Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

AbbreviationJINF
Formation2007
Typethink tank (public policy and foreign policy)
HeadquartersClaire Hirakawa-cho #801, 2-16-5 Hirakawa-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0093, Japan
Location
  • Tokyo, Japan
President
Yoshiko Sakurai
Websiteen.jinf.jp

The Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (国家基本問題研究所, Kokka Kihon Mondai Kenkyūjo) or Kokkiken (国基研) is a public and foreign policy think tank in Tokyo, Japan, privately funded and founded in December 2007 by Yoshiko Sakurai.

Sakurai started her career as a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor in Tokyo. She served as a news presenter on Nippon Television's late night news programme Kyō no Dekigoto from 1980 to 1996. She worked on the HIV-tainted blood scandal in Japan during the 1990s.

Affiliated with the openly revisionist lobby Nippon Kaigi,[1] Sakurai denies sexual slavery by the Japanese imperial military during World War II (i.e. "comfort women").[2] She promoted Taniyama Yūjirō's 2015 Scottsboro Girls film in Japan and the United States, a revisionist film aimed at denying the sexual enslavement of comfort women.[3][4]

In 2007, she supported a film about the Nanjing Massacre, The Truth about Nanjing.[5] Satoru Mizushima, the director and producer of the film, has said the massacre is nothing more than propaganda.[5]

She is the originator of the term "Tokutei Asia".

Overview

It regularly gives policy proposals to the Japanese government[6] and holds monthly "study" meetings and international symposiums.[7]

Membership

JINF has close ties to the ultranationalist organization Nippon Kaigi and many of its members also come from various ultranationalist textbook reform organizations/movements like Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, Japan Education Rebirth Institute (Kyoiku Saisei), and Society to Improve Textbooks.

From Nippon Kaigi, some prominent members include chairman Tadae Takubo,[8] secretary general Yuzo Kabashima,[9] former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara,[10] and policy committee member Akira Momochi.[11]

Organization

References.[12][13]

President

Vice presidents

  • Tadao TAKUBO (Professor Emeritus, Kyorin University, chair of Nippon Kaigi)
  • Katsuhiko TAKAIKE (Lawyer)
  • Yoshito OGURA (President of NIPPON ARCOIRIS)

Directors

Auditor

  • Yukio GOTO (Lawyer, Former Prosecutor at Kyoto Public Prosecutors Office)

Publication

JINF publishes weekly short commentaries written by various professionals on current issues. The institute also publishes a newsletter reporting activities every other month for its members.

Awards

Since 2014, the JINF has administered two annual prizes, a Kokkiken Japan Study Award and Japan Study Encouragement Award. Through these awards, the Foundation "encourages and honors outstanding works in the field of Japanese studies at home and abroad that contribute to the furthering of understanding of Japan in the areas of politics, national security, diplomacy, history, education and culture, among others."[14]

Funding

The Japan Institute for National Fundamentals is a fully private-funded think tank. There are three types of membership of the institute, Individual, Supporter and Corporate membership, all of which are completely open.

References

  1. ^ Nippon Kaigi website
  2. ^ "Time to hit back at international aspirations over 'comfort women'" (JPG). Retrieved 2023-08-29.
  3. ^ "'Comfort Woman' Revisionism Comes to the U.S.: Symposium on The Revisionist Film Screening Event at Central Washington University | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus". apjjf.org. 3 June 2015.
  4. ^ "Detailed Review of the Film "Scottsboro Girls"". www.michaelyon-online.com.
  5. ^ a b Hongo, Jun (January 25, 2007). "Filmmaker to paint Nanjing slaughter as just myth". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on August 13, 2007. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  6. ^ "Japan Institute for National Fundamentals". Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  7. ^ "公益財団法人 国家基本問題研究所". 公益財団法人 国家基本問題研究所 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  8. ^ Yoshida, Reiji (2016-07-13). "Nationalist leader predicts constitutional revision in 10 years". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  9. ^ "Nippon Kaigi", Wikipedia, 2021-10-04, retrieved 2021-10-07
  10. ^ Kato, Norihiro (2014-09-12). "Opinion | Tea Party Politics in Japan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  11. ^ "百地章", Wikipedia (in Japanese), 2021-10-05, retrieved 2021-10-07
  12. ^ "Japan Institute for National Fundamentals". Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  13. ^ "公益財団法人 国家基本問題研究所". 公益財団法人 国家基本問題研究所 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  14. ^ The 1st(2014) Terada Mari Japan Study Award, accessed 6/18/2017