japan Center
Menu
People
Faculty Board of Advisors Chair in US-Japan Relations Postdoctoral Fellows Alumni Students Visitors Staff Supporters Dr. Paul I. Terasaki
News & Events
Center News Annual Newsletter Center Events Community Events Past Events
Funding
Internal funding External funding
Programs
UCLA Japanese Studies
 Programs by Faculty and Students
 Global Japan Initiative
About
News — UCLA Japan Center created in Tokyo

Friday, July 1, 2016

A new UCLA Japan Center has been created by Bruin alumni in Tokyo.

  • Signing the UCLA Japan Center MOU. From left: Masaru "Vic" Murai, UCLA Chancellor Block and Japan Alumni Association President Tomohiro Tohyama.

  • Delivering remarks at the reception: Masaru "Vic" Murai (left) and Chancellor Block (right).

  • Delivering remarks at the reception: UCLA Vice Provost Cindy Fan (left) and Yuji Tsutsumi (right).

  • Vice Provost Cindy Fan speaking to UCLA Terasaki Center Director Hitoshi Abe.

  • The UCLA 8-Clap Cheer, Tokyo Style!


UCLA International Institute, July 1, 2016 — The new UCLA Japan Center hosted a "soft" opening on June 16, complete with a signing ceremony and a reception attended by UCLA alumni, family and friends. The culmination of a grassroots effort by several leading UCLA alumni in Japan, the Center will function as a resource center for the UCLA Japan Alumni Association and promote U.S.-Japanese intellectual exchange. The new Center will also eventually serve as a Japan-based hub for UCLA researchers in collaboration with the UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies, once protocols for visiting scholars have been put in place. A formal, grand opening of the Center will inaugurate these activities later this year. The Terasaki Center will serve as the campus-based interface with the Tokyo center.

A UCLA delegation led by Chancellor Gene Block, Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement Cindy Fan and Director of the Terasaki Center Hitoshi Abe attended the informal opening and reception. The event attracted a great deal of media attention, including a front-page article in Nikkei, the top financial newspaper of Japan.

The new Center will be run by Japanese alumni with the mission of promoting closer ties between UCLA and Japan. It is located in Kashiwa-no-Ha City, only 30 minutes north of Tokyo, in the Kashiwa-no-Ha Open Innovation Lab (KOIL) operated by Mitsubishi Fudosan.

Chancellor Block visited the new Center before the reception to meet with the Japanese Bruins responsible for the Center’s founding. “The establishment of the UCLA Japan Center is a momentous occasion for both UCLA and the UCLA Alumni Association,” he commented. “By creating a location for UCLA, one of the top-rated academic institutions in the world, to connect with academics, industry experts, and government officials in Japan, we hope to increase our understanding of one another and contribute great things to academia.”

Japan is home to the largest number of international UCLA graduates in the world — over 1,000 and counting. Japan and its history and culture are the focus of the UCLA Terasaki Center, which is committed to uniting scholars, students and the Los Angeles community in efforts to understand Japan in its global and historical context. The Center supports UCLA faculty, students and other specialists in Japanese Studies and shares its expertise through campus and community programming.

Inside the UCLA Japan Center at the Kashiwa-no-Ha Open Innovation Lab.

Created in 1991, the UCLA Center for Japanese Studies sought to develop an infrastructure for Japanese Studies, train a new generation of scholars working on Japan and provide greater national visibility for UCLA's Japanese Studies programs. It has consistently found opportunities to cooperate with other groups and institutions in the broader field of Japanese Studies, both in the United States and abroad. One particular focus of its mission is to provide a deeper understanding of the U.S.-Japan relationship.

In 2005, the Center was renamed the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies to commemorate a major endowment from the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Foundation. The Terasaki gift has enhanced the Center's work on contemporary Japan, enabling the creation of a new Terasaki Chair for the Contemporary Study of Japan, a Terasaki Community Outreach Program and a Terasaki Postdoctoral Fellowship.

UCLA and its Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies look forward to collaborating with the UCLA Japan Center in the years to come.