The Kamenori Foundation aims to foster friendly relations and mutual understanding through exchange between the youth of Japan and the youths of other countries in Asia and Oceania. We are also committed to nurturing future leaders who can work as bridges between countries.
The ultimate goal of us is to nurture future leaders who can build a link between peoples of different cultures. The Kamenori Foundation supports grassroots programs for young people in Japan and other countries in Asia and Oceania, providing opportunities to experience and understand different cultures, ideas, and customs. These programs are principally foreign exchange programs for high school students, Japanese language education and culture awareness training, and financial support for non-governmental youth exchange programs.

Shinsuke Kimura
The Kamenori Foundation Board Chairperson

Due to my strong personal interest in human resources development programs in Cambodia, I deeply believe that human resources development is a vital help, alongside others. The three concepts of our foundation are “to nurture” with scholarships, “to extend” through global and local communication, and “to praise and encourage” with awards such as the Kamenori Awards.
I hope that the scholarship recipients will “learn”, “interact”, and “strengthen relationships”. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to those who have been supporting our model at the grass-roots level. Through everyone’s efforts, I expect all the youth in the program will be very successful based on strong regional bonds with a global perspective.

The Kamenori Foundation was established under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in April 2006. The foundation was named after the late Kamenori Yasumoto, the founder of Kyoritsu Building Co., Ltd.
Kamenori Yasumoto was born in Cheju Island, Korea, and relocated to Japan in 1927 at the age of eighteen. He started a rubber business and later founded Kyoritsu Building Co., Ltd., a rental apartment business.
Kamenori’s second son, Kenmori, succeeded Kyoritsu Building Co., Ltd. And expanded business to Hong Kong and Australia.
While working in Hong Kong and Australia, Kenmori became deeply interested in the countries of Asia and Oceania.
Kenmori was concerned that the anti-Japan sentiment he witnessed in Asia, compounded by a lack of understanding in Japan about Asia and Oceania, would have a negative effect on friendly relations in Asia and the world.
To help overcome this, he established a foundation to enable cross-cultural exchange between Japan and other countries in Asia and Oceania. “Let’s work together to build mutual understanding and interest in our Asian neighbors.” He named this foundation after his father, Kamenori, who had always wished young people to learn about unfamiliar cultures.

I. Intercultural Exchange

• High school exchange program
• Scholarships for foreign university students
• Lectures and symposiums for cross-cultural understanding

II. Awards

• The Kamenori Awards for those who contribute to grassroots cross-cultural exchange

III. Financial Support

• Education of Japanese and other Asian languages
• Support for mutual understanding programs
• Research and education for cross-cultural understanding

Name : The Kamenori Foundation
Establishment : April,2006
Board Chairperson : Shinsuke Kimura
Address : Floor1, vellbue kojimachi
5-5, Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, JAPAN
Tel: 81-3-3234-1694  Fax: 81-3-3234-1603
Email: info@kamenori.jp