The Yanai Initiative

UCLA + Waseda University
reimagining the Japanese humanities
for the world

Tadashi Yanai gives $31 million to support hub for Japanese humanities research at UCLA

The Yanai Initiative is excited & humbled to share that philanthropist Tadashi Yanai has committed $31 million to support the Yanai Initiative’s activities in the Japanese humanities, in particular its newly launched project Japan Past & Present.

A poster by Kamijō Takahisa from The Poster Project (2017)

In 2017, the Yanai Initiative worked with eleven major Japanese designers to reimagine a legendary series of posters created in 1982

One of two kyogen masterclasses with Nomura Mansai and Ishida Yukio held at UCLA in 2017

Designated holders of Important Intangible Cultural Property Nomura Mansai and Ishida Yukio each held one free masterclass for participants from UCLA and the broader Los Angeles community