Consciousness Raising, intended to transform the awareness and conceptualization processes of all people.

　

Education is an old and yet very new and pressing concern. The Research Division is implementing a research project on Japanese education to contribute to the development of a new system to replace the current approach to public education in Japan. This project is an effort - as this nation is exposed to intense international competition economically and is subjected to the high political expectations of other countries regarding the adequacy of its contributions to the international community - to identify the best means of educating Japanese youth, who will bear the responsibility of assuring Japan is a prosperous and peaceful nation in the future. The goal and approach of this project is to examine the educational process at its very core - that is, to examine the fundamental goals of education per se. Moreover, inasmuch as education has wide-ranging influence on the development of the character of both individuals and of organizations and institutions that we create, this project also reflects awareness of the need to transform our consciousness so as to better recognize the great impact that education has on individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole.

　

The foundation has conducted studies concerning the reorganization of the ministries and agencies of Japan's central government and the process of reforming special public corporations and has submitted independent policy recommendations regarding both of these areas. In particular, before the government's compilation of its own rationalization plan for special public corporations, the foundation presented proposals to these bodies regarding future reform and specific reform measures, including abolition and privatization.

These proposals incorporated concrete post-reform structures, and have fostered greater public interest in the rationalization of public corporations. The process of reforming Japan's public corporations is currently reaching its peak, and the foundation, while carefully monitoring these trends, is now conducting, as the last phase of this policy-proposal project, a new research project on public-service-corporation reform, dealing with the recent series of government administrative-reform initiatives.

In the area of international issues, the foundation is implementing a project to analyze Japan-Russia relations from a comprehensive viewpoint, including such matters as international relations, security, and economic cooperation. Based on this analysis, independent policy recommendations will be prepared regarding the resolution of the Northern Territories issue and the signing of a peace treaty between the two nations. Considering that bilateral negotiations regarding these issues have fallen into a deadlock and seem even to have regressed, and although the 1997 Krasnoyarsk Agreement called for the signing of a peace treaty by the end of 2000, this project represents an effort to break the impasse by providing new insights from the private-sector perspective.

　

The domestic debate regarding the reform of Japan's social-welfare system has tended to emphasize issues of fairness and efficiency. The foundation is conducting a research project on Japanese social welfare so as to give due consideration to how proposed reforms will affect individuals' daily lives; to focus on human dignity in the context of social welfare; and to examine various pioneering experimental welfare programs from the private-sector view point. Overall, this project is de-signed to seek the means whereby Japan's future social-welfare system will best fulfill its proper roles. Because the spirit of self-help is essential for maintaining the dignity of human beings as individuals, the project also recognizes the need to transform the awareness of Japanese citizens regarding welfare matters. In addition, the project reexamines the role of the state as a provider of social-welfare services, and considers the optimal division of welfare-related responsibilities between the governmental and private sectors.

In addition to disseminating the results of such projects via publications, videos, and other media, the foundation shares its findings by convening lecture meetings, seminars, and international conferences. Also, by forming a network that includes Diet members, civil servants, and other government officials involved in policymaking, the foundation works to influence the Japanese government's policy-formation process. As appropriate, the foundation also conducts joint research projects with overseas research institutions in an effort to achieve a still-greater impact. The findings of certain projects are formulated as proposals that aim to transform the awareness of the Japanese citizenry.

It is still difficult to obtain reference materials and reports generated by Japanese government agencies during the policymaking process. The foundation has built a database - the Public Policy Information Platform - to access and provide policy information and thereby make this process more transparent, encourage national consensus building, and create a climate that fosters open policy debate and policy drafting. This database is being jointly operated with the Government Data Research Center of Japan.

　

In an effort to identify promising individuals with fore-sight and creativity, and to foster the development of young researchers, the foundation is implementing a project whereby six researchers are conducting research concerning one of the following six research themes: Japanese NGOs and Japan's foreign policy; the international community and globalization; human rights and security; Japan's overseas dissemination of information; the local government system after the decentralization of authority; and Islam and the Middle East.

The Scholarship Division is responsible for the foundation's fellowship programs and related activities, which are based upon a transnational, multi-level model that focuses on higher education and professional development. The transnational aspect of its programs and activities is reflected in enhancing mobility and collaboration that transcend the bilateral prototype. The multi-level aspect is demonstrated in its design of programs and activities that are targeted at individuals - graduate students, university faculty and administrators, and professionals in specific areas - and institutions. The emphasis on higher education aims at encouraging the development of talented young people with leadership potential and enhancing internationalization of institutions to not only meet scholarly and student-centered goals but to better fulfill the needs of local, regional, and global communities. The focus on professional development is intended to help strengthen the infrastructure of society on local, national, regional, and global levels through human resource development via the social sciences and humanities.

　

SYLFF (pronounced "sylph") is The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund that was established in 1987. Over the past 15 years, 65 universities and consortia in 43 countries have received endowments of US$1 million from The Nippon Foundation. These SYLFF institutions, listed on page 5, use the earnings generated from their respective endowments to provide fellowships to promising graduate students in social sciences and humanities fields to study at their home institutions or abroad. The term "SYLFF program" is frequently used to encompass the entirety of this fellowship program, "SYLFF institutions" to denote universities or groups of institutions that have received an endowment, and "SYLFF fellows" in referring to the nearly 8,500 students who have received fellowships. The Scholarship Division administers the SYLFF program and its follow-up programs.

　

Since 1994, The Nippon Foundation has presented eight endowments to 11 universities in six countries to support the teaching of Japanese language and culture, notably the training of teachers of Japanese, curriculum development, and related activity. The Scholarship Division assumed responsibility for the administration of the Nippon Foundation Fund for Japanese Language Education (NFFJLE) Program in March 1998.

　

- Macquarie University

- Monash University

- University of Queensland^* (for Griffith University)

　

- Cairo University

　

- Indonesian University of Education* (for Manado State University and Surabaya State University)

　

- Massey University

　

- Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University

　

- Bucharest University

　

Inaugurated in 1998, this program provides up to five fellowships per year to young Japanese officials at town, city, and prefectural government offices to pursue graduate study outside Japan. The aim of this program is to foster professional development in regional government affairs in Japan. The program will be completed in 2003.

　

Resumed in 2002, the aims of this program are to foster professional development in transport and maritime affairs in Japan with an emphasis on enhancing understanding of culture, traditions and customs in foreign countries, and to nurture global sensibilities and creativity. This program provides up to four fellowships per year to transport and maritime officials to pursue up to two years' graduate study outside Japan.

　

Initiated in 1998, this program supports the internationalization of higher education in Japan by providing awards to full-time faculty members at four-year Japanese universities or Japanese graduate schools to teach abroad in their respective fields of specialization. Awardees are expected to actively participate in the academic life of the host institution and thereby acquire first-hand knowledge and understanding of academic practices, and institutional and student needs and expectations. Upon return to Japan, awardees are expected to contribute to the internationalization of their respective institutions.

All fields falling within the parameters of the social sciences and humanities with the exception of Japanese language teaching and Japanese language teaching methodology, are covered under this program. The length of the grant period is a minimum of 3 months or one term (as defined by the host institution) and a maximum of 12 months. Awardees are required to teach a regular course(s).