Dejan Šoškić, governor of the National Bank of Serbia, expressed gratitude for the opportunities that a Sylff fellowship provided in enabling him to receive an excellent education and meet outstanding fellows from other countries.

Members of the Tokyo Foundation visited Šoškić in October 2011 following a trip to the University of Belgrade—Šoškić's alma mater and the tenth university to join the Sylff community. The visit was made with members of the university's Sylff steering committee.

Šoškić's contributions to Serbia's national development are well known among the university's fellows, who—SSC members noted—are proud of his accomplishments and look to him as a model for their own careers. Watch a video of Šoškić's comments at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_PzwVklcmc

(From left to right) Marko Ivetic, vice-rector, University of Belgrade; Ljiljana Markovic, vice-dean, Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade; Yoko Kaburagi, program officer for leadership development, Tokyo Foundation; Branko Kovacevic, rector, University of Belgrade; Dusan Nikezic, state secretary, Ministry of Finance, Republic of Serbia; Šoškić; Takashi Suzuki, director for leadership development, Tokyo Foundation.

“Perspectives on Difference” Workshop in Helsinki

In October 2011 the University of Helsinki in Finland commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the Sylff program. Rector Thomas Wilhelmsson gave an opening speech followed by a greeting from Hiroshi Maruyama, the Japanese ambassador to Finland.

“Twenty years ago, when the Sylff program was established here, Helsinki was a very domestic university,” the Rector said. “But we have globalized significantly over the past two decades, and I think Sylff has made a major contribution to this development.” Continue reading →

The poster for the June 20 concert.

From April through June 2011, students at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna—one of the three music schools in the Sylff community—performed a series of concerts as a sign of solidarity with and hope for the people in Japan in the wake of the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear accident.

The performers included several Sylff fellows. These concerts were a part of the students’ commitment as musicians to charitable activities. Proceeds from the event were donated to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Fund, managed by The Nippon Foundation, the donor of the Sylff endowment.

The Tokyo Foundation is very grateful to the students for thinking about the situation in Japan and very much appreciates their commitment and dedication to making the world a better place to live. Continue reading →

The Sylff Association at Jadavpur University has released its sixth newsletter, Fellows, featuring messages from Tokyo Foundation President Hideki Kato, Sylff Steering Committee Chairman and Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor Pradip Narayan Ghosh, and JU-Sylff Project Director and Professor Joyashree Roy.

It also contains contributions from fellows, who share their ideas and insights. Two articles highlight the knowledge and experiences they gained through Sylff Research Abroad. There is a section devoted to former recipients who provide information on what they are doing now.

Click here (PDF: 2.51 MB) to read the newsletter online.

For a list of Sylff Local Associations around the world, please click here.

Nippon Foundation Chairman Sasakawa (center, wearing light blue suit) with members of the Howard faculty and incoming Sylff fellows.

On September 8, 2011, Chairman Yohei Sasakawa and other officers from The Nippon Foundation—the Sylff endowment donor—visited Howard University, whose Graduate School celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its association with Sylff earlier this year.

They met with university faculty, including Graduate School Interim Dean Charles L. Betsey, Associate Provost Joseph Reidy, and Senior Academic Advisor to the President Alvin Thornton. Continue reading →

Recent articles uploaded on the Sylff website have been compiled into a booklet entitled “Voices from the Sylff Community.” The 10 articles contained therein represent some of the many “voices” in the very extensive Sylff community, encompassing 69 universities in 44 countries around the world.

In addition to the print edition, the booklet is also available as a PDF file, which can be downloaded from the link below. It’s a handy introduction to what a handful of some 13,000 current and graduated Sylff fellows are doing and thinking, as well as the contributions they are making to make a difference in society and build a better future. Continue reading →

We are happy to announce the re-launch of SRA, one of the Sylff fellows support programs offered by the Tokyo Foundation. SRA now has greater flexibility and is open to both current and former Sylff fellowship recipients who are currently enrolled in a PhD program at any institution of higher learning.

The applicant may also propose any institution of higher learning in a foreign country as the host. Successful applicants will be awarded up to a maximum of US$7,000 to cover research expenses.

Those who are currently pursuing a master’s degree are not eligible. They will have an opportunity to apply for SRA, however, when they advance to PhD study.

For details, see the Call for Applications (https://www.sylff.org/fellows/sra/)

We look forward to receiving your application

Judith (left) and Kurtis

Kurtis Nakamura and Judith Li of the University of California, San Diego, were in Japan for an internship. They had just finished their first year of a master’s program at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. Kurtis was interning at the United Nations University in Yokohama, while Judith worked for Deutsche Bank AG in central Tokyo. They spoke with members of the Tokyo Foundation’s Leadership Development team on Japanese business manners and the roles and benefits of an internship for their careers.

Lars Gaupset of the University of Oslo in Norway was in Japan to attend a conference and memorial ceremonies for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. Having just received an MA in peace and conflict studies from the university, Lars was heading a delegation from “No to Nuclear Weapons (NTA),” a Norwegian nongovernmental organization founded in 1981 that works for the disarmament and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. He was joined on the trip by two NTA members: Grethe Nielsen, a longstanding member in her seventies, and Bitte Vadtvedt, a journalist and documentary filmmaker.

From left, two NTA members, Lars and Akio Kawato

At the Tokyo Foundation, they met with Senior Fellow Akio Kawato, former Japanese ambassador to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, who provided a historical overview of Japanese policy on nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. They were also given updates on the Fukushima nuclear accident and exchanged opinions on Japan’s future energy policy and the feasibility of renewable energy.

The Tokyo Foundation welcomes visits by Sylff fellows or faculty members at Sylff institutions anytime to exchange views with the Foundation’s research fellows and program officers. Interested fellows and faculty members should contact Mari Suzuki of the Foundation at leadership[at]tkfd.or.jp (replace [at] with @).

Noah (left) and Katsuhito Iwai

During this summer, Sylff fellows from various countries visited the Tokyo Foundation to meet with the Foundation’s research fellows and program officers.

Noah Smith, a PhD candidate in economics from the University of Michigan in the United States, came to Japan to undertake research on the mechanism of the bubble economy. He spoke with Katsuhito Iwai, Tokyo Foundation Senior Fellow and Professor Emeritus of the Tokyo University, to learn the renowned economist’s views of the bubble economy and nature of capitalism. Noah also had a chance to meet Sota Kato, a Tokyo Foundation Senior Fellow who was formerly a lecturer at the University of Michigan’s Department of Political Science.

Yusuke Tanaka, a PhD candidate in Japanese language education at Waseda University in Japan, visited the Foundation with Roman Pasca, a former lecturer in the Japanese language at the University of Bucharest in Romania. Roman was chairman of the Romanian association of Japanese language teachers between 2008 and 2011 and is now studying for a PhD in Japanese language education at Waseda. There are very few Japanese-language specialists in Romania, so he is aiming to become a pioneer in the field. He has been a beneficiary of a Tokyo-Foundation-administered Japanese Language Program (NF-JLEP) at the University of Bucharest.

Roman (left) and Yusuke

Yusuke lived in Dalian, China, between the ages of six and eight, as his father—a high school Japanese language instructor—was dispatched there from 1989 to 1991 as part of a bilateral exchange program. He has been involved in developing Japanese language textbooks for Chinese and Korean students and taught Japanese at Fudan University in Shanghai from 2009 to 2011. Yusuke and Roman spoke with Yoko Kaburagi and Mari Suzuki—program officers for both the Sylff and NF-JLEP programs—about the future of Japanese language education in Asia and Europe and what can be done to promote it worldwide.