Japan-Canada Fund
The Japan-Canada Fund was created in 1988 through a gift of almost one million dollars from the Government of Japan to the Canada Council for the Arts to reinforce ties between the arts communities of the two countries. Apart from the Canada-Japan Book Award, which is permanently financed by the earnings from one part of the Fund, the Fund is used to provide assistance in a number of areas of artistic activity, including exchanges involving individual Japanese and Canadian artists; touring in Canada by Japanese performing artists; projects in the visual arts and media arts that strengthen existing ties and support new initiatives between the arts communities of the two countries; special projects in dance, music, theatre and writing; and translation into Japanese of works by Canadian authors. In 1996, the Government of Japan made an additional $1.4 million donation to the Canada Council to renew the Japan-Canada Fund.