The Yanai Initiative is pleased to invite proposals for a symposium entitled “Experimental Translations in/with East Asian Languages,” to be hosted at UCLA on April 10-11, 2026. Deadline November 30, 2025, 11:59 PM (PT). See more information threaded below. ⬇️

The Yanai Initiative is excited to share that The Graffiti, the second installment in its Bungaku Bideo series, has won the Best Narrative Short Award at the 2025 Ottawa International Animation Festival! 👏

柳井イニシアティブ「文学ビデオ」シリーズ第２弾、作家・高柳誠さんとアニメーション作家・折笠良さんによる『落書』が、アヌシー国際アニメーション映画祭Off-Limits賞に続き、2025年オタワ国際アニメーション映画祭でBest Narrative Short Award (最優秀ナラティブ作品賞)を受賞しました！　この賞は短編ではグランプリに次ぐ、カテゴリー最高賞です。👏

📣 The 2026 Emerging Translator Mentorship Program submission portals are open! The ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program is designed to establish and facilitate a close working relationship between an experienced translator and an emerging translator. Apply by 11/30: buff.ly/cpduT69

We are pleased to announce that Japan Past & Present is now accepting proposals for its Fall 2025 Project Funding cycle! 🎉🗾 We offer short-term support to scholars to create public-facing resources on Japan-related topics to be published on JPP's site. japanpastandpresent.org/en/funding/j...

JPPはこの度、2025年秋の募集サイクルとなるプロジェクト助成金への応募受付を開始しました！ 🎉🗾 JPPの「プロジェクト助成金」は、JPPのウェブサイトで公開することを目的とした、幅広い日本の人文科学研究についてのリソース開発を短期的に支援するためのものです。 japanpastandpresent.org/jp/funding/j...

Join us for upcoming shows in Kyoto (6/25), Osaka (6/26), Ehime (6/28), and Hiroshima (7/6)! 🎞️ digital.asahi.com/articles/AST...

If you're in Japan, the next opportunities to see this amazing show are in Niigata (6/21), Osaka (6/24, 6/26), Kyoto (6/25), Ehime (6/28), and even Hiroshima (7/6)! These paper films and the performances with them are really something! 🎞️

日本にはかつて、紙のフィルムで作られた子ども向けの短編映画がありました。映画といえばセルロイドのフィルムで上映されるものだった時代、1932～38年の短い期間だけ、家庭用のおもちゃとして「紙フィルム」作品が売られていたのです。子どもたちは紙フィルムを専用の手回しの映写機で上映してもらって遊んだようです。映像の多くはアニメーション。映画館で観る映画が白黒だった時代に、紙フィルムではカラーで印刷された鮮やかな色彩の映画が観られました。素朴でかわいらしいキャラクターや動物のおとぎ話、とぼけた侍たちの時代劇、時代を反映した戦争モノまで、たくさんの作品が作られています。

In an age when most films were printed on celluloid, a few companies in Japan embarked on an experiment: producing and selling short, often animated films printed on paper. Sold as toys for just six years (1932-1938), these “paper films” were screened using special hand-cranked projectors.

今週！対面とオンライン！ ジャパン・パスト＆プレゼントの第1回国際シンポジウム「Japan Past & Present ― グローバルな日本人文科学へ」の参加登録が開始されました。 🗾 このシンポジウムは、2025年5月29日から31日まで早稲田大学で開催されます。 japanpastandpresent.org/jp/jpp-event...

This week! In-person and virtual! Registration is still open for JPP's international symposium "Japan Past & Present: Reimagining a Global Field" (5/29–5/31)! 🗾 japanpastandpresent.org/en/jpp-event...

The Yanai Initiative is pleased to co-present a screening of the film Asia is One (1973) by the Nihon Documentarist Union, which follows migrants from Okinawa to Taiwan, documenting colonial legacies in the Pacific. Join us 6/6, 6:30pm (Dodd 147) for an introduction by Dr. Nina Horisaki-Christens.

Sunday, April 13, 7 p.m. 📽 Japanese Paper Films Join us for a rare screening of digitized “kami firumu” from @kamifirumu.bsky.social, Japanese short films that were printed on paper in the 1930s. Live musical accompaniment! Free: ucla.in/3Eb9NQZ Co-presented by @yanaiinitiative.bsky.social

This weekend! Come to the Billy Wilder Theater @hammermuseum.bsky.social for a rare opportunity to see pre-war Japanese paper films with live accompaniment, a fascinating part of animation and film history. 🎞️ At the Billy Wilder 4/13, or in Santa Barbara 4/12! humanities.ucla.edu/news/paper-f...

