In a significant boost for global Japanese humanities scholarship, Tadashi Yanai, Japan's richest person and the CEO of Fast Retailing, has given $31 million to UCLA's College Division of Humanities. UCLA Interim Chancellor Darnell Hunt, in a statement shared by ABC7, highlighted that Yanai's contribution will significantly advance the study of Japanese humanities and enhance UCLA's role as a top center for such scholarship.
The funds will primarily back the multifaceted initiative "Japan Past & Present," aimed at enriching the field through promoting equitable resource access and bolstering international collaboration among scholars. Despite being based at a top public university, it has been notably difficult for Japanese humanities researchers from forming connections due to institutional or departmental limitations, as stated by Michael Emmerich, Director of the Yanai Initiative, which is opening new conversations across borders and departments. Funding and academic symposiums for globalization of the Japanese humanities are a part of the program's goals, as noted by UCLA Newsroom.
Adding to the existing $2.5 million initial gift and the $25 million endowment in 2020, this latest contribution by Yanai brings his total donation to UCLA to a near staggering $59 million, making it the largest ever received by the UCLA College Division of Humanities. Echoing the sentiments of the benefits of the gift, Yanai stressed the importance of the humanities in shaping global perspectives, telling ABC7, "The humanities and arts make us who we are -- they enable us as humans to relate to and care for one another."
