The Japan Science Society, a sister organization of the Tokyo Foundation, together with Zhongguo Qingnianbao newspaper and Renmin Zhongguo magazine, is sponsoring the Sasakawa Essay Competition 2008 to promote better understanding of Japan among young Chinese people. The submission deadline is October 31, 2008. The prize winners will receive attractive awards including an invitation trip to Japan and RMB2,000.　

The winning essays will be published in a Chinese newspaper. For details, please visit the website: http://zqb.cyol.com/content/2008-04/24/content_2156976.htm

Mr. Augustin Hadelich, a SYLFF fellow from The Juilliard School, will hold violin recitals with pianist Ikuyo Nakamichi in Tokyo and Osaka. He will also join the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra early this month to play Paganini’s Concerto No.1 under Maestro Kazuyoshi Akiyama. (see details below) Continue reading →

The Tokyo Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of this special website for a global network of scholarship activities over 68 institutions in 44 countries. This website is designed to promote activities of the SYLFF Program and the more than 10,000 SYLFF fellows who have the potentials of becoming our future global leaders. As you can see from the institutional profiles on the website, fellows are students or graduates of acclaimed institutions of higher learning located all over the world. The site is richly infused with articles by these fellows and institutional administrators with global viewpoints, which are periodically updated.

Additionally, many of the fellows are involved in social actions for their respective communities around the globe. You can learn about those activities through their photos, reports, and downloadable research papers.

Accumulated SYLFF information such as past forum reports, fellow musicians’ performance reports, and fellows’ speeches are also organized in an orderly and easy-to-read fashion.

On May 12, 2008 an extremely strong earthquake struck China, centering on Wenchuan county, Sichuan province. News of this major disaster and the extensive damages it wrought—over 80,000 people confirmed dead or listed as missing, and more than 370,000 people injured—were widely reported throughout the world.

The Tokyo Foundation has been providing scholarships to graduate students in 10 universities in China through the SYLFF Program since 1992 with the aim of nurturing leaders in a diversity of fields. In view of the gravity of the situation, the foundation called out to SYLFF fellows in China for proposals concerning aid activities for the victims.

Twelve proposals were submitted, and among them, the Tokyo Foundation selected two volunteer activities led by SYLFF fellows in Lanzhou University and Chongqing University, respectively. These groups were given financial support by the foundation, and activities were conducted in August. I flew to China to observe the operations of these two groups, and the following is my report from the field.

• SYLFF Fellows in China Support Great Sichuan Earthquake Victims (Isamu Maruyama)