Founded | 1 October 1962 |
---|---|
Founder | |
Focus | Education, healthcare, maritime industry |
Location | |
Area served
|
Global |
Method | Donations and Grants |
Key people
|
Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman Takeju Ogata, President |
Revenue
|
30,938,893,000JPY (FY2012) |
Employees
|
94 (2012) |
Website | www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/en/ |
The Nippon Foundation (日本財団 Nipponzaidan) of Tokyo, Japan, is a private, non-profit grant-making organization. It was established in 1962 by Ryoichi Sasakawa, the late statesman and businessman. The foundation's mission is to direct Japanese motorboat racing revenue into philanthropic activities, and it uses these monies to pursue global maritime development and assistance for humanitarian work, both at home and abroad. In the humanitarian field, it focuses on such fields as social welfare, public health, and education.
The current chairman is Yohei Sasakawa, World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, Special Envoy of the Government of Japan for National Reconciliation in Myanmar, and the son of the foundation's founder, Ryoichi Sasakawa.
In 1962, The Nippon Foundation was established under the auspices of the Japanese Motorboat Racing Law. The law and the foundation were initiatives of Ryoichi Sasakawa who, as chair, used them to both help rebuild the Japanese shipbuilding sector, and to conduct philanthropic activities around the world. This system of using gambling revenue to provide aid to needy sectors was a novel one in Japan at that time, and came under intense scrutiny. In response, the foundation strove for transparency in conducting its activities, making its records publicly accessible from its earliest days.
Initiatives pursued in this period include research for the development of super tankers and their engines, direct support for the shipbuilding industry, and the protection of safety in the Strait of Malacca—vital to Japan’s national security, due to the fact that more than 80 percent of her oil passes this way.