The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, is an independent graduate university (the first of its kind in Japan) founded in 1988 with the aim of contributing to the creation and development of culture through education and research in academic theory and application. As a world-leading international graduate university, SOKENDAI operates in close partnership and collaboration with affiliated inter-university research institutes. The role of the inter-university research institutes and the world-class research environment they offer as centers of educational excellence is one of the most distinctive features of SOKENDAI. The inter-university research institutes (parent institutes) provide researchers from universities across Japan with resources (e.g., large-scale facilities and equipment, large amount of data, and valuable materials, etc.) that are not available in ordinary universities, and play a leading role in advancing scientific research in Japan through joint research with researchers nationwide and abroad. SOKENDAI employs a large group of researchers from various research fields as faculty members to provide advanced specialized education within the excellent research environment provided by such parent institutes.