Greeting

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) was established in 1986 to implement a variety of projects, research, and other activities aimed at solving international problems in cooperation with organizations in Japan and abroad. Through a wide range of activities, we hope that more and more Japanese especially young people, will take on leadership role in the international community.

In particular, many international issues have emerged recently, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental problems, and the review of the security system triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We became keenly aware of the problem that the current socioeconomic system may be becoming irrational, and that it may be time to rethink the system.

Based on the awareness of these issues, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation Scholarship Program was established. As activities to review the international system have already begun and new mechanisms are being created, it is our strong desire to produce new leaders from within Japan who will be active on a global level. At the same time, Japan has been said to be a country with advanced issues. We believe that solving these issues in Japan will have a significant impact on the international community in the future. For this reason, we need new leaders within Japan. We feel that it is important for SPF not only to cooperate with organizations, as we have done in the past, but also to provide direct support to young people to be a future leader.

We expect that this scholarship will produce more Japanese leaders who are active on a global level, and more young leaders who tackle domestic issues from fresh perspectives. Hopefully, these leaders will be able to present proposals with unique Japanese ideas to the international community persuasively. Although this may be a slightly different approach from that in North America and Europe, I hope that by making excellent proposals from a different perspective, they will be welcomed by people around the world.

However, no matter how outstanding a person may be, there is a limit to what each of them can accomplish. For this reason, we would like to focus on building a community of alumni in this scholarship program. We hope that all of you, who share the common experience of studying abroad and have aspirations, will help each other, create a network for friendly competition, and use this as a foundation for your future endeavors.

We believe that the very moment you open this website and see our message is the beginning of a dialogue between us and you, and the opening of a new world. For those of you who have already decided what you want to do after studying abroad, we would like to help you to become more flexible and broaden your perspectives. For those of you who want to solidify their ideas, we would like to present materials that will help you decide on a direction to take.

We are looking for young people who are curious, flexible, and have a sense of mission. If you feel that you have the motivation and that you may fit the profile that this scholarship is looking for, please do not think that “I may not be accepted,” but rather just apply first.