Selamat datang ke the Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur!
A warm welcome to the Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur!
CULTURE, LANGUAGE and DIALOGUE
These are the three main pillars of the Japan Foundation as Japan’s only institution dedicated to carrying out comprehensive international cultural exchange programmes throughout the world.
The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur (JFKL) has been around for more than 30 years now, celebrating its 30th anniversary in Malaysia in year 2019. It is such an honour for me to serve in this country as the current director. The Look East Policy (LEP) initiated by the government of Malaysia has reached its 40th year anniversary in 2022. The Japan Foundation itself, has been weaving ties with the world since October 1972 and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. We have a long history around the globe including Malaysia, and I am delighted to be a part of this journey.
No doubt, the pandemic has affected us in many ways – our working culture, networking activities as well as the execution of our programmes and events. Online communication has now become a part of our new norm. JFKL has been actively reliving our project initiatives in Malaysia physically where we hope to continue embracing our relationships with our stakeholders. However, we will maintain our online presence at the same time. Technologies will continue to change from time to time; human interactions will always have to adapt with these constant changes hence at JFKL, we will continue to seek ways to effectively implement our cultural exchange programmes in a variety of field.
Under the Arts & Culture umbrella, JFKL will continue to offer events such as the annual Japanese Film Festival (JFF) and our Weekend Japanese Film Show. We have also been blessed with so many collaborations and cooperation with local artists and experts, and the Malaysian government in promoting Japanese arts and culture through channels like exhibition, stage performances and festivals.
We are also pleased to support Malaysian scholars and experts in Japanese studies by providing opportunities across borders through lectures, talk series, joint workshops and collaborative research. Since 2022, we have also established the Global Partnerships as one branch under our three main pillars, which aims to promote dialogue as well as collaborative engagement in important and common international issues among a wide range of people – including experts, intellectuals, citizens and youth.
In Malaysia, the Japanese language education has also been developing progressively and JFKL is glad to provide our endless support and cooperation to educational institutions as well as their Japanese language teachers and learners. We are very much indebted to various parties including the Ministry of Education Malaysia, universities, associations and societies. Nihongo Partners (NP) Programme for example, has been running in Malaysia since 2015 and we hope to continue this initiative for more years to come, along with other programmes.
Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan,
Kami turut berbesar hati untuk menerima kedatangan tuan puan ke pejabat kami, kerana kami juga menyediakan sebuah perpustakaan untuk orang awam berkunjung dan turut menyediakan perkhidmatan pinjaman buku sekiranya tuan puan telah mendaftar sebagai ahli.
Semoga JFKL semakin dekat di hati rakyat Malaysia dan dapat menyemarakkan lagi hubungan di antara Malaysia dan Jepun.
Terima kasih atas sokongan anda yang berterusan, JFKL akan terus mengusahakan pelbagai inisiatif seiring dengan misi dan visi Japan Foundation khususnya untuk rakyat Malaysia.
On behalf of JFKL, I would very much appreciate your continuous support, assistance and encouragement.
TSUKAMOTO Norihisa
Director
The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur
