The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund, or Sylff, is a fellowship program initiated in 1987 to support students pursuing graduate studies in the humanities and social sciences. To date, endowments of $1 million each have been presented to 69 universities and consortia in 44 countries. About 16,000 students have received fellowships since the program’s launch, and many of these Sylff fellows have gone on to become leaders in various fields following graduation.

The Hitachi Global Foundation originates to five foundations established with a strong will of former executives of Hitachi, Ltd., including the Society for the Promotion of Technology in Japan established in 1967 by Chikara Kurata who was the second President of Hitachi, Ltd., and the other four were founded by Kenichiro Komai, the third President, and Kamejiro Takeuchi, former Vice President. Cherishing the original philosophy, each of the five foundations contributed to society for over 40 years with programs in the fields of home upbringing, youth development, promotion of science and technology, awareness-raising of environmental conservation, and support for human development in Asia.