of
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
,
Japan, is a private, non-profit
grant-making organization. It was established in 1962 by
Ryoichi Sasakawa. The foundation's mission is to direct Japanese motorboat racing revenue into philanthropic activities, it uses this money to pursue global
maritime development and assistance for
humanitarian work, both at home and abroad. In the humanitarian field, it focuses on such fields as
social welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
,
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
, and
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
. The foundation has also been criticized for promoting Japanese
historical revisionism, particularly in whitewashing
Japanese war crimes committed in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Since 2003 the foundation has promoted
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
with the aim of allowing deaf people to fully participate in society, in this way, they created scholarships for deaf people at
Gallaudet University and the
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is the first and largest technological college in the world for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. As one of nine colleges within the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rocheste ...
(NTID) of
USA.
The current chairman is
Yohei Sasakawa,
World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador
WHO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. WHO goodwill ambassadors a ...
for Leprosy Elimination, Special Envoy of the Government of Japan for National Reconciliation in Myanmar, and the son of the foundation's founder, Ryoichi Sasakawa.
History
;Leadership
* 1962–1995 –
Ryoichi Sasakawa: businessman, politician, philanthropist
* 1996–2005 –
Ayako Sono
is a Japanese writer.
Life
She went to the Catholic Sacred Heart School in Tokyo after elementary school. During World War II, she evacuated to Kanazawa. After writing for the fanzines ''La Mancha'' and ''Shin-Shicho'' (新思潮: "New Thought" ...
: Novelist
* 2005–present –
Yōhei Sasakawa
is chairman of The Nippon Foundation, the World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, and Japan's Ambassador for the Human Rights of People Affected by leprosy. His global fight against leprosy and its accompanying st ...
:
WHO Goodwill Ambassador
WHO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. WHO goodwill ambassadors ...
for
Leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
Elimination, Japan's Ambassador for the Human Rights of People Affected by Leprosy, Special Envoy of the Government of Japan for National Reconciliation in Myanmar.
Examples of major initiatives
;1962–1970
In 1962, The Nippon Foundation was established under the auspices of the
Japanese Motorboat Racing Law. The law and the foundation were initiatives of Ryoichi Sasakawa who, as chair, used them to both help rebuild the Japanese shipbuilding sector, and to conduct philanthropic activities around the world. This system of using
gambling revenue to provide aid to needy sectors was a novel one in Japan at that time, and came under intense scrutiny. In response, the foundation strove for transparency in conducting its activities, making its records publicly accessible from its earliest days.
Initiatives pursued in this period include research for the development of
super tankers and their engines, direct support for the shipbuilding industry, and the protection of safety in the
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...
—vital to Japan's national security, due to the fact that more than 80 percent of her oil passes this way.
In the field of
public welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
, the foundation pursued such youth-oriented initiatives as the building of sports facilities, the building of day care centers and the promotion of traffic safety education. In addition, it began donating mobile clinics and blood-mobiles, as well as constructing blood banks around the country.
;1971–1980
In the 1970s, the foundation continued to pursue its efforts to improve social services through such measures as the distribution of ambulances, training in the use of fire fighting equipment, the development of preventative measures for earthquakes and PR for the fire-fighting sector. It also donated medical ships to provide medical aid for people living on remote islands in Japan's inland sea.
In 1971, it began its overseas work, and in 1974 established the Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation for the purpose of eliminating
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
as a public health problem—an effort that has resulted in its elimination in all but 1 of the 122 countries where the disease was initially prevalent.
;1981–1990
Support for the maritime world remained an important focus in the 1980s, building on the work of the previous decade. Examples of projects include "Swift Wings", which was a sail system designed for modern cargo ships, and research toward a "Techno Superliner", a 1,000-ton cargo vessel that could attain speeds of up to 50 knots.
On the international cooperative support front, the foundation involved itself heavily in disaster relief, sending aid to help the victims of major disasters in countries around the world, and establishing the United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Relief.
Health initiatives that began in this decade include the establishment of the WHO Sasakawa Health prize and a massive project to aid the victims of the
Chernobyl nuclear power disaster, under which the foundation spent a total of more than US$50 million over ten years, screening over 200,000 children for thyroid cancer.
