Lasting Connections from Fellowship Programs & Initiatives

Forging Lasting Connections: Japan Society Fellowship Programs & Initiatives
The cornerstone of Japan Society’s mission is the Japanese concept of kizuna (絆)–forging deep
connections to bind people together. In 1952, when Japan Society reopened its doors under the
leadership of John D. Rockefeller 3rd after the end of the American Occupation of Japan,
cultural exchange was a primary focus. During this time of rebirth and reinvention, the Society
also planted the seeds of what would eventually blossom into formal programs for the
exchange of views between Japanese and American businessmen, government leaders,
scholars, and other experts. Over the years, Japan Society cultural interchanges, Fellowship
programs, and other initiatives laid foundational relationships and built lasting connections
between the United States and Japan.

Artist Shikō Munakata in New York, 1967. Munakata visited the United States prior to the exhibition Shikō Munakata: Standing Screens, shown at the May Company, Cleveland; the Brooklyn Museum; and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. He spent three months in New York sketching, visiting galleries, and seeing old friends. © Laura Beaujon


Early Artist Visits & the Print Artists Program, 1950s
Early cultural exchanges in the 1950s included visits by Japanese artists and artisans that
evolved into the Print Artists Program, which took place from 1956-1959, bringing woodblock
artists such as Junichiro Sekino, Shikō Munakata, and Yasu Mori to the U.S. for creative work
and lecture-demonstration tours. By 1959 the program had been expanded to send the
American lithographer Arthur Flory to Japan.


Japan Society-Sponsored Visits, 1950s and 1960s
Ceramic artist Kitaoji Rosanjin’s visit to the U.S. in 1954 was one of a series of Japan Society-sponsored visits by Japanese artists and artisans (among them Shikō Munakata) who traveled
about the country giving lectures and demonstrations. Blessed with an irrepressible personality,
Rosanjin was also a very generous man, and when he left, he gave the Society some 70 or 80 of
his works to be distributed among museums.

March 23, 1973: Novelist and Japan Society Intellectual Interchange
Fellow Saul Bellow speaks about his experiences in Japan. © Thomas Haar


Intellectual Interchange Program, 1951-1996
John D. Rockefeller 3rd established the Intellectual Interchange Program in 1951—an exchange
of leading Japanese and American thinkers from the worlds of art, literature, law, and political
science who visited each other’s countries, met with their counterparts, and gave public
lectures. Shigeharu Matsumoto, who acted as chief Japanese collaborator with Rockefeller in
the creation of The International House of Japan and served as its Chairman until his death in
1989, ran the program in Japan. Intellectual Interchange Fellows included: Robert
Oppenheimer; Eleanor Roosevelt; Paul Tillich; Fusae Ichikawa; Norman Cousins, Michio Nagai;
Saul Bellow; Shusaku Endo; Makoto Ooka; Garry Wills; and Robert MacNeil, among others.


Japan Society Fellows, 1965-1969
From 1965-1969, the Japan Society Fellowship Program strengthened American-Japanese
relations in the cultural, artistic, and intellectual fields. Over these four years, Fellowships were
awarded to Japanese artists, writers, and other creative individuals for travel to the United
States and other countries. Among the most notable of these Fellows were choreographer
Saeko lchinohe and artist Yayoi Kusama.

Japanese political leaders gather at the Capitol during the Washington segment of the 1983 U.S.-Japan Parliamentary Exchange Program. From left: Takao Fujii, Yoshiteru Uekusa, Koichi Kato, and Takayuki Heya , Hiroshi Tsuruoka; foreground: Keizo Obuchi, Katsuhiko Shirakawa, and Shoji Matoaka.



U.S.-Japan Parliamentary Exchange Program, 1978-1994
In 1978, Japan Society began to co-sponsor the Parliamentary Exchange Program with the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), to bring Japanese Diet members to the U.S. and send American congressmen to Japan for informal and candid exchanges of views with one another and with leaders in various fields. The program soon became a year-round operation, with constant communication and consultation among the Society, JCIE, and the four American
legislators who were the informal program advisors: Senators John Glenn and William V. Roth,
Jr., and Congressmen Thomas Foley and Bill Frenzel. Other American participants included
Congressmen Lee Hamilton, Donald Rumsfeld, and Minority Leader Robert Michel. Japanese
Diet members participating in the program included future prime ministers Keizo Obuchi and
Koichi Kato. Each group traveled to important cities and observed events such as American
political primaries or national political party nominating conventions. Delegations from each
country visited the other annually, and more than 120 members of the American Congress and
almost as many Japanese Diet members were involved, making it the largest privately
sponsored exchange between national legislative bodies anywhere in the world at the time.

