Editing Soka Gakkai (section)

==Outreach==
In the 1970s, the Soka Gakkai began to re-conceptualize itself as an organization promoting the theme of "Peace, culture, and education."<ref name="Seager Religion Culture">{{cite book|last1=Seager|first1=Richard|editor1-last=Laderman|editor1-first=Gary|editor2-last=León|editor2-first=Luis|editor1-link=Soka Gakkai International-USA|title=Religion and American Cultures: Tradition, Diversity, and Popular Expression, 2nd Edition|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-110-9|page=68}}</ref> "''Since its beginning – and especially under Ikeda’s leadership - Soka Gakkai has struggled  to  relate  its  image  to  the  ideal  of  an  international  organization  committed  to social causes''", analyses scholar Suzana Ramos Coutinho Bornholdt in ''Japanese Buddhism and Social Action: the case of Soka Gakkai''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Ramos Coutinho Bornholdt |first=Ramos Coutinho Bornholdt |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277056784_Japanese_Buddhism_and_Social_Action_the_case_of_Soka_Gakkai_in_Brazil |title=Japanese Buddhism and Social Action: the case of So |date=Sep 2008 |publisher=Revista Nures nº 10 |year=2008 |location=Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo |publication-date=2008 |language=EN}}</ref>

Ikeda also founded the [[Tokyo Fuji Art Museum]] in 1983.  It houses collections of western and oriental art, and has participated in exchanges with museums around the world.<ref>Karel Dobbelaere, "Toward a Pillar Organization?" in Global Citizens, Machacek and Wilson (eds.), page=245</ref>

The Soka Gakkai has  participated in many activities and exhibitions in conjunction with the UN.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sato |first1=Aoi |title=UN Office for Disarmament Affairs Meets Youth Representatives of Soka Gakkai Japan and of SGI-USA Engaged in Disarmament Issues |url=https://www.un.org/disarmament/update/20140321 |website=United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs |access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref> The Soka Gakkai has established multiple institutions and research facilities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iop.or.jp/index.html|title=The Institute of Oriental Philosophy|website=www.iop.or.jp}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last= Seagar |first= Richard |year=2006  |title= Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, the Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism |publisher=University of California Press |page= 192}}</ref><ref>Karel Dobbelaere, "Toward a Pillar Organization?" in Global Citizens, Machacek and Wilson (eds.), pp. 243, 250</ref>

This social and cultural projects also appear to be part of a strategy, according to some scholars and critics of Soka Gakkai, which  "''uses the image and practice of an NGO (to respond) to its own necessity: the recruitment and maintenance of  membership''" and "''tries to create the image of an institution engaged in activities to promote peace, culture  and  education  based  on  Buddhism,  clearly  following  the  tendencies  of  national politics''.".<ref name=":1" />