Toyota Foundation Approves 203 Grants
Totaling ¥450.36 Million for Fiscal 1989

On September 20, 1989, the Toyota Foundation's Board of Directors, chaired by Eiji Toyoda, chairman of the board of the Toyota Motor Corporation, approved 203 grants worth a total of ¥450.36 million for fiscal 1989. The grant presentation ceremony will be held on October 18 at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo. The total amount disbursed for grants in fiscal 1989 is expected to rise to ¥510 million when further grant awards are approved by the Board of Directors in March 1990.

The Toyota Foundation, a private, nonprofit, grant-making organization dedicated to the goals of realizing greater human fulfillment and contributing to the development of a human-oriented society through grant-making activities, was endowed in October 1974 by the Toyota Motor Corporation. The Foundation's endowment currently stands at ¥11.4 billion.

To date, the Foundation has awarded a cumulative total of 2,413 grants amounting to about ¥6.78 billion. Foundation grants are not limited to Japanese researchers or researchers working in Japan. Non-Japanese researchers are eligible for grants awarded under the Research Grant Program as well as the International Grant Program. International grants are awarded primarily to researchers in developing countries, especially those of Southeast Asia. The number of international grants awarded has been increasing yearly since the inauguration of the International Grant Program in 1976: so far, 529 grants totaling some ¥1.22 billion have been awarded to researchers in every country of Southeast Asia except Brunei. In addition, 196 grants amounting to ¥617 million have been awarded for projects in the "Know Our Neighbors" Translation-Publication Programs, which aim to deepen understanding between Japan and Southeast Asian countries and among Southeast Asian countries, and for related projects, such as the compilation and publication of bilingual dictionaries and the translation and publication in English of contemporary Japanese research on Southeast Asia. Altogether, the Foundation has awarded about ¥1.83 billion in grants for projects related to Southeast Asia.

The breakdown of fiscal 1989 grants by program is as follows

Research Grant Program

62 grants (¥201 million)

Grant Program for Citizen Activities

10 grants (¥17.8 million)

International Grant Program

96 grants (¥120.6 million)

"Know Our Neighbors" Programs

16 grants (¥56.59 million)

Program in Japan

6 grants (¥11.25 million)

Program in Southeast Asia

4 grants (¥25.26 million)

Program Among Southeast Asian countries

6 grants (¥20.08 million)

Other grant-making activities

19 grants (¥54.37 million)

Research grants give priority to projects studying ways of coping with multicultural and technologically advanced society

Under the basic theme "In Search of a New Society," the Research Grant Program awards grants for research projects that try to identify and solve problems faced by contemporary society and that aim to foster a human-oriented society. Since fiscal 1988 priority has been given to projects that focus on two topics: coping with multicultural society and coping with technologically advanced society.

Applications for research grants are publicly solicited, and no restrictions are placed on applicants' nationality, country of residence, or professional affiliation. Anyone who can complete the Japanese-language grant application may apply, though projects conducted by non-Japanese must be related to Japan in some way.

Of the 771 applications received this year, 62 were selected for fiscal 1989 research grants totaling ¥201 million. In keeping with the trend seen over the last several years, many applications were received for projects related to other East Asian countries (China, South Korea), as well as a number of applications from researchers in Western countries. A breakdown by grant category follows.

Category I (individual-incentive research) grants are designed to encourage individual research undertaken mainly by young researchers on their own initiative.
A total of ¥44.4 million was approved for 26 such grants in fiscal 1989. Representative projects are "Attitudes and Movements of Korean Residents in Japan:
The Culture Movement of Third-Generation Koreans," conducted by Chin-sung Chung, University of Tokyo (¥1.8 million), and "Trends and Changes in the Medical Culture of a Multiethnic City: A Social Anthropological Case Study in Northern Nigeria," conducted by Hidetoshi Kondo, University of London (¥2 million).

