United States-Japan Foundation Announces Latest Grants

TOKYO, March 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States Foundation announced its latest round of grants awarded in late 2023 and early 2024.

The projects funded cover a wide variety of themes, including support for:  news coverage of Japan's cutting-edge response to shared challenges such as aging and disaster recovery; exchange programs for low-income students in both countries; documentaries on the dangers of xenophobia as told through the little-known narrative of Japanese American draft resisters in World War II, and on diplomacy through the prism of baseball.

The full list follows, and can also be found here:
https://us-jf.org/programs/grants-awarded/

"The grants awarded illustrate the depth and breadth of the bilateral relationship, and the diverse ways that our nonprofit partners can have an impact in each country," said USJF president Jacob M. Schlesinger. "They also reflect the Foundation's move to update its mission and focus, to tackle new, emerging challenges facing our two nations," he added.

The latest round of grants includes two separate exchange programs that invite participants from South Korea to join American and Japanese members, supporting efforts to project the bilateral relationship by bolstering ties with other allies. Other grants fund work aimed at enhancing U.S.-Japan cooperation in economic security, and in promoting commercial transparency and the rule of law around the Pacific. One grant recipient is exploring challenges to the alliance from the rise of isolationism in American politics.

The Foundation is currently accepting applications to be considered later this year. The deadline for submitting a Letter of Inquiry is June 28. We will assess time-sensitive applications on a rolling basis.

Details for the application process can be found here:
https://us-jf.org/guidelines/application-process/

USJF has given out more than $100 million in grants in the two countries since its founding. The organization works to strengthen bilateral ties and address shared challenges confronting our two nations. An independent, endowed, charitable organization, it promotes research, dialogue, and debate in search of solutions by empowering next-generation leaders, funding innovative initiatives, and catalyzing collaboration across stakeholders.

In addition to giving out grants, the Foundation has for the past 20 years run the US-Japan Leadership Program, a network that has grown to more than 500 American and Japanese policymakers, scholars, entrepreneurs, artists, and activists.

Here's a full list of the 2023-2024 United States-Japan Foundation grant recipients:

(1) Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation
"Maureen Mansfield Women's Empowerment Series -- Japan-Korea-U.S. Leadership"
 This project aims to enhance the role of women in democratic governance and bolster their representation in public office in Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. It does so by bringing together women from the three nations -- civil society leaders, scholars, experts, and business professionals -- to identify challenges, share best practices, and elevate women in decision-making roles through virtual and in-person dialogues.
Washington, DC; $70,000

 (2) Center for Independent Documentary
"Diamond Diplomacy"
Film-maker Yuriko Gamo Romer ("Mrs. Judo") is producing the definitive documentary narrating the 150-year history of American baseball in Japan, and how the game has shaped relations between the two countries. The film is scheduled to be completed in time for release in 2025, coinciding with the likely induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame of Ichiro Suzuki, the first Japanese player to claim that honor.
San Francisco, CA; $60,000

(3) UBU41 FILM, LLC
"Row Don't Drift"
The documentary titled "Row Don't Drift" casts a spotlight on the story of a Japanese American farmer who refused to be drafted into combat by  the country that had interned him, resulting in him and his fellow resisters being sentenced to hard labor at the euphemistically named "Catalina Federal Honor Camp." While the stories of Japanese American internment, and of Japanese American soldiers fighting in World War II, are well-known, this film sheds light on the narrative of the draft resisters who have received little attention from popular historians.
Merced, CA; $66,500

(4) Light Industry Cinema Projects
"The 'Investigating Japan's Edo Avant Garde' Arts Curriculum Initiative"
Film-maker Linda Hoagland released in 2019 a documentary about the influence of Edo-era artists on the "modern art" movement in the West. The film's success led to the creation, in conjunction with the Smithsonian, of the K-12 art curriculum: "Investigating Japan's Edo Avant Garde." This project would expand that initiative and launch "Inspired by Edo," a national student art competition to promote the curriculum, and to raise awareness of the history of Japan's cultural legacy in the U.S.
New York, NY; $60,000

(5) PRX "The World"
Dedicated coverage of Japan
"The World" from PRX and GBH is the longest-running global news program for public radio in the U.S. This grant would fund one year of focused reporting from Japan on the topics of disruption and resilience, and of aging. This grant would also allow "The World" to extend its "Global Classroom" program to Japan, where correspondents help train local student journalists.
Boston, MA; $80,000

(6) Center for International Private Enterprise
"Strengthening US-Japan Democratic Partnership Through Private Sector Engagement"
 This grant aims to foster a closer alliance between the American and Japanese business communities in devising a set of best practices for promoting/enforcing rules for transparent and accountable markets in Asian emerging markets. This will be done through research, roundtables, and reports to be promoted to business leaders and policymakers in both countries.
Washington, DC; $99,785

