The Japan Foundation Awards honor individuals and organizations for significant contributing to "the enhancement of mutual understanding between Japan and other countries." Activities in an academic or cultural field have been presented by the Japan Foundation annually since 1973. The awards help to further the mission of the foundation in language and culture.

Two types of awards (the Japan Foundation Awards and the Japan Foundation Special Prizes) previously composed the Japan Foundation Awards. But these awards are integrated into “The Japan Foundation Awards” in three categories: "Arts and Culture", "Japanese Language", and "Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange" from 2008.

1973

• Serge Elisseeff (Professor, Harvard University / Japanese Studies) [U.S.A.]
• The International House of Japan, Inc. [Japan]
• Japan Society [U.S.A.]
• Sophia University [Japan]

1974

• James William Fulbright (Former Senator) [U.S.A.]
• Bernard Howell Leach (Potter) [U.K.]

1975

• Edwin Oldfather Reischauer (Professor, Harvard University; Former Ambassador to Japan / Japanese Studies) [U.S.A.]
• Kojiro Yoshikawa (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University; Chairman, The Institute of Eastern Culture) [Japan]

1976

• John Whitney Hall
  John Whitney Hall
  John Whitney Hall , the Tokyo-born son of missionaries in Japan, grew up to become a pioneer in the field of Japanese studies and one of the most respected historians of Japan of his generation. His life work was recognized by the Japanese government...
  
   (Professor, Yale University / Modern Japanese History) [U.S.A.]
• Robert E. Ward (Professor, Stanford University / Politics) [U.S.A.]
• The Toyo Bunko [Japan]

1977

• Ronald Philip Dore (Professor, University of Sussex) [U.K.]
• Choei Ishibashi (Chairman, International Medical Society of Japan / Pediatrics) [Japan]
• Meiji Newspapers and Magazine Library, the Faculty of Laws, the University of Tokyo [Japan]

1978

• Frank James Daniels (Professor Emeritus, University of London / Japanese Language Teaching Methodology) [U.K.]
• James Lanius Stewart (Representative in Japan, The Asian Foundation) [U.S.A.]
• Yasaka Takagi (Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo; Member, The Japan Academy / U.S. Political History) [Japan]

1979

• Charles Burton Fahs (Former Minister at U.S. Embassy in Tokyo; Former Professor, Miami University) [U.S.A.]
• Robert Guillain
  Robert Guillain
  Robert Guillain was a French journalist and author of several books on Japan.He was assigned by Agence Havas to Japan in 1938, and, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, could not return to France until 1946.Guillain witnessed the atom bomb explosion at Hiroshima...
  
   (Journalist) [France]
• Shigeharu Matsumoto (Chairman, The International House of Japan, Inc.) [Japan]

1980

• George Cyril Allen (Professor Emeritus, University of London / Japanese Studies) [U.K.]
• Hugh Borton
  Hugh Borton
  Hugh Borton was an American historian who specialized in the history of Japan, later serving as president of Haverford College....
  
   (Senior Researcher, Asian Institute, Columbia University) [U.S.A.]
• Shinobu Iwamura (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University / Eastern Studies) [Japan]

1981

• Ungku Abdul Aziz
  Ungku Abdul Aziz
  Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya from 1968 to 1988. He was awarded the title of Professor Diraja in 1978...
  
   (Vice Chancellor, University of Malaya / Economics) [Malaysia]
• George Richard Storry (Professor Emeritus, University of Oxford / Japanese Studies) [U.K.]
• The Institute of Eastern Culture [Japan]

1982

• Yoshitaro Amano (Honorary Director, The Museo Amano of Peru) [Peru]
• Marius Berthus Jansen (Professor, Princeton University / Japanese Studies) [U.S.A.]
• Akira Kurosawa
  Akira Kurosawa
  was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
  
   (Film Director) [Japan]

1983

• Donald Keene
  Donald Keene
  Donald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years...
  