If you're in the Los Angeles area there's still time to join us for this special event (4/4), offered in partnership with Japan Foundation LA & Japan House LA, featuring 4 Japanese spoken theater performers showcasing their craft! To register or see more info, visit: www.jflalc.org/event-detail...

Film enthusiasts in LA and the Chicago area! 🎞️✨👇 You can check out what promises to be an amazing performance/screening of rare 1930s Japanese paper film 紙フィルム！

Deadline approaching! ⬇️ We look forward to your applications!

We are delighted to be welcoming the Japanese Paper Film Project (@kamifirumu.bsky.social) to UCLA at the Billy Wilder Theater April 13th! 🎞️ Come enjoy a selection of rare 1930s paper film (kami firumu) and experience these pieces of early film history! www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/japan...

Are you gearing up for #AAS2025? We’ll be there! Come by booth 613 this week to say hello and learn about all the exciting things we’re up to at JPP and the @yanaiinitiative.bsky.social! 🗾 Plus, swag! 🖊️😍

Come by, Japan enthusiasts! Check out the latest with Japan Past & Present and of course all the exciting publications and projects the Yanai Initiative has been collaborating on. 🗾 Learn more about translation, performance, and opportunities for graduate students to visit UCLA!

The Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities invites graduate students from non-U.S. institutions in Japanese humanities fields to apply to come to UCLA as Visiting Graduate Researchers during the 2025-2026 academic year! 柳井イニシアティブでは2025‐2026年度の招聘研究員としてUCLAに迎える日本文化研究の大学生を募集します！

The 2nd Directors' Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival 2024 in Tokio will be held from 12/8~12/19 at Human Trust Cinema Shibuya! On the 14th (Sat) and 18th (Wed), the animation “Extremely Short” will be screened. Please take this opportunity to come and see the film! www.cannes-df-in-tokio.com

カンヌ国際映画祭監督週間 2024 in Tokioが12/8(日)~19(木）までヒューマントラスト シネマ渋谷にて開催されます！ 14日（土）及び18日（水）には、柳井イニシアティブが企画・制作する新シリーズ「文学ビデオ」の第一作目『とても短い』が上映されます。是非来てください！ www.cannes-df-in-tokio.com

Join us at Japan Foundation Los Angeles on 12/4 at 7pm for "An Evening with Tomoka Shibasaki: Readings & Conversation"! 📖 Tomoka Shibasaki, Yanai Initiative Visiting Professor, will discusse her literary works, including the award-winning Spring Garden (Haru no niwa). www.jflalc.org/event-detail...

Join us at Japan Foundation Los Angeles on 12/4 at 7pm for "An Evening with Tomoka Shibasaki: Readings & Conversation"! 📖 Tomoka Shibasaki, Yanai Initiative Visiting Professor, will discusse her literary works, including the award-winning Spring Garden (Haru no niwa). www.jflalc.org/event-detail...

Get your tickets now to the 11/24 film screening Asako I & II, featuring the author Tomoka Shibasaki whose novel Netemo sametemo the film adapts! 🎞️📖 Presented by Acropolis Cinema and the Yanai Initiative. For more information, visit: dice.fm/event/k688dl...

作家・古川日出男氏とアニメーション作家・山村浩二氏による短編アニメーション映画『とても短い』について、嬉しいニュースをお伝えします。この作品は、古川日出男氏の短編小説「とても短い」を原作とし、柳井イニシアティブが企画・制作する新シリーズ「文学ビデオ」の第一作目となります。

We are delighted to share some exciting news about “Extremely Short,” a short film by animator Yamamura Kōji. Based on Furukawa Hideo’s short story "Totemo mijikai," this is the first film in a new series called “Bungaku Bideo” conceived & produced by the Yanai Initiative.

Calling those in the Seattle area! On 11/13 will be a film screening of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Asako I & II” at the University of Washington, Seattle. 🎬 Presented with support from the Yanai Initiative and Japan Foundation Los Angeles. www.jflalc.org/event-detail...

Happening 11/3 at The Culver Theater! 🚨 Part of Canne’s Directors’ Fortnight Extended: “Desert of Namibia” will be featured alongside Kōji Yamamura's “Extremely Short,” film #1 in the Yanai Initiative’s Bungaku Bideo project. This will be the US premiere! 🎞️ www.acropoliscinema.com/films/desert...

Be sure to check out the program! ⬇️ Student discount tickets are available for the series as well as for individual screenings! Directors’ Fortnight Extended in LA (Nov 1-3): acropoliscinema.com

We are delighted to be able to partner with so many great organizations for “A Film Series for You: Celebrating Giant Robot’s 30th Anniversary” Nov 1-17th! at the Billy Wilder Theater in LA! 🎞️ youtu.be/ITk6w3LgnZs

このたび柳井イニシアティブは、柳井正氏より、日本文化・日本人文科学研究の活動、特に新たに立ち上げたプロジェクト「ジャパン・パスト＆プレゼント」のために、3,100万米ドル （約45億円）のご寄付をいただくことになりました。この大きな喜びを皆さんにご報告いたします！ newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/tad...

