Key takeaways
- Japanese executive and philanthropist Tadashi Yanai has made a commitment of $31 million to UCLA. The gift is the largest ever to the UCLA College Division of Humanities.
- The majority of the funds will support Japan Past & Present, a multifaceted initiative meant to transform the field of Japanese humanities by promoting equitable access to research and teaching resources and fostering collaboration among scholars throughout the world.
- With his latest commitment, Yanai has donated nearly $59 million to UCLA.
Japanese executive and philanthropist Tadashi Yanai has made a commitment of $31 million to the UCLA College Division of Humanities, the largest gift in the history of the division.
The gift from Yanai — the chair, president and CEO of Fast Retailing and the founder of the Uniqlo clothing brand — is to the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities. The initiative was established at UCLA in 2014 following a $2.5 million gift from Yanai, and it operates as a partnership with Tokyo’s Waseda University.
In 2020, Yanai endowed the Yanai Initiative with a $25 million gift that, until now, was the largest ever from an individual donor to the Humanities Division.
“Adding to his already considerable past support, Mr. Yanai’s new gift will substantially advance the study of Japanese humanities, solidify UCLA’s position as a leading center for such scholarship and contribute greatly to our global reach and impact,” said UCLA Interim Chancellor Darnell Hunt. “Thanks to Mr. Yanai’s generosity, UCLA will continue to grow as a nexus for scholars across the world to come together to explore and exchange ideas, transcending political, linguistic and cultural boundaries.”
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