On October 23, Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University (ARC) was selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) for its International Joint Usage / Research Center Program under the category of Distinctive International Joint Usage / Research Center.

By designating research centers with high quality international research resources and outstanding systems for international cooperation as international research centers, the MEXT aims to provide focused support that will strengthen these institutions’ leading roles in international joint research.

As a selected center, in its role as an international and domestic academic research ‘hub’, by leading international joint research, ARC will aim to contribute to the further strengthening of research in Japan.

Since opening, ARC has engaged in activities around the world in the field of digital archiving, that is, digitizing tangible and intangible resources such as artworks and historical documents. In particular, it has worked continuously to comprehensively digitize cultural resources in the collections of European and North American museums, and it is engaged in ongoing joint research projects to digitize the Japanese art collections at some of the world’s top art museums like the British Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

ARC was originally designated by the Ministry as an International Joint Usage / Research Center from 2014 to 2019, and during that time it pursued joint research at a high level by opening its research facilities up to Japanese and non-Japanese institutions and researchers, thereby cementing its place as a leading research center in the field.

Going forward, ARC aims to: accelerate digital humanities-oriented Japanese culture and art research through the creation of digital archives of cultural research resources; provide its online digital research infrastructure to the world; and bolster research into Japanese art and culture by contributing to the advancement of, and cooperation between, Japanese culture research centers around the globe.

Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University (ARC)
https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/en/index.html