Help is on the way for the United Kingdom's cash-strapped Japanese studies programs, in the form of 2.5 million pounds in grants from the Nippon Foundation and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. Universities in the UK have undergone unprecedented budget cuts in recent times, but none more damaging than those suffered by Japanese studies programs.

The Nippon Foundation/Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation project will breathe new life into Japanese studies in the UK by funding 13 full-time teaching and research posts at 12 universities. The funding grants will cover a period of 5 years, and will allow educational institutions to offer courses about contemporary Japan that include politics, economics, international relations, culture, media and society.

During the last 10 years several universities have closed down their Japanese departments, leading to fears that British expertise about Japan will dramatically decline if this trend is not corrected. However, the Earl of St. Andrews, chairman of the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, recently expressed hope that by launching this funding initiative, the tide could be turned, saying, "This is one of the biggest steps forward in the history of Japanese studies."

The Japanese studies funding crisis has already led to the 2002 closure of the Department for East Asian Studies at Durham University in northern England, a major blow to UK Japanese studies. Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa said that by launching the funding project, the relationship between Britain and Japan will grow and be nurtured. He added that the new posts created by the project will be a springboard for strengthening all areas of activity between the two countries.

The project comes at a time when universities are expressing reluctance to fund Japanese courses in spite of the fact that demand continues to rise. New posts will be created at the following universities: Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, East Anglia, Oxford Brookes and at the University of London, both Birkbeck College and the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Japan is one of the UK's closest partners in trade and investment, and in the areas of scientific and cultural exchange, UK schools currently have around 10,000 students studying Japanese. There is a rapidly growing demand for university places.

In the last year there has been a 40.9 per cent increase over 2006 in the number of undergraduate applications to Japanese degree courses at British universities. The funding crisis, with its corresponding reduction in Japanese programs, and drastic cuts in staff, meant this demand had proved difficult to meet.

Now, this decline can be reversed thanks to the Nippon Foundation project.