   (Professor, Columbia University / Japanese Literature) [U.S.A.]
• Rene Sieffert (President, l'Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales [INALCO]) [France]
• Shin'ichi Suzuki
  Shin'ichi Suzuki
  Shin'ichi Suzuki or Shinichi Suzuki may refer to:*Shinichi Suzuki , violinist and creator of the "Suzuki method"*Suzuki Shin'ichi I, photographer *Suzuki Shin'ichi II, photographer...
  
   (President & Director, Talent Education Institute) [Japan]

1984

• Sir John Grenfell Crawford (Former Chancellor, Australian National University / Economics) [Australia]
• Yoichi Maeda (Managing Director, The International House of Japan, Inc.) [Japan]
• Edward George Seidensticker (Professor, Columbia University / Japanese Literature) [U.S.A.]

1985

• Bernard Frank (Professor, College de France / Japanese Literature, Religious Thought) [France]
• Eleanor Harz Jorden (Professor, Cornell University / Linguistics, Japanese Language Teaching) [U.S.A.]

1986

• Fosco Maraini
  Fosco Maraini
  Fosco Maraini was an Italian photographer, anthropologist, ethnologist, writer, mountaineer and academic.-Biography:...
  
   (President, Italian Association for Japanese Studies / Anthropology) [Italy]
• The Japan Society of Northern California [U.S.A.]

1987

• James William Morley (Professor, Columbia University / International Relations) [U.S.A.]
• Chie Nakane (Professor Emerita, University of Tokyo / Social Anthropology) [Japan]

1988

• Seiji Ozawa
  Seiji Ozawa
  is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
  
   (Music Director, Boston Symphony Orchestra) [Japan]
• Xia Yan
  Xia Yan
  Xia Yan was a Chinese playwright and screenwriter.Xia entered Zhejiang Industrial School in 1915 ....
  
   (Vice-President, All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles) [China]

1989

• David MacEachron (Advisor to the Board of Directors, the Japan Society (NY)) [U.S.A.]
• Alexander Slawik (Professor Emeritus, The University of Vienna / Ethnology, Asian Studies) [Austria]

1990

• Wieslaw Roman Kotanski (Professor, The University of Warsaw / Japanese Studies) [Poland]
• Tadao Umesao
  Tadao Umesao
  was a Japanese anthropologist. A professor for decades at Kyoto University, he was also among the founders and the director-general of National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan. A number of Umesao's theories were influential on anthropologists, and his work was also well known among the general...
  
   (Director-General, National Museum of Ethnology) [Japan]

1991

• Byong-sam Han (Director-General, National Museum of Korea / Anthropology) [Korea]
• Ian Nish
  Ian Nish
  Ian Hill Nish CBE is a British academic, a specialist in Japanese studies, and Emeritus Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science ....
  
   (Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics, University of London / Anglo-Japanese relations) [U.K.]

1992

• Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana
  Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana
  Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana , was born in Natal, North Sumatra. His family came from Minangkabau who migration in 19th century. He was a founder and editor of Pujangga Baru. He became one of Indonesian literature's guiding lights in its formative years, particularly in the time around independence...
  
   (Rector, Universitas Nasional / Literature) [Indonesia]
• Frits Vos (Professor Emeritus, Leiden University / Japanese Studies) [Netherlands]

1993

• Josef Pittau, S.J. (President, The Pontifical Gregorian University) [Italy]
• Toru Takemitsu
  Toru Takemitsu
  was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...
  
   (Composer) [Japan]

1994

• Toshio Kawatake (Professor Emeritus, Waseda University) [Japan]
• Heinrich Pfeiffer (Secretary General, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) [Germany]

1995

• Donald Richie
  Donald Richie
  Donald Richie is an American-born author who has written about the Japanese people and Japanese cinema. Although he considers himself only a writer, Richie has directed many experimental films, the first when he was 17...
  
   (Writer / Film Historian) [U.S.A.]
• Soshitsu Sen (Grand Master, Urasenke Tradition of Tea) [Japan]

1996

• O-Young Lee (Chair Professor, Ewha Women's University) [Korea]
• Ezra Feivel Vogel (Director, Fairbank Center for East-Asia Research, Harvard University) [U.S.A.]

