Japan Culture Volunteers Program

The Council on the Movement of People Across Borders, an advisory body to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, began discussions in March 2006 on the topic of "measures and framework for strengthening Japan's Public Diplomacy." In June 2007 the council proposed some specific measures that it deemed necessary to announce quickly in the form of "Five Recommendations for Strengthening Japan's Public Diplomacy." Among them, the council recommended the establishment of a "Japan Culture Volunteers Program." Against the background of the increasing popularity of pop culture around the world, the council recognized that the dispatch of volunteers would be an effective means of disseminating Japanese culture and the Japanese language to citizens of other countries on a person-to-person level. Following these recommendations, the council's final report on the topic, issued in February 2008, again mentioned the dispatch of volunteers, and this led to the establishment of the Japan Culture Volunteers Program.

On the question of the countries to which volunteers should be dispatched, it was decided to target countries in Central and Eastern Europe to which Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers had been sent in the past but whose dispatch had been terminated in recent years or was scheduled to be terminated owing to the economic development of the country in question. It was decided to target four specific countries: Hungary and Poland, which joined the European Union in 2004, and Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the EU in 2007.

Volunteers began their activities in those countries in January 2009. It is hoped that their activities will lead to the fostering of people with an understanding of Japan in those four countries and will strengthen the foundations of friendly relations between Japan and those countries.

(Reference)

The year 2009 marks the 90th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (recognition of statehood) between Japan and Poland; the 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties between Japan and Romania; the 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties between Japan and Bulgaria; and the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties and 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties between Japan and Hungary.