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The Toyota Foundation's Activities

The Toyota Foundation's Activities

Overview

Since its creation in 1974, the Toyota Foundation has carried out grant-making programs supporting research in more than 20 countries and regions, mainly in Asia. The support we have provided for academic research efforts spans the fields of the humanities, social science, and the natural sciences. At the same time, we have worked to support various practical activities throughout the Asian region and implemented our "Know Our Neighbors" Translation-Publication Programs, which promoted the widespread sharing of ideas between languages from fiscal 1978 through fiscal 2003.

More than all other types of research, basic research is the cornerstone of academic endeavor. While it is always a necessary element of human studies, sometimes this necessity can be truly urgent. The Toyota Foundation, for instance, has aided the investigation of ancient manuscripts by offering steady support to projects carried out by local researchers to collect manuscripts that are in danger of becoming completely scattered, deciphering them, and publishing or creating databases of their content.

Our Foundation has constantly sought to identify the sort of support that it can provide for the benefit of society in ways that only a private-sector grant-making organization can. One of these ways has been our aid for research that aims to catch the initial signs of coming change and tackle new issues as they first arise. We actively offer support to practical activities and research that build on fresh perspectives to respond to the needs of the times, well ahead of the launch of large-scale support programs from public organs like national governments. We have also operated a number of programs to help the development of young researchers, both inside and outside Japan. In carrying out its grant-making activities the Toyota Foundation keeps its eye firmly on the future.

From early on in our history we also worked to support private-sector efforts to deal with the issues closest to people's lives. Today's Grant Program for Community Activities is the direct successor to previous programs like the Research Contest on the Theme "Observing the Community Environment," launched in fiscal 1979, and the Special-Subject Research grants for Documentation of Citizen Activities Contributing to a New Society, which began in fiscal 1984 and later became part of the Grant Program for Civil Society. It has been most pleasing to see these efforts bear fruit in the form of a broad range of activities aimed at protection of the natural environment, improved coexistence with people with disabilities or foreign nationals, the revitalization of urban districts or farming villages, and other goals. We believe that these matters of concern to people in their local communities are matters in which people all around the world share the same interest.

In the future, the Toyota Foundation intends to continue being a good neighbor to the people of the world, carrying out international cooperation efforts that, while small in scale, are firmly rooted in actual conditions in the field. Past examples of these efforts include the close interpersonal ties that have developed through exchange with researchers and literary figures across Southeast Asia. The cross-border Southeast Asian research carried out by Southeast Asians themselves through SEASREP, the Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program launched in fiscal 1995,for example, gave us the experience of being present at the dawn of a historical trend in regional studies. Today these waves of exchange are set to expand across the entire Asian region. The Toyota Foundation looks forward, together with all of humanity, to the plentiful achievements that will continue to be generated through people's ties with one another.

Changes in Grant Amounts