Two Japanese foundations active in Burma have a past linked to World War II far-right war criminals..."From the very beginning, Burma was one of the countries where the Sasakawa Foundation and its sister organization, the Nippon Foundation, were especially active. Apart from being an associate of Kodama, Sasakawa was also close to Nobusuke Kishi, the Japanese prime minister from 1957 to 1960—and, in the late 1940s, also a prisoner in Sugamo. Kishi led the once influential Burma Lobby in Japan, and the Japan-Burma Association counted among its members 11 trading companies allowed to operate in various aid projects in Burma prior to 1988. In more recent years, the Sasakawa and Nippon foundations have supported seminars organized in Rangoon by the Myanmar [Burma] Institute of Strategic and International Studies on ?Research on International Economy in Myanmar? as well as various health projects. The Sasakawa Foundation has also in part financed the Myanmar Times, a weekly newspaper established in March 2000, which the Australian monthly The Diplomat in its November-December 2007 issue quoted critics as describing as ?little more than a cheerleader for the junta.?..."