(7) Together for Girls/Brave Movement
"Child Sexual Abuse Survivors G7 Call to Action"
 A project aimed at helping Japan strengthen child sexual abuse laws and protections, bringing them more in line with the U.S. and Group of Seven advanced economies. This will also help establish in Japan child advocacy centers and survivor councils. Project lead Robert Shilling -- former head of Crimes Against Children for INTERPOL -- is working with Japanese government officials, Diet members, and non-governmental organizations to harmonize laws on issues such as age of consent, statute of limitations, and child pornography.
Washington, DC; $65,900

(8) Asia Society Policy Institute
"Defending the U.S.-Japan Alliance"
This is a scoping grant to explore prospects for meaningful impact on a crucial question hanging over the US-Japan alliance: whether it can survive a rise in isolationism in U.S. politics. The goal is to come up with an actionable blueprint identifying and targeting Members of Congress and their constituents by crafting effective messaging.
Washington, DC; $25,000

(9) Peace Winds America
"Noto Peninsula Earthquake Relief and Recovery"
A matching grant challenge to the Foundation's US-Japan Leadership Program network, and to the broader U.S.-Japan community, for recovery and relief efforts for the area affected by the New Year's Day 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake.
Washington, DC; $25,000

 (10) Densho
"Bridging Histories, Enhancing Engagement -- Japanese Language Initiatives"
Densho has run digital platforms preserving community history and providing historical context about the Japanese American experience for 30 years. The organization has found rapidly growing interest for its work in Japan, and this project would accelerate its ability to translate its work into Japanese, and to create new content aimed at Japanese audiences.
Seattle, WA; $40,000

(11) Epistimi Inc.
"U.S.-Japan Collaborative Leadership Program for Women in STEM"
This project targets early-career Japanese and U.S. women (with STEM PhDs or in STEM PhD programs), offering training in leadership competencies not included in university core STEM programs. An intensive summer workshop in Tokyo will be followed by monthly Zoom meetings. This will also give opportunities for participants to co-teach future workshops, and will provide fresh data to help Epistimi fine-tune future workshops.
Andover, MA; $51,000

(12) VIA/Volunteers in Asia
"Nichibei Girls Collaborative"
An all-girls project for American and Japanese high school students to collaborate in-person and online on social innovation projects. Teams with the best proposals will receive mini-grants to implement their projects.
Palo Alto, CA; $69,228

(13) Japan Society
"Japan Society School Partnerships (JSSP)"
"The expansion of a student program providing arts, cultural enrichment, and resources for teachers, focused on Japan, for low-income schools in New York City."
New York, NY; $50,000

(14) BEYOND Tomorrow
"U.S. Summer Program 2024"
 In the summer of 2024, 10 Japanese university students will travel to New York and Washington D.C. for one week to visit international organizations, think tanks, NPOs and community groups. The program is designed for students who live in a single-parent household or in foster care, or are receiving public assistance, and have demonstrated potential as future global leaders.
Tokyo, Japan; $33,081

(15) Edible Schoolyard Japan
"Study Tour & Exchange Program for Edible Education Leaders in Japan and U.S."
 This project is designed to boost the Japanese presence of Edible Schoolyard, a well-regarded global program started in the U.S. by acclaimed chef Alice Waters. The goal is to expand the network from six public schools to 100, and from 1,100 students to 10,000. The plan is also to create in Japan a formal network of instructors, working closely with like-minded teachers across the country, and to get the curriculum formally integrated into public schools.
Tokyo, Japan; $28,050

(16) Table for Two USA
"Nourishing Futures -- Sharing Japanese-inspired Food Education for Healthier Communities in the U.S."
Inspired by Japan's efforts to combat obesity and unhealthy eating habits through Shokuiku (food education), this project aims to build healthier communities in the U.S. facing similar challenges, from kindergarten to college students. The organization's new "Japan Food Education Partnership Program" aims to extend its reach by training local partners to become instructors, thus allowing the network to expand beyond its base of big coastal cities into rural parts of the U.S.
New York, NY; $56,579

(17) National Association of Japan-America Societies (NAJAS)
"Art History – Art Future: Digital Replicas of Japanese Traditional Art"
 The second year of NAJAS's innovative twist on its traditional curator talk series highlights exacting digital replicas of original Japanese art that are then authentically finished and set in traditional frames. The digital replicas are drawn from Canon's Tsuzuri archive, and the new NAJAS series is designed to expose more Americans to Japanese art, and to spread influence of the Tsuzuri approaches to conservation and return. The project includes a competition to choose among local Japan-America Societies to host the digital art and lectures. The project will also develop methods to spread the impact of those events.
Washington, DC; $61,380

