The Yanai Initiative was first established in 2014 as a collaborative project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Waseda University. The Yanai Initiative has been working to realize a sustainable, equitable, globally interconnected future for the Japanese humanities. They host symposia, support graduate student research, and offer opportunities for scholars to connect. They are also supporting important projects in literary translation.
Yanai helps to support the Japanese Studies library in collecting contemporary materials. They primarily collect in 7 areas of concentration:
- Criticism - focuses on cultural commentary and literary critique
- Urban - contemporary city lifestyle, photography, media, sculpture, and related topics
- Book design - graphic design and bookmaking
- Empire - postcolonialism
- Translation - Yanai is particularly interested in works on translation, which is extremely important to Japanese studies as a field
- Awards - Japanese works that have been awarded literary prizes
- Performing - performing arts related works
Click here to view catalogued works collected by the Yanai Initiative.
- Alternatively, you can use UCLA Library Search- select Advanced Search and enter the term "YAIC" into the field, then select "Any Field" and change it to "Special Collection/Archive" to browse Yanai materials.