Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing, which operates the clothing chain "Uniqlo," has donated US$3,100 million (approximately JPY 46 billion) to the College of Humanities at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This is the largest donation to date to the College of Humanities at UCLA, and will support "Japan Past & Present," a research center for Japanese literature, which is a Yanai Initiative run jointly by Waseda University and UCLA.
According to Waseda University, the Yanai Initiative was launched in 2014 when Chairman Yanai provided UCLA Professor Michael Emmerich with US$250 million (approximately 3.7 million yen) to support the preservation and dissemination of Japanese literature and culture.
In 2020, Chairman Yanai donated US$2,500 million (approximately JPY 37 billion) to UCLA and Waseda University, and the two universities have been promoting research exchanges, symposiums, and the development of a kuzushiji application as part of the next stage of development. In addition, they have opened Japan Past & Present, a global research center for Japanese literature.
The majority of this donation will be used to fund Japan Past & Present, which aims not only to strengthen the status of UCLA and Waseda University, but also to reshape Japanese literature as a truly global institution.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Yanai has a net worth of about $483 billion, making him the richest person in Japan. Within the Fast Retailing Group, he also serves as chairman of Uniqlo and president of GU.