(18) Hinoki Foundation
"Hinoki Online Talk: PILOT (Language Education & Cultural Exchange)"
The project pairs small groups of American students in grades 3 to 12 with teachers in Japan for language study, training both the students and the teachers, who are university students in Japan majoring in education. Teachers are awarded practicum certificates, and have the opportunity to later meet their students in person, as part of a U.S visit and homestay. Most students come from underserved school districts in the Detroit area. The project is also aimed at helping students find work at the nearly 500 Japanese-affiliate companies in Michigan seeking employees with bicultural skills.
Ypsilanti, MI; $6,000

(19) Sumter County Georgia School District
"Sumter County and Miyoshi City Exchange"
A 35-year-old student-oriented sister city relationship between a rural Georgia county and its Japanese counterpart of Konu-cho/Miyoshi-City within the Hiroshima Prefecture. The regions in both countries are lower-income and struggling economically. Most of the students who join this exchange become the first in their families to acquire a passport, for some, it's the first to get on an airplane. The exchange was launched by Jimmy Carter, whose home of Plains is in the county, as a symbol of goodwill and friendship between Japan and the U.S.. He and Rosalynn were for many years active in the program.
Americus, GA; $25,000

(20) Woodland Hills High School
"Wolverines in Japan, 2024"
Woodland Hills High School is a Title 1 School. The proceeds of this grant will help the Woodland Hills International Studies Club to further their study of Japanese culture at home and abroad. The funding provides scholarships to help cover the costs of a six-city, 10-day tour of Japan.
Pittsburgh, PA; $20,000

(21) Elk Grove High School
"Japanese Exchange Program"
This is for an annual exchange program between Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois and Ashikaga, Tochigi. While the exchange program has been going on for 33 years, this is the first time the school has sought a grant to support the program. The grant would allow four lower-income students to participate in the exchange. Nearly half the students in the school are Latino, many immigrants. Nearly half the school qualifies for free lunches.
Elk Grove, IL; $10,000

(22) Students of Service (SOS)
"Sister City Ambassador Program to Kumamoto"
This is run by a nonprofit based in San Antonio, Texas specializing in high-school exchanges for students in the metropolitan area seeking financial assistance to participate in such programs. Since its founding in 2014, the organization has run trips to China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, and Spain. The grant covers 15 "travel scholarships" for lower-income students, including assistance applying for first-time passports, to visit San Antonio's Sister City of Kumamoto. The trip will be preceded by an intensive language and cultural training course.
San Antonio, TX; $25,000

(23) Kizuna Across Cultures
"Global Classmates/Global Classmates Community"
This grant supports the organization's core Global Classmates virtual bilateral high school student exchange, which will cover 2,200 high school students in 78 schools, half in each country. It will also help expand a new initiative, the Global Classmates Community, which seeks to keep alumni engaged as a network, and to provide them mentoring services.
Washington, DC; $24,420

(24) National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR)
"Achieving Resiliency in an Era of Disruption"
A project to analyze how the U.S. and Japan are responding to disruption risks in critical sectors from economic and technological developments, supply chain dependencies, or coercion by malign actors such as China. NBR will partner with Japan's Keio Center for Strategy to produce a report with recommendations to business and policymakers.
Washington, DC; $63,425

(25) University of Tokyo-Virginia Commonwealth University
"Coral Conservation Together – a US/Japan STEAM education program"
A collaborative research team comprised of experts from the DLX Design Lab at the University of Tokyo and Virginia Commonwealth University will organize a comprehensive and innovative educational program for high school students. This will involve growing coral in classrooms, facilitated by an aquaculture system and app under development by DLX Design Lab.
Tokyo/Richmond, VA; ¥11,908,336

(26) US JET Alumni Association
"Identifying and Sustaining JET Program Alumni Engagement"
USJETAA is working to strengthen the network of the nearly 40,000 US citizens who have been through the JET Program over the past 36 years. USJETAA was established in 2015 to serve as a more professional and ambitious nationwide organization to support the JET community. This two-year initiative will upgrade institutional capacity, enabling the organization to engage the JET alumni community more effectively.
Washington, DC; $84,425, two years

(27) International Student Conferences, Inc. (ISC)
"8th US-Japan-Korea Trilateral Forum"
ISC launched this trilateral forum in 2013 to enhance communication between the three nation's youths. This forum featured briefings, interactive seminars, and roundtable discussions on mutual concerns for university student leaders.
Washington, DC; $22,000

(28) NPO Knox English Network
"Leaders Empowerment Initiative – Global Talk"
This program uses online platforms to connect English-learners in Japan with Japanese-learners in America. U.S. universities such as Harvard and Brown University serve as sparring partners, leading discussions on shared societal challenges and providing Japanese students the opportunity to acquire an international perspective.
Tokyo, Japan; ¥2,600,000

Contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE United States-Japan Foundation