Category II (trial and preliminary research) grants are awarded for projects conducted by teams undertaking trial or preliminary research aimed at developing long-term interdisciplinary, interoccupational, international research projects. A total of ¥55.9 million was approved for 22 such grants in fiscal 1989. Representative projects include "A Study of Trial Case Management of Elderly People Under Long-Term Care and Its Economic and Social Evaluation," conducted by Nobuo Maeda, Case Management Research Group, and four associates (¥2.9 million), and "Field Research on Japanese-Language and Information Acquisition by Asian Women Married to Japanese Men and Living in Japan," conducted by Yusaku Ozawa, Research Group on Language, Information, and Foreigners, and three associates (¥2.7 million).

Category III (comprehensive research) grants are awarded for comprehensive research projects of an interdisciplinary, interoccupational, international nature.
A total of ¥100.7 million was approved for 14 such grants in fiscal 1989. Representative projects include "A Field Study of Environmental Pollution Using Residual Plutonium from the Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki as a Tracer," conducted by Akira Kudo, Environmental Plutonium Contamination Research Group, and seven associates (¥10 million; second grant), and "A Joint Sino-Japanese Study of the Traditional Cultures and Socioeconomic Modernization of Minority Groups in Yunnan Province," conducted by Taryo Obayashi, Research Group on the Peoples of Yunnan, and 14 associates (¥11 million; second grant).

Citizen-activity grants awarded for documentation and promotion of exchange

In past years the Foundation awarded grants for the compilation and publication of reports on citizen activities under the Activity-Documentation Grant Program. In fiscal 1988 it was decided to add grants to promote exchange among groups engaged in citizen activities. In keeping with this broadening of scope, the program's name was changed to Grant Program for Citizen Activities. Grants approved for fiscal 1989 include five report-compilation grants (¥8.2 million), three report-publication grants (¥3 million), and two exchange-promotion grants (¥6.6 million). Included is a grant for the Japan Networkers' Conference, to be held in November this year.

International grants awarded for projects aimed at preserving and encouraging indigenous cultures in Southeast Asia

International grants are awarded for research projects that respond to the needs of society in developing countries. At present the program concentrates on projects conducted in Southeast Asian countries by indigenous researchers and aimed at preserving and encouraging indigenous cultures. Recent years have seen an increase in the number of grants awarded to projects in the three Indochinese countries of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

In fiscal 1989 a total of US$799,600 (¥114.11 million) was approved for 72 international grants: 18 in Indonesia, 16 in the Philippines, 11 in Vietnam, eight in Laos, eight in Thailand, and 11 in other Southeast Asian countries. In addition, incentive grants for young researchers in Indonesia, inaugurated in fiscal 1987, were approved for 24 of the 423 applicants, bringing the total number of grants to 96 and the total amount approved to US$845,000 (¥120.6 million).

Representative international grant projects include "Reprinting and Distribution of a Khmer Dictionary," conducted by Sam Prumenea, Ministry of Education, State of Cambodia (US$34,800, or ¥5 million); "The Religious Life of Tarekat Believers in Central Java: A Religious Research Training Program," conducted by Parsudi Suparlan, University of Indonesia (US$47,200, or ¥6.73 million); and "Philippine Vernacular Literatures Translated into Pilipino," conducted by Esther M. Pacheco, Ateneo de Manila Press (US$24,800, or ¥3.53 million).

"Know Our Neighbors" Programs expand activities in Southeast Asia In fiscal 1989 a total of ¥56.59 million was approved for 16 projects in the "Know Our Neighbors" Programs. The Foundation has awarded a cumulative total of 188 such grants amounting to ¥539 million.

The "Know Our Neighbors" Translation-Publication Program in Japan awards grants for the translation and publication in Japanese of Southeast Asian books. In fiscal 1989 six grants totaling ¥11.25 million were approved for the translation and publication of books from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. This will be the first time that a book from Sri Lanka is made available in Japanese.

The "Know Our Neighbors" Translation-Publication Program in Southeast Asia awards grants for the translation and publication of Japanese books in Southeast Asian languages. Projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are now underway. In fiscal 1989 four grants totaling US$177,300 (¥25.26 million) were approved for projects in Laos, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The "Know Our Neighbors" Translation-Publication Program Among Southeast Asian Countries awards grants for the translation and publication of Southeast Asian books in other Southeast Asian languages. Projects in the Philippines and Sri Lanka are now in progress. In fiscal 1989 six grants totaling US$140,800 (¥20.08 million) were approved for projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.