1997

• Roger Goepper (Professor, University of Cologne) [Germany]
• Ping-hua Sun (President, The China-Japan Friendship Association) [China]

1998

• Ikuma Dan
  Ikuma Dan
  was a Japanese composer.- Biography :Dan was born in Tokyo, the descendant of a prominent family, his grandfather Baron Dan Takuma having been President of Mitsui before being assassinated in 1932. He graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1946...
  
   (Composer, Member of the Art Academy of Japan) [Japan]
• Robert Anthony Scalapino (Robson Research Professor of Government Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley) [U.S.A.]

1999

• Frank Bray Gibney (President, The Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College) [U.S.A.]
• Wolfgang Sawallisch (Conductor, Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra Honorary Conductor Laureate of the NHK Symphony Orchestra) [Germany]

2000

• Myong Kwan Chi (Director,Institute of Japanese Studies, Hallym University) [Korea]
• Yoneo Ishii (President, Kanda University of International Studies) [Japan]

2001

• William Gerard Beasley (Emeritus Professor of the History of the Far East, University of London) [U.K]
• Ikuo Hirayama
  Ikuo Hirayama
  -Life and Work:Ikuo Hirayama , was a Japanese Nihonga painter. Born in Setoda-chō, Hiroshima Prefecture, he was famous in Japan for Silk Road paintings of dreamy desert landscapes in Iran, Iraq, and China.In 1952, he graduated from the Tokyo School of Art, or what is today's Tokyo National...
  
   (Artist) [Japan]

2002

• Gerald L. Curtis (Burgess Professor of Political Science, Columbia University) [U.S.A.]
• Makoto Ooka
  Makoto Ooka
  is a Japanese poet and literary critic.Ooka's poetry column was published without a break seven days a week for more than 20 years on the front page of Asahi Shimbun, which is Japan's leading national newspaper.-Notes:...
  
   (Poet) [Japan]

2003

• Yoshiaki Ishizawa (Professor, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University) [Japan]
• Josef Kreiner (Director, Institute of Japanese Studies, The University of Bonn) [Austria]

2007

• Royall Tyler
  Royall Tyler
  Royall Tyler , American jurist and playwright who wrote The Contrast in 1787 and published The Algerine Captive in 1797. He wrote several legal tracts, six plays, a musical drama, two long poems, a semifictional travel narrative, The Yankey in London , and essays...
  
   (Former Professor and Head of the Japan Centre, Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University) [Australia]

2008

• Arts and Culture: Marco Muller (Director of the Venice International Film Festival) [Italy]
• Japanese Language: Angela Hondru (Professor of Japanese Literature and Civilization, Hyperion University) [Romania]
• Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Kenneth B. Pyle
  Kenneth B. Pyle
  Kenneth B. Pyle is a Japan historian and professor of History and International Studies at the University of Washington Seattle campus. Since earning his Ph. D...
  
   (Professor, University of Washington) [U.S.A.]

2009

• Arts and Culture: Boris Akunin
  Boris Akunin
  Boris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili , a Russian writer. He is an essayist, literary translator and writer of detective fiction.-Life and career:...
  
   (Writer) [Russia]
• Japanese Language: Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) [U.S.A.]
• Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Arthur Stockwin (Former director of the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford) [U.K.]

2010

• Arts and Culture: Tadao Sato
  Tadao Sato
  is a prominent Japanese film critic and film theorist. Satō has published more than 30 books on film, and is one of the foremost scholars and historians addressing Japanese film, though little of his work has been translated for publication abroad....
  
   (Film Critic) [Japan]
• Japanese Language: Savitri Vishwanathan (Former Professor of Japanese Studies, University of Delhi) [India]
• Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Ben-Ami Shillony (Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) [Israel]

2011

• Arts and Culture: TAMBUCO
  Tambuco
  Tambuco is a Mexican contemporary classical percussion group which has been nominated three times for awards including Best Classical Album. It was founded in 1993. The group consists of four percussionists: Ricardo Gallardo, Alfredo Bringas, Raúl Tudón and Miguel González...
  