The Yanai Initiative is excited & humbled to share philanthropist Tadashi Yanai has committed $31 million to support the Yanai Initiative’s activities in the Japanese humanities, in particular its newly launched project Japan Past & Present (@jppinfo.bsky.social). newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/tad...

We are excited to share that 2025 ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program applications are open! The Yanai Initiative is pleased to support this important venue for training, mentorship, & enhancing visibility of literature around the world. 📝 literarytranslators.wordpress.com/2024/09/03/2...

This weekend! Join us for GIFT: Eiko Ishibashi + Ryusuke Hamaguchi, a live performance by Ishibashi accompanying a screening of Hamaguchi's film GIFT! 🎞️ Performances at 2:15 & 8:30pm 9/28; 8:30pm 9/29. Presented by the Yanai Initiative & Acropolis Cinema! yanai-initiative.ucla.edu/event/the-ya...

The Yanai Initiative is pleased to announce the Noh in English "Blue Moon Over Memphis" performance, first showcased at UCLA in 2018, will be performed at Waseda University's Okuma Auditorium 7/19 & 7/21! If you're in Tokyo, don't miss it! #noh www.waseda.jp/culture/news...

柳井イニシアティブは2018 年にUCLAで開催した「英語能青い月のメンフィス（Blue Moon Over Memphis）公演」を 2024 年 7 月 19 日（金）大隈記念講堂及び 21 日（日）金剛能楽堂にて開催いたします。 アメリカ人の劇作家 Deborah Brevoort氏によってエルビス・プレスリーを題材に書かれました。このユニークな伝統芸能を是非ご堪能ください！ www.waseda.jp/culture/news...

Our benshi world tour may be over, but you can enjoy our incredible The World of the Benshi catalog! 🎞️✨ This book explores benshi history, ephemera, & the transnational journey of silent film with 300+ images from archives & collections around the world! yanai-initiative.ucla.edu/publication/...

Exciting news regarding the work of our Director, Michael Emmerich, and the Bungaku Bideo project! newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ext...

A literature & translation enthusiast in the Tokyo area? 📖 Register now for David Yang (UCLA)'s talk “Translating Franz Kafka into English by Way of Manga,” happening at Waseda 5/21, 2pm! Presented w/ support from Waseda International House of Literature. yanai-initiative.ucla.edu/event/openta...

If you’re in the Los Angeles area you won’t want to miss this talk happening tomorrow by Yanai Visiting Graduate Researcher Noya Dalem (INALCO, Paris) “Textual Multilingualism in Japanese Contemporary Literature: A Comparison of Four Cases”! Details at: yanai-initiative.ucla.edu/event/a-pres...

Revisit artist Masaki Fujihata's work on Japanese American history in this publication on his '22-23 interactive exhibit BeHere/1942: A New Lens on the Japanese American Incarceration, co-presented w/ the Japanese American National Museum! #AAPIHeritageMonth yanai-initiative.ucla.edu/explore#publ...

JPP is pleased to invite applications for a short-term (2-month) team to assist in the development of our digital humanities resources for Japan Studies! 💻 We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds & institutions around the world to apply.🌏 #DHJPN japanpastandpresent.org/en/news/appl...

Register now to virtually visit this week's CineMAP Japan Beta, A Symposium: Location, Location, Location, May 3-4! 🎬 Film scholars will reflect on the affordances of CineMAP Japan, a database & mapping tool on locations where Japanese films were shot. japanpastandpresent.org/en/events/ci...

Happening today: our thrilling Teaching Tea symposium! 🍵 17 scholars and practitioners of tea come together to speak on how they teaching tea and its myriad meanings! The outcomes of this weekend will be open-access teaching resources uploaded to JPP! ✨ japanpastandpresent.org/en/projects/...

We are thrilled to announce the start of a new Yanai Initiative project called “Bungaku Bideo,” or "Literature Videos," a new series of animated shorts that pairs short literary works in Japanese, read when possible by their authors, with animation by innovative artists from Japan and beyond.

プロジェクト助成金の応募締切まであと１週間となりました！ 🚨 世界中の多様な研究者チームに対し、最高1万米ドルを提供し、日本の人文科学における新しい一般向けリソースの開発を支援します！ japanpastandpresent.org/jp/funding/j...

Reminder! 🚨 The deadline for our Project Grant applications is only 1 week away! Project Grants of up to $10k support the development of new public-facing resources in the Japanese humanities created by diverse teams of scholars around the world! japanpastandpresent.org/en/funding/j...