Japanese Corporate Philanthropy

Book excerpt: Over the past decade, Japanese corporations have made a series of large, news-generating gifts to a variety of United States universities, museums, and research institutions. Many of these gifts have differed in both nature and magnitude from the contributions made by Japanese companies domestically. The stir generated by such corporate grants is evidenced on the one hand by the influx into Japan of American, European, and Asian fundraisers seeking grants for their organizations, and on the other hand by the intensifying debate within Japan about the appropriate role for Japanese institutions as international corporate philanthropists and citizens. As with every facet of the complex United States-Japan relationship, cultural disparities make the American and Japanese approaches to philanthropy quite different, creating the potential for friction and disappointment in this realm as surely as in the realm of trade and international business. This book examines major legal and functional aspects of Japanese corporate philanthropy and attempts to place them in their cultural setting. Drawing on her experience as an attorney and five years in Japan, Ms. London aims to make Japanese corporate grantmaking more comprehensible not only to Americans but also to Japanese as they begin to focus more attention on the role and meaning of corporate philanthropy.