The Fulbright grant has an international reputation built on the principles of binational governance, autonomy, and open competition based on individual merit without regard to the individual's institutional affiliation, geographical location, race, color or creed. The objective of the grant is not only to enable the recipient to pursue a particular field of study but to develop leaders who can contribute to promoting mutual understanding between the United States and Japan.

Thus, all Japanese grantees are expected to take one or two courses outside their specific discipline about the history and culture of the United States and participate in both academic and community activities. Upon returning to Japan, Japanese Fulbrighters are expected to contribute directly or indirectly to the relationship between the two countries through their professional and personal activities.

The United States Congress created the Fulbright Program in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, to promote mutual understanding between the United States and the rest of the world, an objective that is as relevant today as it was then. This program's foremost advocate, the late Senator J.W. Fulbright, presented the bill to establish an educational exchange program only weeks after the dropping of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Over the years, the Fulbright Program has developed into the world's largest, best-known and most prestigious educational exchange program and has provided approximately 400,000 scholars and students with the opportunity to study abroad.

Today, there are over 160 countries, including Japan, participating in the Fulbright Program, which has played an important role in fostering the development of leaders in various fields. With the new challenges faced by today's world, the need for the Fulbright Program is stronger than ever.

Today, both governments fund the program on an equal basis. In addition, the Japan-United States Educational Exchange Promotion Foundation (Fulbright Foundation), established by the Fulbright Alumni Association of Japan in 1986, has collected contributions from the private sector and Japan-U.S. Educational Commission funds approximately 30 to 50 scholarships each for Americans and Japanese to participate in the Fulbright Program each year.

Alumni of both the GARIOA and Fulbright Program (known as Fulbrighters) play leading roles in various fields, holding senior positions on the Supreme Court, in the Diet, in Japan's diplomatic corps, in higher education, in the media and at major corporations.

COMMENCEMENT IN JAPAN 1952
TOTAL PARTICIPANTS SINCE 1952 over 9,700
Japanese: over 6,700 Americans: over 3,000

Participants for the Past 10 years