Launched in conjunction with APSIA (The Association for Professional Schools of International Affairs), the Japan Travel Program for U.S. Future Leaders has the goal of fostering a new generation of future leaders in the United States who are interested in achieving a greater understanding of Japan and its roles in global affairs. This is a program open to students at full-member APSIA schools. Information about the program is available at the career offices of eligible schools.

Join us on Tuesday March, 6th at 7:30pm in the Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, at Jazz at Lincoln Center for this special event.

In response to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, a lot of sympathy and solidarity has been expressed from countries and regions around the world.  We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the US citizens for their tremendous support.

This performance is dedicated to the victims of disasters and conflicts all around the world, and also serves to show Japan’s firm commitment to support those people, thus sharing a heartfelt prayer for peace among all people.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the March 11th disasters, “TOGETHER FOR 3.11” the memorial will be held for Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami Victims.  The gratitude to everyone who has supported Japan will also be shared.  This event is under the auspices of the Japan Foundation, New York.

This performance is supported by The Japan Foundation, New York through JFNY Grant for Arts and Culture.

The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) will hold it’s annual conference this year from March 15 – March 18, 2012 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel in Toronto, Canada.

AAS is the largest conference of its kind, devoted to panel sessions, roundtable discussions, and workshops, on a wide range of issues in research and teaching on Asia.

The Japan Foundation will be involved in the following events at this year's conference:

Japan Foundation Reception (Mar 16)

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This event will provide an opportunity to build a broader network among Japanese specialists. We would be delighted if you would join The Japan Foundation and our friends for conversation, fine food and drinks.

Time: 7:00-9:00 pm, Friday, March 16
Venue: Conference Room D & E Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

Film Screening, Light Up Nippon (Mar 17)
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The Japan Foundation will host a screening of this documentary film, about a memorial project and firework performance to honor those who lost their lives in the Tohoku region of Japan in the Great East Japan Earthquake of March, 2011.

Time: 3:15 pm, Saturday, March 17 (Date & Time are tentative.  Venue will also be announced on the AAS website soon.)

Panels and Roundtable supported by CGP
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CGP will be supporting the following panels and roundtable discussions relating to Japan – U.S. affairs:

Thursday March 15:
Japan and the United States in South and Central Asia:  Challenges and Opportunities in an Era of a Rising China

Friday March 16th:
-Innovation or Immobilism? Japan’s Political Economy One Year After the Earthquake
-“Change or Die”: Immigrants, Foreigners, and the Future of Human Capital Development and International Relations in the Japanese Political Economy (Roundtable)

Saturday March 17th:
-The Politics of Information Governance in Japan, the Asia-Pacific, and Beyond
-Climate Change, Toxic Spills, and Eco-Cities: Japanese and American Responses to Environmental Crisis
-The DPJ: Assessing the First Two Years in Theory and Practice

Sunday March 18th:
-Nuclear Energy After Fukushima: Japan and Beyond
-Asian Response to Climate Change: Comparing Debates and Protagonists

The University of Maryland at College Park will present the premiere performances of Fragile, a new collaboration between Eiko & Koma and Kronos Quartet, which will tour San Francisco. This performance is supported by The Japan Foundation through its Performing Arts JAPAN program.

Feb. 22-23, University of Maryland at College Park, MD

Mar. 15-23, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

The Japan Foundation is organizing a tour of the culturally unique production of Hoichi the Earless, which will feature a Biwa player Akiko Sakurai, a Butoh dancer Kumotaro Mukai from Dairakudakan, and a Saz (Baglama) player Kiyoshi Ohira. The group will perform the ghostly story of the same name, which first appeared in the book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn, a Greek born Irish writer who later became a Japanese citizen. Co-presented with Asia Society and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Feb 25, Asia Society, New York, NY - world premiere

Feb 28, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Theatre Nohgaku is presenting workshops and a performance as part of the Hampden-Sydney College Music Series in Hampden-Syndey Virginia. Led by Artistic Director Richard Emmert, the activities will include the premiere performance of the chamber piece “Atsumori” in Japanese and English. This performance is supported by The Japan Foundation, New York through JFNY Grant for Arts and Culture.

The 30th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Historic Macon, Georgia is the celebration of arts, music, culture and history with a brilliant backdrop: Macon’s 350,000 world-renowned Yoshino Cherry Trees. This event is supported by The Japan Foundation, New York through JFNY Grant for Arts and Culture.

This traveling exhibit on loan from The Japan Foundation to The Catholic University of America takes as its point of departure the various experimental ideas on the city that flourished in Japan in the 1960s and using a combination of diverse media — from architectural scale models to photographs and slides, along with animations and other audio-visuals.   This exhibition examines various circumstances of Japanese and other cities up to the present day, and identifies in particular the distinctive aspects of those circumstances as they are manifested in present-day Tokyo.

This traveling exhibit on loan from The Japan Foundation to Michigan State University introduces Japan's representative dolls, including Hina ningyo (Girls' Festival dolls) and Gogatsu ningyo (Boys' Day dolls), which have their origins in ancient customs; dolls connected to traditional performing arts like noh, bunraku and kabuki; regional dolls from throughout the country; and "creative dolls" produced by contemporary crafts-people.

This traveling exhibit on loan from The Japan Foundation to Blue Contemporary Art Center presents paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, and video works by eleven contemporary Japanese artists who are responding in a similar way to the current state of the world.  They take their subject matter from their immediate surroundings and make art that strongly reflects their own personal reality.  Their work has a rich visual impact and reveals a strong interest in the process of making things.

The Japanese Embroidery Center (JEC), in cooperation with Embassy of Japan, has been selected to exhibit a collection of Japanese embroidery during the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC, March 5 through the April 2012, at the Japan Information Culture Center (JICC)/Embassy of Japan. This exhibition is supported by The Japan Foundation, New York through JFNY Grant for Arts and Culture.

Japan has a remarkably refined textile tradition, and for centuries the Japanese have admired the silks produced in the Nishijin neighborhood of Kyoto as the epitome of beauty and opulence. Woven Treasures will feature some of the sumptuous pieces created in one of Nishijin’s oldest and most illustrious workshops: Tawaraya. This exhibition is supported by The Japan Foundation through its Exhibitions Abroad Support Program.