U.S.-Japan Leadership Program, 1984-1996
The U.S.-Japan Leadership Program debuted in 1984. Designed as a fellowship for midcareer
American professionals, it allowed eight to 11 recipients to spend three to nine months in Japan working on projects of their choosing with a host institution identified by the Society. The Program focused on public policy leaders and members of the media, attracting a set of
prominent young Americans who otherwise would have had little exposure to Japan, and who
were able to introduce aspects of the country on their return home. Alumni included University
of Wisconsin chancellor Donna Shalala, who went on to serve as Secretary of Health and
Human Services under President Bill Clinton; Marian Wright Edelman; Peter Edelman, later
Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services under Shalala; Atlantic Magazine
correspondent James Fallows, who went on to write a series of groundbreaking articles on
Japan’s economic “miracle”; Los Angeles Times political reporter Ronald Brownstein; and
Newsweek editor Jonathan Alter. In 1996, after nine successful cycles, the U.S.-Japan
Leadership Program evolved into two separate fellowships: The U.S.-Japan Media Fellows
Program and the Local Government and Public Policy Fellowship.


Local Government and Public Policy Fellowship, 1996-2003
Intended to expand interaction between Americans and Japanese with influence over public
opinion and policy formation, the Local Government and Public Policy Fellowship selected four
Americans working at the national or state level, including state legislators, judges, labor
leaders, directors of nonprofit organizations, and bureaucrats, pairing each participant with a
local co-hosting institution related to their area of expertise or interest.


U.S.-Japan Media Fellows Program, 1996-2008
Starting in 1996, journalists were placed in the U.S.-Japan Media Fellows Program, which
initially selected four Americans and two Japanese for a two-month exchange. Over the
following years, the Media Fellows Program sent more than 58 journalists from both countries
on the exchange. The Society’s focus on engaging with the media was underscored by its hosting a U.S.-Japan Media Dialogue throughout the 1990s, a series of conferences closely tied
with the Media Fellows Program that provided one of the only opportunities for joint
discussions by leading Japanese and American journalists. Participants included Mark Halperin,
political director of ABC News; Margaret Talbot of the New Yorker; Clifford Pearson, senior
editor of Architectural Record; Jacob Heilbrun of the Los Angeles Times; and Cait Murphy,
senior editor of Fortune.

International disaster recovery experts convened in Tokyo for a workshop on managing disaster recovery held in May 2010 by the Innovators Network. First row, left to right: Ruri Kawashima, Tokyo Representative, Japan Society; Laura Crommlin, Research Assistant, U.S. Studies Centre, University of Sydney; Edward J. Blakely, U.S. Studies Centre, University of Sydney; Eugenia Birch, University of Pennsylvania; Haruo Hayashi, Kyoto University. Second row, left to right: Kazuyuki Sasaki, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji University; Norio Maki, Associate Professor, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University; Satoshi Hasegawa, Director, The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership; Peter Fisher, RMIT University; Roland Anglin, Rutgers University; Jed Horne, former Editor, The Times-Picayune; Richard Voith, Senior Vice President and Principal, Econsult Corporation.


Innovators Network, 2005-2019
The Innovators Network facilitated multi-year projects for nearly 14 years, providing unique
opportunities for American and Japanese leaders and innovators to come together, share
knowledge and insight, and catalyze positive social change. Initiatives explored issues such as
community and economic revitalization, building essential skills for social innovators, business
and social entrepreneurship, post-disaster crisis management, relief and long-term recovery,
the role of design in social change, leadership and innovation, and the role of play in fostering
creativity and innovation. Drawing on past work with disaster relief and recovery organizations
in Japan and the United States, the Innovators Network and Innovators connections played a
crucial role in the selection of grant recipients for the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund (JERF),
launched by Japan Society on March 12, 2011 to aid the survivors of the Great East Japan
Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.

Japan Society 2016 U.S. Junior Fellows meet Pepper, a humanoid robot, during their visit to Tokyo. © Hideto Ukita.


Japan Society Junior Fellows Leadership Program
Launched in 2013, the Japan Society Junior Fellows Leadership Program aims to foster and
develop a rising cohort of future leaders in Japan and the United States who have a lifelong
interest in and understanding about both countries. Drawing upon the Society’s strong network
across multiple fields, this culturally immersive leadership program provides high school
students in the United States and Japan with first-hand experiences in Japan and the United
States, with particular attention to cultural understanding and leadership and with the express
purpose of developing a sustainable network of talented leaders on both sides of the Pacific
who share a global worldview, and close bonds. Because of the COVID pandemic, the program
took place online for the balance of 2020 and 2021. It was paused in 2022 and 2023, and
formally restarted in the summer of 2024.