Up until 1988, the foundation went by the name the Japanese Shipbuilding Industry Foundation (JSIF), and even donated some supposedly $500,000 worth of fireworks to the Los Angeles 1984 Organizing Committee for use in those Olympics. It was much more than the LA Organizing Committee wanted to use, and they were forced to come up with a 25-minute fireworks show to accommodate the gift and NOT slight the Foundation. Sometime around 1988–1989, the foundation dropped that moniker and went by several other names including the all-inclusive "Nippon" Foundation.
In response to the
Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s, the foundation began a program of agricultural education throughout
sub-Saharan Africa that eventually reached 14 countries, improving farmers’ yields by up to six times in some places.
Finally, as a part of its human resources development program, the foundation created the Sasakawa Young Leaders’ Fellowship Fund, a program that would eventually establish million-dollar funds at a total of 68 major universities around the world.
;1991–2000
In the 1990s, on the home front, the Nippon Foundation invested heavily in the elderly of Japan, pushing for the improvement of retirement homes, building model retirement homes, and helping the nation to develop its hospice system nearly from the ground up. Related to this field, the foundation also began donating specially equipped vehicles to social welfare facilities and groups, enabling them to provide mobility services to the elderly and those with disability.
The decade also saw one of
Japan's worst earthquakes of the 20th century, and the disorganization of volunteer groups in the wake of the quake lead the foundation to put special attention on bringing these many groups together under one umbrella—the volunteer support center—a central body that coordinated volunteer effort in the event of a major disaster.
In the maritime development field, the foundation began to turn its eye to the disparity in the level of training received by maritime experts in various countries. As a result, it provided funding for a scholarship for people from developing countries to attend the
World Maritime University, in Malmö, Sweden. In perhaps an even broader effort, it created the International Association of Maritime Universities, uniting 50 institutions around the world, in an effort to standardize both the level of education and the materials used.
;2001–present
The past years have seen the foundation continue to build on its work of the first four decades, working in the maritime, welfare and international cooperation fields.
Since its origins, the foundation has been interested in aiding the nation's shipbuilding and maritime efforts, leading it to support both a display of a
North Korean spy vessel that had been sunk by the
Japanese Self Defense Forces, and a survey of Okinotori Island.
In addition, the foundation is providing support toward the establishment of a user-pays system to help the nations surrounding the
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...
in their efforts to both police the waters and maintain their environmental integrity.
In international affairs, the foundation has most recently built more than 100 elementary schools in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
and 100 in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
. It has established a novel program to provide Mongolian nomadic families with boxes full of traditional medicines that can be replenished, at the cost only of those medicines used, a few times a year, when they come to market.
Controversies
Peru National Program for Reproductive Health and Family Planning
According to conclusion of the Investigative Commission appointed by the Peru Congress, the Nippon Foundation was one of the organizations providing financial support for the
forced sterilizations of impoverished Peruvians, initially laid out in the leaked documents of "
Plan Verde
Green Plan was a clandestine military operation developed by the armed forces of Peru during the internal conflict in Peru; it involved the genocide of impoverished and indigenous Peruvians, the control or censorship of media in the nation and t ...
" and subsequently executed by the
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto ( or ; born 28 July 1938) is a Peruvian politician, professor and former engineer who was President of Peru from 28 July 1990 until 22 November 2000. Frequently described as a dictator,
*
*
*
*
*
*
he remains a ...
government as part of its
National Population Program.
Organizations established
* The Blue Sea and Green Land Foundation
* Fondation Franco-Japonaise Sasakawa
* Foundation for Encouragement of Social Contribution
* The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
* Japan Gateball Union
* The Japan Science Society
* Japan Social Innovation Investment Foundation
* The Japanese Foundation for the Promotion of Maritime Science and The Museum of Maritime Science
* The Life Planning Center Foundation
* Marine Sports Foundation
* Nippon Ginkenshibu Foundation
*
Nippon Music Foundation
*
Nippon Taiko Foundation
* Ocean Policy Research Foundation
* Sasakawa Africa Association
* The Sasakawa Central Europe Fund
* Sasakawa Health Science Foundation
* The Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund
* Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation
* The Sasakawa Peace Foundation
* The Sasakawa Pan-Asia Fund
* Sasakawa Sports Foundation
* The Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation
*
The Tokyo Foundation
*
The Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture (SICSA)
*
Nereus Program
References
{{Authority control
Charities based in Japan
Foundations based in Japan
Grants (money)
Sports charities