Our work
The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation is a grant-giving charity dedicated to exchange and co-operation between the UK and Japan.
For over forty years we have supported initiatives that bring the people and institutions of both nations together in shared endeavours. The work we fund contributes towards mutual understanding and appreciation in fields as diverse as culture, sport, medicine, science and technology, academic research, and education.
We award over £1.5m in grants and awards each year, supporting projects through several streams of funding.
How we help develop UK-Japan relations
Small grants
Small grants form a significant part of our work, enabling over 200 projects every year with total funding of over £1m. Funding varies by project, but a typical range lies between £2,000-6,000. The Foundation awards small grants to applicants in both the UK and Japan, with three application rounds per year in the UK and two in Japan.
We also support projects in a variety of other ways delivered from our UK office.
Postgraduate studentships
With additional annual funding from The Nippon Foundation, we support up to 30 postgraduate students of Japanese Studies at UK universities every year with funding of up to £15,000 per person.
Medical awards
We provide dedicated support for UK-Japan medical projects through our annual Butterfield Awards, awarding a total of £125,000 split across multiple projects every year. A single project can be funded to a maximum of £30,000 over a course of three years.
AMR research programme
We also currently support a five-year programme addressing the pressing global issue of antimicrobial resistance. This £1.5m initiative brings together Warwick University and the Institute of Development Studies in the UK and Japan’s National Center for Global Health and Medicine to help tackle this vital health challenge.
Annual school tour
Each year we select one secondary school or sixth form college in the UK to participate in a residential tour to Japan, immersing twelve sixth form students and three teachers in life in the Kansai region, including homestays, experiencing a day in a Japanese school and visits to Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima.
Translation prize
We are delighted to support the vital work of translation from Japanese to English through our annual translation prize, run in conjunction with the Society of Authors. This competition highlights and honours the work of literary translators in making Japanese works available and enjoyable in English.
How we are run
The Foundation is a charity registered in the UK. Our grant-giving is enabled by the investment of our endowments, which we manage to enable us to continue our support of UK-Japan projects. We maintain small offices in London and Tokyo, and are governed and guided by trustees in both countries.