The Art Research Center (ARC) at Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto, Japan; Director: Ryo Akama) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have on February 26, 2026 released the first batch of digitized books and prints produced under a comprehensive digital archiving project initiated last year, encompassing Japanese cultural resources held across the University of California (UC) system.

The University of California, widely recognized as one of the world's largest comprehensive university systems, holds more than 30,000 Japanese cultural materials--including ukiyo-e prints, classical manuscripts, and historical documents--across UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, and the other UC campuses. While these holdings constitute invaluable primary sources for research in the humanities and social sciences related to Japanese culture, access has to some extent been limited to on-site consultation, which has presented a significant barrier to their broader scholarly use.

To address these challenges, ARC and UCLA have launched a collaborative project to digitize materials and make them publicly accessible online, thereby establishing an environment in which they can be more widely utilized for research and education.

ARC has partnered with numerous museums and academic institutions in Japan and abroad--including institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum--to digitize approximately one million items of Japanese cultural materials to date. In the present project, ARC plays a central role, drawing on its high-speed digitization techniques, methods optimized to accommodate the distinctive characteristics of diverse materials, and the expertise of its experienced specialist team.

As the first phase of the project, approximately 800 digitized items from the UCLA collection have been made publicly available through the ARC website.

(Public website:  https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/lib/vm/UCLA/)

This project has been selected as one of the initiatives supported by UCLA's Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities,^※1 a program dedicated to advancing academic and cultural efforts that promote research on the preservation and dissemination of Japanese culture. The digitized materials will also be made available through the open-access platform Japan Past & Present (JPP),^※2 operated by the Yanai Initiative, further broadening public access and creating a more accessible environment for a broad and diverse range of users.

Moreover, this project extends beyond merely the digitization and online release of cultural materials. ARC will provide access, through the JPP platform, to its unique online research environment, the "ARC Research Space," enabling users to access ARC's extensive digital archive databases accumulated over many years, along with advanced tools such as AI-powered support for deciphering historical materials. Through these efforts, the project will help establish a new research environment open to the international scholarly community.

Ritsumeikan University also plans to closely integrate this project with the educational and research activities of its new College of Arts and Design and Graduate School of Science in Arts and Design, both scheduled to open in April 2026. Guided by the educational principles of "cultivating aesthetic sensibility" and "fostering individuals who connect creative practice with social implementation," the new college and graduate school will benefit from the ability to utilize the large archive of digitized cultural materials made available through this project as valuable teaching materials that significantly broaden the historical and geographical scope of classroom education.

ARC and UCLA will continue to build an environment in which valuable cultural resources can be freely accessed and utilized by scholars of Japanese studies around the world. By expanding and strengthening the research infrastructure, the two institutions aim to advance scholarship in the humanities and social sciences related to Japan and to open new possibilities for global research collaboration.

[About the Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University]

The Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University, is dedicated to conducting historical and social research and analysis of both tangible and intangible human cultural properties--including the visual arts, performing arts, and craftsmanship--while also documenting, organizing, preserving, and disseminating the knowledge generated through its research activities, with the aim of transmitting the cultural heritage of humankind to future generations.

As a research institute within a comprehensive university, ARC promotes interdisciplinary integration across the humanities and sciences, bringing together the collective expertise of scholars from diverse fields. With Kyoto as its principal base, the Center advances collaborative and project-based research initiatives--an approach that remains distinctive within the humanities.

[Notes]

*1: The Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities
The Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities was established in 2014 through a philanthropic gift from Tadashi Yanai (Chairman, President and CEO of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.) to advance research dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of Japanese culture. It is a collaboration between UCLA and Waseda University in Tokyo. Professor Michael Emmerich (Dept. of Asian Languages & Cultures, UCLA)--who earned his Master's degree at Ritsumeikan University in 2001--serves as Director, facilitating support for large-scale international and interdisciplinary research and educational projects that examine Japanese history and contemporary society within an integrated framework.
Website: https://yanai-initiative.ucla.edu/

*2: Japan Past & Present (JPP)
Japan Past & Present is an open-access platform operated by the Yanai Initiative to advance research and education in Japanese humanities worldwide. It brings together information on Japanese humanities across disciplines and national contexts, connects scholars and institutions, and promotes the continued development of research and education. By expanding global access to scholarly resources and digital tools, the platform supports a more diverse, inclusive, and globally connected Japanese humanities community.
Website:  https://japanpastandpresent.org/en/about/mission/