Japan Performing Arts Foundation

Founded in Tokyo in 1981, the foundation is the main Japanese importer of large-scale foreign dance and opera — whole companies brought over with their own orchestras and repertoire — and it runs a series devoted to individual singers, who appear with Japanese orchestras in the city's larger halls. It also administers the Tokyo Ballet and the school attached to it. Recognised as a designated public-service corporation in 2005 and re-designated a public interest incorporated foundation in April 2011, it is known throughout Japanese concert life by its initials rather than by its full name.