About Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize

Asia is home to a diversity of ethnic groups, languages, and cultures, which coexist with each other and depend on each other. These diverse cultures have served not only as guardians of the priceless legacy of our long history and tradition, but also as sources of inspiration.

However, in the current era of globalization, there is a danger that Asian cultures may lose their distinctive features due to the encroaching standardization of culture. It is therefore vital to preserve, develop, and promote the harmonious coexistence of the diverse Asian cultures.

As Japan's cultural gateway, Fukuoka City has since antiquity played a significant role in promoting exchanges with other regions of Asia. This history, and a determination to promote and understand the distinctive cultures of Asia, and to further peace, inspired the inauguration of the Fukuoka Prize (Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize) in 1990 through collaboration between academia, businesses, and the city authorities.　Since then, there have been 77 prize recipients from almost every region of Asia.

Since cultural exchange looks to the future, it is not enough merely to preserve cultures with long histories and ancient traditions. New things emerge from the midst of change: it is necessary to observe them, respect them, learn from them, and build upon them. This is the aspiration of Fukuoka City and its citizens, as we strive to become a center for cultural exchange in Asia.

The Fukuoka Prize will continue to be a means of showing respect to those who have made outstanding contributions to academia, arts, and culture in Asia. We intend, together with the people of Fukuoka, to advertise to the world through our city, the diversity and the distinctiveness of Asian culture.

The Fukuoka Prize was established to honor outstanding achievements by individuals or groups/organizations in preserving and creating the unique and diverse cultures of Asia. The aim is to foster and increase awareness of the value of Asian cultures as well as to establish a framework within which Asians can learn from, and share with, each other.

East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia

Fukuoka City
Yokatopia Foundation

(1) Grand Prize
Prize money: 5,000,000 yen
To be presented to individual/group who has made outstanding contributions to the preservation and creation of Asian culture and have exhibited the significance of Asian culture to the world through the internationality, universality, popularity and/or creativity of their work.

(2) Academic Prize
Prize money: 3,000,000 yen
To be presented to individuals/groups that have made outstanding achievements in the field of Asian studies, contributing to the world’s understanding of Asia. It covers the fields of social sciences, such as history, archaeology, cultural anthropology, economics, and political science.

(3) Arts and Culture Prize
Prize money: 3,000,000 yen
To be presented to individuals/groups that have made outstanding contributions in the cultivation and/or advancement of the unique and diverse arts and culture of Asia. It covers the fields such as fine arts, literature, music, drama, dance, film, architecture, traditional and ethnic culture.

(1) Fukuoka Prize Committee
The Prize Committee serves as an administrative body for the prize. It is responsible for giving final approval to the laureates selected by the Prize Jury.

(2) Fukuoka Prize Jury;Academic Prize Selection Committee;Arts and Culture Prize Selection Committee
Nominees for each of the three prizes are shortlisted by their respective Selection Committees. The Prize Jury examines the shortlist and selects the laureates.

*	To ensure impartiality, no member of any Committee or Jury may nominate any prize candidate.

(3) Nominators
In order to extensively recruit candidates for the prize, the prize committee has numerous nominators in education and research institutions, arts and culture organizations, and news media, both at home and abroad.