Nippon Foundation

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Nippon Foundation headquarters in Akasaka, Tokyo

The Nippon Foundation (日本財団, Nipponzaidan^?) is a private charity organization with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by the late businessman, fascist and organized crime figure Ryoichi Sasakawa, once indicted for Class A war crimes. Despite its funding of many public health and welfare programs, the foundation has been criticized as an organization with right-wing, nationalist motives.^[1]

1 History
2 Overview
3 Controversy
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

In 1962, Sasakawa established the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation, using funds from a gambling concession that he received from the early post-war Japanese government for services rendered.^[1] This organization received a percentage of all proceeds (admissions, concession sales, and gambling) from the speed-boat racing business which Sasakawa controlled.^[2] The Foundation's mission was later expanded and it became known as The Sasakawa Foundation.

In 1978, the Emperor of Japan awarded Sasakawa one of the nation's highest honors, the First Class Order of the Sacred Treasures.^[3] He has repeatedly said that he desired the Nobel Peace Prize for the massive donations his foundation has made over the years. Sasakawa also began to cultivate a relationship with the United Nations, some say in order to bolster Japan's eventual bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.^[4]

In November 1980, the United States-Japan Foundation was established in New York City as a non-profit organization aimed at "promoting understanding of each other's society, culture, educational system, economy, government and international relations, and to promote cooperation between the citizens of the two nations."^[5]

Sasakawa died in 1995 without winning the Nobel Peace Prize he coveted. His three sons replaced him and continued his activities with the same networks and practices of their father. In 1995, after Sasakawa's death, it was renamed The Nippon Foundation. Author Ayako Sono headed the Foundation from 1995 until 2005. Sasakawa's son Yohei Sasakawa serves as the current chairman of the Nippon Foundation and the administrative council of the French subsidiary.

[edit] Overview

Grant assistance is made for selected programs and projects which are initiated and conducted by non-profit organizations, non-government organizations, and international organizations worldwide. The Nippon Foundation's annual spending in the year 2002, not including indirect costs, amounts to approximately US$368 million, of which about 14% was spent for overseas cooperative assistance.^[6]

The activities of The Nippon Foundation are divided into four basic areas:

Domestic Social Welfare
Domestic Volunteer Support
Maritime Development
Overseas Cooperative Assistance

With its affiliates, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and the Tokyo Foundation, the Foundation has supported and implemented a variety of people exchange and human resources development projects. There are about 30,000 alumni from all over the world from these projects.

Specifically, funds from The Nippon Foundation have been directed toward agencies of the United Nations, including the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The foundation has helped to make substantial progress in famine relief, refugee aid, and the eradication of infectious diseases.

[edit] Controversy

Although the Foundation has stated its principal commitment is "to support international humanitarian initiatives aimed at improving the social, cultural, and economic well-being of developing countries, and combating poverty worldwide", it has engaged in politically-motivated activities reflecting the political views of its founder, such as spending millions to help support Japan's claim that Okinotori is an island, by building a lighthouse there and investing in a project to "grow" the island through microorganism breeding.^[7]

The grants that The Nippon Foundation makes are overseen and coordinated by the Japanese government and constitute an important part of the official Japanese lobbying effort which is aimed at fostering and maintaining a favorable image of Japan - known by the euphemism "improving mutual understanding". Although many Japanese institutions refrain from seeking a grant from The Nippon Foundation, the combination of reduced US funding for Japanese studies and the efforts of the Japan Lobby for many years have virtually deprived the US and other countries of an independent capability for research and teaching on Japan. The Nippon Foundation has also had considerable success in reducing the range of opinion and advice on which US government policy is based.^[8]

One of Sasakawa's other sons, Takashi Sasakawa, reportedly has relations with the Japanese underworld and has attempted to buy the Shelburne Hotel Casino of Atlantic City, New Jersey in a bid to enter the US gambling market.^[9]