   Percussion Ensemble [Mexico]
• Japanese Language: Department of Japanese and Japanese Literature, Faculty of Arts, Cairo University [Egypt]
• Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange: Augustin Berque (Retired Professor, School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) [France]

Special Prizes

From 1974 to 2007, Special Prizes have been conferred, supplementing the list of those recognized by the Foundation.

1974

• Japan Center for International Exchange
  Japan Center for International Exchange
  Japan Center for International Exchange is an "independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organizationdedicated to strengthening Japan's role in international networksof dialogue and cooperation." Founded in 1970, their stated goals are:...
  
   [Japan]
• The Japanese Cultural Society, Singapore [Singapore]

1975

• The Asian Students Cultural Association [Japan]
• The European Association for Japanese Studies [Europe]
• The Maison Franco-Japonaise [Japan]

1976

• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur-und Völkerkunde Ostasiens [in Tokyo]
• The Fukuoka UNESCO Association [Japan]

1977

• The International Society for Educational Information [Japan]
• Simul International, Inc. [Japan]

1978

• The Tokyo School of Japanese Language, The Institute for Research in Linguistic Culture [Japan]
• The Kodokan [Japan]

1979

• The Australia, Japan and Western Pacific Economic Relations Research Committee, A.N.U. [Australia]
• Ken Kurihara (Compilatory Staff, Diplomatic Record Office) [Japan]

1980

• Africa Society of Japan [Japan]
• The Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language [Japan]

1981

• The Nihon Ki-in [Japan]
• Publishers Association for Cultural Exchange, Japan [Japan]

1982

• The Asiatic Society of Japan [in Tokyo]
• The Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies [in Tokyo]

1983

• The Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO [Japan]
• The International Students Institute [Japan]

1984

• AFS International / Intercultural Programs, Inc. [U.S.A.]
• Kawakita Memorial Film Institute [Japan]

1985

• The International Education Center [Japan]
• Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association [Japan]

1986

• Shotaro Iida (Associate Professor, University of British Columbia / Indian Studies, Buddhism) [Canada]
• The Japan-Netherlands Institute [Japan]

1987

• Lokesh Chandra
  Lokesh Chandra
  Lokesh Chandra is a contemporary scholar of Buddhism and the Indian arts. He is the son of the famous Sanskrit scholar Raghu Vira. He has also served as a member of the Indian Rajya Sabha, Vice-President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical...
  
   (Director, International Academy of Indian Culture / Buddhism) [India]
• Josef Kreiner (Professor, Bonn University / Japanese Ethnology) [Austria]

1988

• Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (Toronto) [Canada]
• Jean-Jacques Origas
  Jean-Jacques Origas
  Jean-Jacques Origas was a French academic with expertise in Japanese literature and art. He was a Japanologist, best known more for giving his knowledge to his students rather than for publishing books.-An academic career:...
  
   (Professor, l'Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales) [France]

1989

• Akio Hosono (Professor, The University of Tsukuba / Economics, Latin American Studies) [Japan]
• Japan Association for Foreign Student Affairs [Japan]

1990

• The Indonesian Foundation for Intercultural Learning [Indonesia]
• The University of Tokyo Press [Japan]

1991

• La Asociacion Argentino-Japonesa (Argentine-Japanese Association) [Argentine]
• Japan Silver Volunteers, Inc. [Japan]

1992

• The Association for Japanese-Language Teaching [Japan]
• Peter Kornicki
  Peter Kornicki
  Peter Francis Kornicki FBA, is an English Japanologist. He is Professor of East Asian Studies at Cambridge University. He was previously Professor of Japanese History and Bibliography....
  
   (University Lecturer in Japanese, University of Cambridge) [U.K.] / Nozomu Hayashi (Associate Professor, Toyoko Gakuen Women's College / Japanese Literature) [Japan]
• Yuriko Kuronuma
  Yuriko Kuronuma
  is a Japanese violinist.Starting the violin at age 8, she won in 1956 the first prize and special award in The Music Competition of Japan, one of the most prestigious music contests in Japan. After that, she studied in the Musical Arts Academy of Prague in Czech Republic.- External links :*...
  
