Yamada Science Foundation (YSF) was established in 1977 to promote basic natural science in Japan by providing support complementary to that provided by the government. YSF puts emphasis on original and pure science programs by individual scientists rather than national projects. Recently, basic natural science has progressed remarkably and accordingly government funds and investments for natural science have increased. The support and investments by government, however, are mainly for development of applied science and scientific technologies.

Science has its own intrinsic motivation of development irrespective of whether it is of practical use or not. YSF support is made to promote pure science based on its intrinsic motivation.

YSF extends support mainly for research projects, exchanges of researchers, and for international conferences and symposia.
YSF encourages new and original programs that are rarely supported by government.
YSF promotes international science activities through supporting international exchanges of scientists and international conferences, symposia, and workshops.

The support for the exchanges includes support for short-term visits to participate in international meetings and for long-term visits to carry out research projects abroad. Government support for short-term visits has recently been increased in Japan, so that YSF support is currently focused on long-term exchanges for international collaborative projects.

A series of international conferences on the basic natural science, Yamada Conference (YC), was established at the onset of YSF. The YC aims at presentations and discussions of recent studies on basic science frontiers.
Yamada Symposium (YS) is a series of international symposia. It started in 2002 on the occasion of the YSF 25th anniversary. YS emphasizes active discussions on current research frontiers and their perspectives. Thus YSF encourages both young researchers and graduate students.

Since the major objective of YSF is to pursue new developments of science. YSF supported programs are allocated and periodically renewed in accordance with developments of science and demands from scientists.