The Japan Research Center of Ocean University of China is the only comprehensive Japanese research institution in Shandong. It has made important research achievements in such fields as Sino-Japanese relations and cultural exchanges, Japanese language and literature, translation studies, Japanese history and culture, Sino-Japanese ocean and island issues, and Japanese politics and diplomacy. In 2016, the center was among the first group of think tanks to be included in the Chinese Think Tank Index (CTTI). The center is engaged in in-depth collaboration with partners at home and abroad. It has invited famous Chinese and Japanese scholars to deliver academic reports, and hosted a number of conferences such as the High-level Forum on Japanese Studies in China, International Academic Seminar on Historical Relations between China and Ryukyu, East Asian Island and Ocean Forum, Seminar on Security Situation in the East China Sea and China-Japan Relations, and Seminar on New Trends in China-Japan Relations.