The UCLA Center for Japanese Studies was established in 1991. The original goal of its creators was to develop an infrastructure for Japanese Studies at UCLA. At the same time, the Center committed itself to the training of a new generation of scholars working on Japan. A further goal was to work with other groups and institutions at UCLA and beyond to broaden the field of Japanese Studies in the
United States. Emerging as it did after the complex period of Japanese-American relations in the 1980s, it furthermore committed itself to providing an academic understanding of the US-Japan relationship. A final goal of the Center was to attract sufficient funding to support a vigorous Japan-centered program and to serve as an advocate on campus for the faculty and students, and to continue to enhance Japanese Studies at UCLA. Terasaki in 2005 has allowed the Center to expand its programs in several new directions. The Center has since been renamed the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese studies, with new initiatives, flagship conferences, and a platform for the analysis of the most compelling domestic and international issues facing Japan today.
