Ambassador Ebihara making a speech at the Sasakawa 25th Anniversary reception at the Embassy of Japan

Image:Natsuko Tominaga

Set up in 1985 as a purely grant giving organisation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation has given over £12 million in grants to support activities which contribute to enhancing mutual knowledge and understanding between Japan and the UK.

They were given an initial endowment of 3 billion yen (just under £10 million) by the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation (now The Nippon Foundation) under the Chairmanship of the late Mr. Ryoichi Sasakawa and over the past 25 years have been able to award grants to some 3,500 projects.

Projects include exhibitions, performances, conferences and research as well as publications in a huge variety of fields ranging from arts and culture to medicine and health and education and sport. Above all, the end products of these activities are friendship and collaboration between our the UK and Japan.

One initiative that has been promoted in recent years is the Japan Experience Study Tour which introduces teenagers from inner-city and rural schools in the UK to daily life in Japan. Now in its 9th year, the trip has a huge impact on the participants, many of whom plan to continue their relationship with Japan in their further education.

But perhaps the greatest achievement over the past 25 years has been the establishment in 2008 of the 5-year Sasakawa Lectureship Programme in Japanese studies. Its purpose is to help strengthen and sustain the study and research of contemporary Japan in UK universities and it is now entering its third year.The Programme is a joint initiative under which The Nippon Foundation awarded £2.5 million over a 5 year period towards the creation of 12 full-time lectureships at universities across the UK. It is one of the largest funding boosts that the discipline of Japanese studies in the UK has received from a single external funding source.

The Earl and Countess of St Andrews with Mr Yohei Sasakawa

Image: Natsuko Tominaga