Yanai Initiative

What is the Yanai Initiative?
 Project Introduction
 Topics
 Japan Past ＆Present
 Recruitment
 Link

The Yanai Initiative is a joint collaboration project with the University of California, Los Angeles that was launched in 2014 with the aim of preserving and spreading research into Japanese culture through a donation from Tadashi Yanai (Chairman and CEO of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.).
Starting in spring 2020, we will strengthen our organization and further develop our activities.
Specifically, we offer a wide range of impactful events and information that go beyond the conventional concept of "Japanese studies," including academic symposiums, introductions to traditional Japanese culture, events that combine literature with film or music, and even the creation of a website that acts as a research data repository that consolidates information useful to researchers.
For more information on the Yanai Initiative, please click here.

文学ビデオは、日本の短編小説を作者自身が朗読し、日本を代表する革新的なアーティストによるアニメーションと組み合わせることで文学を新しい視点で楽しむための短編アニ...

Literature Video

A project in which audio recordings from an event venue are recorded and produced on-site onto records using a disc-cutting lathe.

Record Project

【柳井イニシアティブ】Open Talk「作家たちは映画館で何を聴いたか：無声映画時代の音文化」（7月11日開催）

 Mon, 16 Jun 2025

쀣: Events, General, Culture, Lectures

能は観客の魂に訴えかける芸能。能の魅力を世界へ発信

 Fri, 06 Jun 2025

쀣: Events, General, Culture, Lectures

【柳井イニシアティブ】英語能連続公演：オッペンハイマー／青い月のメンフィス（8月6日～9日）

 Tue, 27 May 2025

쀣: Events, General, Lectures

【柳井イニシアティブ】Open Talk「地獄観光——死者に会える霊地、立山」（6月19日開催）

 Thu, 22 May 2025

쀣: Events, General, Culture, Lectures

【柳井イニシアティブ】紙フィルム上映会『知られざる日本アニメの源流』 (6月14日～7月6日）

 Fri, 30 May 2025

쀣: Events, General, Culture

[Yanai Initiative] Tadashi Yanai donates $31 million to UCLA to support the Yanai Initiative's Japanese Literature Research Center

 Thu, 03 Oct 2024

쀣: General, Education, Research Activities

Past events

【柳井イニシアティブ】英語能連続公演：オッペンハイマー／青い月のメンフィス（8月6日～9日）

【柳井イニシアティブ】講演会「1930年代における日本の紙フィルムの保存と再生」（6月13日開催）

【柳井イニシアティブ】紙フィルム上映会『知られざる日本アニメの源流』 (6月14日～7月6日）

【柳井イニシアティブ】国際シンポジウム『Japan Past & Present ― グローバルな日本人文科学へ』（5月29日～31日開催）

[Yanai Initiative] International Symposium "Medicine, Literature, and Buddhism - The Formation and Transformation of East Asian Knowledge Systems" (November 30th)

[Yanai Initiative] THE ART OF THE BENSHI 2024 SHINJUKU (September 13th)

[Yanai Initiative] International Film Festival Selected Film Screening "Very Short" (July 25th)

[Yanai Initiative] English Noh performance of "Blue Moon Over Memphis" (July 19th/July 21st)

[Yanai Initiative] The Art of the Benshi 2024 World Tour Performance at Waseda University (April 26th)

[Yanai Initiative] Record project "When We Were Together Inhaling the Same Scent" launched

[Yanai Initiative] Record Project "When We Were Together Inhaling the Same Scent" (held on November 23rd)

[Yanai Initiative] International Symposium "Cross-Border Book Exchange and Natural History Transcription: Library Collections, Classics, and Digital History" (held on November 18th)

[Yanai Initiative] Japanese-English Translation Workshop Participants Wanted

[Yanai Initiative] International Symposium "Future Visualizations: At the Intersection of Media and Data" (January 29th)

[Yanai Initiative] Exhibition and Talk Session "I Was Here" (held on January 28th)

[Yanai Initiative] Record Project "A-Side/B-Side ~Conversation & Music" (held on October 1st)

Call for participants for the WIHL/Yanai Initiative Reading Study Group (December 18th)

Call for participants for the WIHL/Yanai Initiative Reading Study Group (June 18th)

Yanai Initiative Seminar "Invitation to Digital Humanities: AI, Collaborative Research, and Digital Transformation" (January 20)

Open Talk: A small lecture held in the lab on the second floor The Waseda International House of Literature (The Haruki Murakami Library)

【柳井イニシアティブ】Open Talk「作家たちは映画館で何を聴いたか：無声映画時代の音文化」（7月11日開催）

【柳井イニシアティブ】Open Talk「地獄観光——死者に会える霊地、立山」（6月19日開催）

【柳井イニシアティブ】Open Talk「巨人、大鵬、…引揚げ？―戦後日本における引揚げの遺産をめぐって」（5月27日開催）

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "The Wisdom of Medicinal Food Hidden in Classical Chinese Medical Texts" (held on January 17th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Chinese Music from the Perspective of Cataloging" (December 6th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Japan's 'Memorial Services for Living Things' and 'Memorial Services for Everything'" (held on October 29th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk: "Changes in Eating Habits in Buddhism" (July 26th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk: "Medical knowledge and ghost story literature in the early Edo period: Reading Asai Ryoi's "The Peony Lantern"" (June 21st)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Literary Translation through Manga: Translating Franz Kafka into English" (May 21st)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Sakura in Classical Chinese - Discussions in the Edo Period" (March 28th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Images of Daffodils in Gozan Literature" (October 31st)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Digital Humanities as a Methodological Commons" (September 26th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Globalization of Anime: Networks of Performing Animation" (July 18th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "The Japanese Woman Who Met Empress Dowager Cixi - Shigeko Hattori and Western Cuisine Hospitality" (June 26th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Kobo Abe and Manchuria – Between Fiction and History" (May 27th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Boys, Embrace the Martial Spirit: The Adventures of the Magazine 'Bukyou Sekai', Martial Arts, and Male Life as Seen through Kaita Murayama's "Murder Pilgrim"" (Held on March 24th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Library Legends as Private Literature" (January 21st)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Diversity in Adaptation Seen through Illustrations" (December 3rd)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Thinking about Adaptation in Contemporary Literature from 'Schoolgirl'" (held on November 30th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Mette Holm: Life as a Translator in Denmark" (November 29th)

[Yanai Initiative] Open Talk "Haruki Murakami in World Literature - The Umwelt of Modern Japanese Literature" (July 28th)

Japan Past and Present (JPP) is a digital resource that compiles information on Japanese humanities across disciplines, eras, and countries, connects stakeholders, and promotes the development of research and education.