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Sustainability
In the context of an unfolding climate catastrophe, the Yanai Initiative has made it a priority to find genuinely effective ways to mitigate the effects of its activities. Given the range of different projects in which we are engaged, merely assessing their impacts on the environment and the climate is itself a daunting task; the tasks of identifying and implementing strategies to decrease and ideally eliminate waste, and of wholly offsetting our carbon footprint, requires collaboration, experimentation, and alot of work. We are just beginning to figure out what we can do in different areas, but as we progress we will outline the approaches we are taking here.
UCLA
Michael Emmerich
マイケル・エメリック
Director
Michael Emmerich is Tadashi Yanai Professor of Japanese Literature at UCLA, and has a joint appointment as Professor of Japanese Literature at Waseda University. A scholar whose work has dealt with premodern, early modern, modern, and contemporary Japanese literature, he is also the author of numerous book-length translations, the editor of two books for students of the Japanese language, and a prolific columnist for newspapers and magazines in Japan.
Elizabeth Leicester
エリザベス・レスター
Associate Director
Elizabeth Leicester joined the Yanai Initiative in 2022 as Associate Director. She brings over fifteen years of experience in managing the growth and expansion of academic programs, public outreach, and international partnerships, having previously served as Executive Director of the UCLA Asia Pacific Center. Elizabeth has a BA from Columbia University and an MA from Stanford in East Asian Studies, as well as a C. Phil. in Japanese History from UCLA. She has done research and translations on women and gender in early modern Japan and taught courses on East Asian history and culture.
Paula R. Curtis
Operations Leader, Japan Past & Present
Waseda
Michael Emmerich
マイケル・エメリック
Co-director
Michael Emmerich is Tadashi Yanai Professor of Japanese Literature at UCLA, and has a joint appointment as Professor of Japanese Literature at Waseda University. A scholar whose work has dealt with premodern, early modern, modern, and contemporary Japanese literature, he is also the author of numerous book-length translations, the editor of two books for students of the Japanese language, and a prolific columnist for newspapers and magazines in Japan.
Toeda Hirokazu
十重田 裕一
Co-director
Born in Tokyo. PhD. Toeda Hirozaku joined Waseda University in 2003 after previously working at Ōtsuma Women’s University. He has since served as visiting professor or researcher at many universities, including Columbia, UCLA, and Stanford. He has been awarded multiple prizes including the 26th Kubota Utsuho Prize and the 30th Higuchi Ichiyō Memorial Yamanshi Prize for Literary Research.
Yamazaki Sanae
山嵜 早苗
Project Manager
Yamazaki Sanae is a Japan-based project manager for the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities. Before joining the Yanai Initiative, she worked in systems engineering, marketing, and consulting. In her free time, she enjoys taking walks, doing yoga, and volunteering at sporting events.
Jōkō Yumi
上甲 由美
Project Manager
Jōkō Yumi has been serving as a Japan-based project manager for the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities since 2015. In that time, she has helped facilitate many numbers of cultural events and programs, both academic and cultural. She feels that the lessons she has learned, the connections she has made, and the knowledge she has gained through this work have been some of the most meaningful of her career.
Japan Past & Present is a global information hub and repository that promotes research and teaching in the Japanese humanities across disciplinary, temporal, and geographic borders.
The “Bungaku Bideo” series is an innovative effort to bring literature and film together in a new way, and to introduce the work of phenomenal artists in both forms to new audiences worldwide.
The ‘Record Project’ captures live sounds at the venue and records them directly onto vinyl—just as they are heard. No edits, no deletions, no selections, no take-backs.
An exhibit and public art installation by Masaki Fujihata. May 7, 2022–January 8, 2023, at the Japanese American National Museum.
Since 2020, the Yanai Initiative has been working in a variety of ways to support translators and translations from Japanese into English.
In 2016, the Yanai Initiative partnered with Asaba Katsumi and the Japan Graphic Designers Association to create eleven limited-edition posters by some of Japan's top graphic designers, marking the 35th anniversary of an unprecedented collaboration by many of the same figures.
A first-of-its-kind tool for teaching premodern calligraphic "variant kana," first launched in 2015 and still finding new users today.
Published by the Yanai Initiative
Now available for purchase!
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.Translated by Kerim Yasar
Published by Pushkin Press
with support from the Yanai Initiative
Translated by Kendall Heitzman
Published by Pushkin Press
with support from the Yanai Initiative
Translated by David Yang
Published by Pushkin Press
with support from the Yanai Initiative
Translated by Hitomi Yoshio
Published by Pushkin Press
with support from the Yanai Initiative
Translated by David Boyd
Published by Pushkin Press
with support from the Yanai Initiative
Translated by Asa Yoneda
Published by Pushkin Press
with support from the Yanai Initiative