Daiwa Foundation funds projects ranging from a reciprocal cultural exchange between two UNESCO Cities of Literature to collaborative research into temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis

The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation (www.dajf.org.uk) has published details of its Small Grants and Awards awarded to support a total of 31 UK-Japan projects in its latest funding round: March 2026.

A Daiwa Foundation Small Grant will support the travel of 11 explorer scouts and 2 leaders from the 83rd Fife Scout Group to attend the 19th Nippon Jamboree in Hiroshima Prefecture in August 2026, which will be followed by visits to Tokyo and Iwate, in the group’s first Japan trip since 2018. They are very much looking forward to meeting up with their Iwate Scout partner group again.

Support will also be provided to 9 artists from Scotland to travel to Japan in September 2026 to present Towa Mura – a theatre collaboration between Tom Pow, The Galloway Agreement and Bird Theatre that addresses the issue of rural depopulation through an emotionally engaging exploration of rural life, inequality and cultural preservation – at the Bird Theatre Festival in Tottori.

In addition, Dr David Wilkinson and Professor Bou-Gharios of the University of Liverpool will spend a week at Kanazawa University in March/April 2027 to conduct collaborative research with Dr Kazuhiro Ooi into temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ OA), a condition that causes significant pain and discomfort to the jaw when chewing or talking.

A Daiwa Foundation Small Grant will also support a three-week field trip to Japan for author Rajan Sharma to research and re-trace the movements of the Indian National Army ‘Tokyo Cadets’, an elite cohort of young Indian freedom-fighters sent to the prestigious military academies of the Imperial Japanese Army for officer-cadet training during World War II, but whose promising careers as future leaders of the armed resistance movement against two centuries of British colonial rule in India were abruptly cut short in the aftermath of Japan’s surrender and ensuing Allied Occupation of Japan.

As for travel to the UK, Yasuhiro Chida will travel with the support of a Small Grant to Leeds as the first Japanese artist to exhibit at Light Night Leeds, an event which attracts up to 200,000 visitors each year. His work Afterreal, a large-scale immersive light installation, will light up Merrion Gardens in the city centre in October 2026.

Other projects have been granted Daiwa Foundation Awards based on their potential to further institutional UK-Japan collaboration. A one-week workshop, led by Dr Fernando Galaz-García and Dr Kohei Suzuki of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University, will bring together UK- and Japan-based experts in metric geometry, analysis and probability in order to foster further research and academic collaboration.

A Daiwa Foundation Award will also support a reciprocal cultural exchange and residency programme between Edinburgh and Okayama, two UNESCO Cities of Literature, which will involve two writers from each city spending two weeks in the partner city, with the first week featuring a curated programme of cultural experiences and professional engagements, and the second self-directed creative development.

The full list of projects which received funding in the March 2026 round can be viewed here.

Background Information

The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is a UK charity, established in 1988 with a generous benefaction from Daiwa Securities Co Ltd. The Foundation’s purpose is to support closer links between Great Britain and Japan. It does this by awarding grants and scholarships in all fields of activity; by supporting educational exchanges and other bilateral initiatives between British and Japanese academics and students; and by organising a year-round events programme at Daiwa Foundation Japan House in London to increase understanding of Japan in the UK. The Foundation is represented in Japan by its Tokyo office. Further information about the Foundation and its activities is available at www.dajf.org.uk.

Press Enquiries
Susan Meehan
Grants and Scholarships Officer
Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
13/14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP   TEL: 020 7486 4348   Email: grants@dajf.org.uk