Poet, vocalist, and sound artist LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs presents a selection from her acclaimed debut book, TwERK, new performance-based works, and a taste of flash non-fiction. While Diggs᾽ poetry can be traced to the Black Arts Movement from the 1960s, her contemporary use of language as a source of cultural expression is developed through […]
The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission congratulates President Obama on his historic visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 27, 2016. The Commission’s mission is to preserve and strengthen the U.S.-Japan bilateral relationship by advancing mutual understanding between the two countries through cultural and intellectual exchange.
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission is having conversations with a number of grantees. The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission is proud to support the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and its project, Orpheus with Nobuyuki Tsujii: a Cross-Cultural Partnership. This unique conductor-less orchestra will collaborate with 27 year-old Japanese pianist and composer Nobuyuki Tsujii […]
The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission’s Annual Grant Application Deadline for Institutional Grants is fast approaching! The Commission operates its institutional grant-making activities in four areas: Exchanges and Scholarship; Global Challenges; Arts and Culture; and Education and Public Affairs. There is only one grant cycle per year. The annual deadline for submitting proposals is July 1, 5:00 […]
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission is having conversations with a number of grantees. Visual artist Katie Cercone was awarded a U.S.-Japan Creative Artist Exchange Fellowship in 2015. The Fellowship is funded by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and administered in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. “It was really […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC) this week welcomed the first delegation of legislators to visit Washington under the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Thomas S. Foley Legislative Exchange — the Foley Exchange — a new public-private partnership intended to build lasting relationships among U.S., Japanese, and Korean elected officials. […]
The Queer Japan Project features interviews with a range of people from Japan’s LGBTQ community—including activists, artists, politicians, and historians—resulting in a feature-length documentary, along with art exhibitions, a series of web videos, photography, and printed publications. Interviewed and filmed through the warm, insightful lens of Graham Kolbeins, a young, talented, and queer filmmaker based […]
To commemorate its 40th anniversary and to address the rising concern within academic circles that Japan Studies as a field may be in “crisis”, the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission convened a discussion on April 2, 2016 at the Association of Asian Studies annual meeting in Seattle. The discussion, chaired by University of Hawai’i professor Patricia Steinhoff, […]
The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission congratulates U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Program Alumna Sawako Nakayasu on winning the 2016 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. The award recognizes book-length translations of poetry from any language into English published in 2015. Ms. Nakayasu won for The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa, translated from the Japanese. Since 1978, the Commission […]
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission is having conversations with a number of grantees. “I consider myself one of the luckiest people on earth for being a part of the program and reflect on it constantly,” remarks contemporary artist Karen LaMonte. She is known for her innovative work creating glass sculptures […]
