An independent Federal agency created to support the relationship and cooperation between the United States and Japan, the Japan-United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC) provides grants to institutions that will promote scholarly, cultural, and public affairs exchanges between the two countries.

Congress established the Japan-United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC) on October 20, 1975, with the passage of the Japan-United States Friendship Act, signed into law by President Gerald Ford. The act acknowledged the importance of the post-World War II friendship and partnership between Japan and the United States, with the specific purpose of providing aid for education and culture that will support and enhance interests between the two countries. 

To finance these ventures, the Act also established a Japan-United States Trust Fund within the Treasury of the United States. The endowment was in both yen and dollars, with a combined value of approximately $36 million at the exchange rate then in effect. The yen fund originated from a portion of the money paid by the Japanese government to compensate the United States for its post-World War II assistance, while the dollar fund was a portion of the money paid by the Japanese government for certain public facilities on Okinawa it received at the time of the reversion of the Ryukyu Islands to Japanese sovereignty, in 1972. The Commission was authorized to invest the funds and utilize the interest earnings, up to five percent annually of the principal of the Fund, to carry out the purposes of the Act. 

Among the activities the Act authorized the Fund to support: Studies in institutions of higher education, and scholarly research, in Japan and the United States, designed to foster mutual understanding between the countries; building collections of Japanese books and publications in libraries throughout the United States, and similar support for collections of American books and publications in libraries in Japan; programs in the arts in association with appropriate institutions in Japan and the United States; fellowships and scholarships at the graduate and faculty levels in Japan and the U.S.; and support for visiting professors and lecturers at colleges and universities in Japan and the United States.

As soon as Ronald Reagan became President of the United States, in 1981, the Office of Management and Budget proposed that the Japan-United States Trust Fund, as well as the entire Commission, be eliminated. But JUSFC members quickly mounted a national campaign appealing to the President, the Secretary of State, and other top administration and Congressional leaders, and, upon President Reagan’s direction, the proposal was dropped.

History of the Commission 1975-1995 (by Francis B. Tenny, JUSFC) (pdf)

The Japan-United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC) is the U.S. government agency responsible for funding grants that promote and strengthen artistic, cultural, and educational awareness of Japan in the United States and of the United States in Japan.

It is made up of 18 board members comprised of nine private citizens, including the Chairman, and nine government officials, with two of those representatives from the Senate and two from the House of Representatives. The Commission board meets twice a year, usually in April and September, to consider grant proposals, which may be submitted in four areas:

1. Japanese studies in American higher education
2. Public Affairs/Education
3. The Study of the United States in Japanese higher education
4. The Arts

Among the entities to which recent grants were awarded for the Study of Japan in the United States:

• The Association of Teachers of Japanese, for support of “The Bridging Project Clearinghouse to Encourage Study Abroad in Japan by American Undergraduate Students”
• Northeast Asia Council of the Association of Asian Studies (NEAC/AAS) – NEAC/AAS Grants for Japanese Studies

Among recent entities to which grants were awarded for the Study of the United States in Japan:

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• American Studies Association – Change and Power:  Comparative US-Japan Perspectives
• Organization of American Historians – OAH/JAAS Historians’ Collaborative Project

To apply for a JUSFC grant, applicants must submit proposals in hard copy directly to the Commissioner’s Washington office, and use the Commission’s application form, which is available from the Commission office or on the agency web site. Proposals should include 25 three-hole punched copies of an application coversheet, budget page, and abbreviated CVs of the principal project participants. In addition, the applicant should include any necessary background and explanatory material, and submit an additional copy in Word as an e-mail attachment to grants@jusfc.gov.

The JUSFC also sponsors a Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship Program in partnership with the National Endowment of the Arts, and in association with the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan, and the International House of Japan. Every year the program sends up to five American artists to live in, and perform in, Japan for five months. The artists who are chosen must be professional creative artists either already recognized for their artistic excellence, or for showing exceptional promise. Among those eligible to apply: architects, choreographers, composers, creative writers, designers, media artists, playwrights, visual artists, and solo theater artists who work with original material including puppeteers, storytellers, and performance artists, as well as artists who create original work in a multidisciplinary form. The application submission deadline is February 1 each year and the residency may begin anytime during the following calendar year.

From the Web Site of JUSFC:

Creative Artists’ Profiles

Fellowship Program for Advanced Social Science Research on Japan

Frequently Asked Questions About Submitting Proposals to JUSFC

International House of Japan Program Activities

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2012

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2011

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2010

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2009

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2008

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2007

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2006

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2005

Grants and Contracts Approved for FY 2004

Dr. Richard J. Samuels (2001-2007)

Dr. Richard J. Wood (1995-2001)

Dr. Kenneth B. Pyle (1992-1995)

Dr. John H. Makin (1989-1992)

Dr. W. Glenn Campbell (1983-1989)

Dr. Robert E. Ward (1980-1983)

Dr. John Whitney Hall (1975-1980)