From the Foundation

On October 25, following the Asian Neighbors Network Program public symposium and the grant award ceremony for the Asian Neighbors Network and Research Grant Programs, the Toyota Foundation hosted an evening reception to give recipients the chance to network informally with each other. Around 150 people attended this gathering, including one participant who came all the way from Argentina to attend―Teiji Arakaki who is involved with “A Historical Compilation Project on Immigration from Okinawa to Argentina.” Also in attendance was Taufik Abdullah of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, who received an International Grant 30 years ago and has more recently been involved with the Toyota Foundation as a selection committee member for the Young Indonesian Researchers Program and Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program.

Kazuhiro Arai had earlier given a speech at the award ceremony in which he talked about the misgivings he wrestled with as he prepared to start his project. This reception was an opportunity for a number of recipients to note that they also shared these same nervous feelings. The gathering was a happy one, though, with the beaming smiles of grant recipients filling the hall.

Grant recipients asked each other for ideas on how best to summarize and present their research, program officers introduced researchers to one another, and people reconnected with acquaintances from the past, making the reception a true forum for exchange of all kinds.