Since Japanese fiscal year JFY01, which started on April 1, 2001, the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) has been in construction under a cooperation of two institutions, KEK and Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). After a short introduction of the whole project, I will report on the current status of the construction. Then, I describe the initial programs on strangeness nuclear physics at J-PARC, in detail. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.