From 2007 to 2008, The Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund supported a project in which Chinese researchers drew up an overview of Sino-Japanese exchange between 1978 and 2008. The fruits of this project were published in November 2008 in the form of a three-volume work in the Chinese language, entitled 'Sino-Japanese Relations: 30 years'. A Japanese language version has since been published by the University of Tokyo Press. Providing an all-encompassing panorama of bilateral relations in the thirty years since the signing of the "Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China", the work is the first of its kind to be produced in China, and has garnered much praise in academic circles in both China and Japan.
In this project, which was born out the above project, Japanese researchers will investigate the history of contemporary Sino-Japanese exchange from a Japanese perspective, mirroring the format of the research conducted by the Chinese researchers. By so doing, the final work will reflect the opinions of both sides. In the run-up to 2012, the year which will mark forty years of normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Japanese academics and specialists in the history of exchange between Japan and China in the modern era will organize and evaluate information on such exchange. The final result of this research will be a report entitled ‘Forty Years of Japan-China Relations in Review (1972-2012)’ (tentative title), which will be published in Japanese and Chinese.

In the second year of the four-year project, the following activities will be carried out.

• Meetings of the committee to research 40 years of Sino-Japanese history:
  A meeting will be held for the committee to research 40 years of Sino-Japanese history, composed of core members Akio Takahara /Professor, Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Tokyo, Shigeto Sonoda /Professor, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo, Kenji Hattori /Professor, Graduate School of Strategic Management, Chuo University, Akira Oguma /Associate Professor, International Cultural Relations, J. F. Oberlin University and others. In addition, approximately ten research meetings will be held to discuss the politics, economy, culture, and society sections of the report.
• Writing and editing
  Various authors will be chosen to write sections on politics, economy, society and culture for Forty Years of Japan-China Relations in Review (1972-2012) (tentative title). The authors’ first drafts will later be revised.
• Data gathering/research
  Opportunities will be provided for Japanese and Chinese academics to exchange opinions with various experts to conduct research relevant to the project. Data on Sino-Japanese relations will be gathered at meetings with persons cooperating with the project