Current Program Guidelines
Programs
Japanese Studies in the United States
The Commission believes that American public understanding of Japan, as well as the close friendship between Japan and the United States, require the development and strengthening of the next generation of American area specialists on Japan, trained to a high level of linguistic and disciplinary competence, and adequately represented in both the scholarly and non-academic professions. The Commission therefore devotes a large portion of its annual program budget to Japanese studies in American higher education.
The Commission's mandate, however, also specifies a broad internal distribution of Japanese studies funds among faculty development and research, language training, library support and general education. The Commission has sought to identify the most important areas of need, and to emphasize projects of unusual significance and maximum impact nationwide. The Commission will leave to other federal agencies those activities that are expressly and adequately funded in statutory programs of those agencies.
The Commission wishes to assure the continued growth and vitality of basic national resources for the study of Japan. In its library support, the Commission supports projects and institutions that help organize acquisitions of research materials on a national scale and help expand access to them through both printed and electronic format. In its program of support for language training, the Commission funds those institutional activities that promise the greatest national return.
The Commission will consider proposals for the maintenance of the current infrastructure and the development of new infrastructure for the field. Infrastructure building involves identifying areas and niches of activity with national scope that would benefit from the attention of a small professional staff, located within a stable organizational environment, under the oversight of an expert advisory committee. Such a staff, composed of as small a number as one officer, would devote full- or part-time attention to providing back-up, facilitation, continuity, initiative and leadership for that area of activity. It would also be involved in such efforts as fundraising, marketing where necessary, and particularly development of a self-sustaining base. Commission support would be used to provide salary, benefits, rent and other administrative necessities during the period of staff-up and take-off, for a maximum of five years, until this base reaches financial self-sufficiency and professional recognition from the area it serves.
The Commission provides support for scholarly research in Japanese studies through grants to academic associations that can organize peer review panels to review and select individual research project proposals for support with Commission funds. Normally the Commission will not accept applications in this category directly from individuals. All grants will be made or entrusted to universities, academic associations or other appropriate organizations that will also be responsible for such individual selections as may be required. Potential applicants with an individual research project proposal they wish to present to the Commission are strongly urged to consult with Commission staff before submitting an application.
The Commission will also consider on a case-by-case basis support for group research, conference and workshop projects dealing with topics ranging from policy issues to cultural affairs. The Commission will give higher priority to collaborative projects with some or all of the following features: an interdisciplinary approach to the research agenda; opportunities for cross-training among research team members in regional/cultural studies on the one hand and disciplinary studies on the other; opportunities for interaction of scholarly research and policy dialog; and a high degree of resource-sharing among a variety of funding organizations.