   (Violinist, President of Academia Yuriko Kuronuma) [Mexico]

1993

• Iwanami Hall [Japan]
• Tatyana Lyvovna Sokolova-Delyusina (Translator, Member of the Moscow Literator Committee) [Russia]

1994

• Kodansha International Ltd. [Japan]
• Phaisith Phipatanakul (Secretary General, National Assembly) [Thailand]

1995

• The Association for the Conservation of National Treasures [Japan]
• Haji Abdui Razak bin Abdui Hamid (Head, Look East Policy Programme, Centre of Preparatory Education, MARA Institute of Technology) [Malaysia]

1996

• Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Columbia University [U.S.A.]
• Midori Goto
  Midori Goto
  is a Japanese American violinist. She made her debut at the age of 11 in a last-minute change of programming during a concert highlighting young performers by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. When she was 21, she formed the philanthropic group Midori and Friends to help bring music to...
  
   (Violinist / Founder and President of the Midori Foundation) [Japan / U.S.A.]

1997

• Centre of Japanese Art and Technology "Manggha" in Cracow [Poland]
• Kai Nieminen
  Kai Nieminen
  Kai Nieminen is a Finnish writer and recipient of the Eino Leino Prize in 1999. He is also both a composer and a masterly guitarist.-References:...
  
   (Translator of Japanese Literature, Japanologist, Writer) [Finland]

1998

• Thomas Erdos (Artistic Director, Theatre de la Ville) [France]
• Pusan Korea-Japan Cultural Exchange Assoiciation [Korea]
• Suntory Foundation [Japan]

1999

• Japanese American National Museum
  Japanese American National Museum
  The opened its doors in 1992. The idea for the museum was originally thought up by Bruce Kaji with help from other notable Japanese American people at the time. The museum is located in the Little Tokyo an area near downtown Los Angeles, California. It is devoted to preserving the history and...
  
  [U.S.A.]
• Ahmet Mete Tuncoku (Professor, Middle East Technical University) [Turkey]
• Tadashi Yamamoto (President, Japan Center for International Exchange) [Japan]

2000

• The Daido Life Foundation [Japan]
• Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa Museums [Israel]
• Willy Freddy Vande Walle (Department Chair Section of Japanese Studies, Department of Oriental and Slavonic Studies, The Catholic University of Leuven) [Belgium]

2001

• Kosta Balabanov (President of the Society for Macedonian-Japanese Friendship and Cooperation, Honorary Consul-General of Japan in Skopje) [Macedonia]
• The Berliner Festspiele [Germany]
• Naoyuki Miura (President, Artistic Director of Music From Japan, Inc.) [Japan]

2002

• "Japanese Mothers for Foreign Students" Movement of the Tokyo YWCA [Japan]
• The Old Japan Students' Association, Thailand (OJSAT) [Thailand]
• Warsaw University, Oriental Studies Institute, Department of Japanese and Korean Studies [Poland]

2003

• Far Eastern National University, Institute of Oriental Studies [Russia]
• Mikio Kato (Trustee and Executive Director, International House of Japan) [Japan]
• Turkish Japanese Foundation [Turkey]

2004

• James Quandt (Senior Programmer, Cinematheque Ontario) [Canada]
• Kurayoshi Takara (Professor, Faculty of Law and Letters, the University of the Ryukyus) [Japan]
• Dok Bong Yi (Professor, Division of Foreign Languages, Dongduk Women's University) [Korea]

2005

• China Japanese Educational Association [China]
• Tabassum Kashmiri (Former Foreign Instructor, Osaka University of Foreign Studies) [Pakistan]
• Philippine Educational Theater Association [Philippines]

2006

• Yongdeok Kim (Dean, Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University) [Korea]
• Saint-Petersburg State University, Faculty of Asian and African Studies [Russia]
• Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee [Japan]

2007

• Ayse Selcuk Esenbel (Professor, Bosphorus University) [Turkey]
• Levy Hideo (Novelist; Professor, Hosei University) [U.S.A.]
• Fram Kitagawa (Art Director; Chairman, Art Forum Gallery Co.) [Japan]