In Japan there is an increasing public awareness of the issue of homelessness and some UK support services, such as the Big Issue magazine, have already been introduced there. A visit to Japan by UK experts, organised by Links Japan, and helped with a grant from the Foundation, enabled these experts to better understand the models of care and inclusion that are taking place in Japan and gave them the opportunity to share best practice with local NPOs working with the homeless and especially with those concerned with the need to develop social enterprise to allow the homeless to earn an income.

© The Big Issue Japan Ltd.

Systems of local government differ between Japan and the UK, making them an excellent example for comparative projects. A small travel grant allowed Professor John Tomaney, Newcastle University, to visit Japan and meet his collaborator, Professor Wakamatsu at Tokyo Foreign Studies University. Together they are compiling a comparative study on Anglo-Japanese local democracy aimed at academics and policy-makers. It will be the first such study in recent times.

The recent re-introduction of trial by jury has put criminal justice in Japan back into the headlines. The Foundation, however, has been supporting research in this important area for some years. Grants to the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth have supported a wide range of projects including  the setting up of an Anglo-Japanese Network for Criminal Justice Studies, a series of workshops focusing on different aspects of the criminal justice systems in both countries, research into gambling in Japan, and joint publications between British and Japanese Researchers. Additionally, a recent grants to Dr Monica Barry at Strathclyde University allowed her to visit Japan to undertake qualitative research on youth offending.

‘Koban’ a small neighbourhood police station in Japan.

The G8 is a pivotal institution of global governance, yet how Japan and the UK play a role in this forum remains understudied. The University of Sheffield received our funding for a workshop that brought together academic, policymaking and civil society communities from Japan and the UK to discuss the significance of the two countries’ current and future participation in the 2008 Hokkaido G8 summit. Podcasts of the panel discussions were posted on their web pages www.wreac.org

G8 Workshop, Minister Takaoka Masato and Professor Glenn Hook, University of Sheffield. Photo: Hugo Dobson

The Foundation is a major sponsor of academic conferences, especially those that actively involve the public at large. In 2008 we sponsored a conference and open public debate organised by Cambridge University on How the East Asia Media debates the Asian Past in the Present.  Eight journalists - specifically neither politicians nor academics - from Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan discussed together for the first time how they report East Asian history and the extent to which public opinion is influenced by the way they present and interpret it.

The Foundation gives grant support for research on or about Japan, especially to young PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. Some recent PhD awardees have been: A Patalano (war studies, King’s College London), I Gaitanidis (shamanism and psychotherapy in contemporary Japanese society, University of Leeds), A Jerzewska (Japan’s free trade agreements policy, University of Leeds) N Kobayashi-Hillary sociological study of muji in Japan and the UK, Open University) P Shetler-Jones (the effects of the 2004 National Defence Programme Guideline, University of Sheffield) and O Madiyev (political economy of Japan’s external energy dependence, University of Sheffield)

Postgraduates from University of Strathclyde and Tokyo Institute of Technology enjoy a thrilling maiden ride on the Human Driven Snake Vehicle. The students worked on the vehicle under the direction of Professor Hirose of Tokyo Institute of Technology.

A major grant was awarded to the Asia Pacific Technology Network towards an in-depth study of Japanese Investment in the UK since 1990. Existing literature does not adequately explain how Japanese investment evolved, as the bubble economy collapsed, investments matured, and competition from cheap labour locations elsewhere developed. The study began with the production and dissemination of a 15,000 word pamphlet and continues with a book-length history of Japanese corporate investment in the UK since 1970.