ARCHAEOLOGIA JAPONICA

Overview
TAKAKURA Hiroaki1
The Japanese Archaeological Association was founded in April 1948, after the excavationof Toro site in Shizuoka Prefecture, and it is the leading archaeological society in Japan.
Among archaeological researchers, there are teachers at universities, staff involved withburied cultural properties at municipalities and private excavation research companies,
curators at museums who specialize in archaeology, retired researchers, and researchers
who achieved meaningful results without working in the ﬁeld of archaeology. TheAssociation consists of those researchers who are above 25 years of age, willing tobelong to the Association, and who have passed qualiﬁcation screening. Currently there
are about 5,800 researchers who engage in archaeology in Japan, and 4,172 of thembelong to the Association, about 72%. Therefore about 70% of Japanese archaeologicalresearchers are members of this Association, reﬂecting the heavy responsibility theAssociation has to fulﬁll in Japanese archaeology.
Acts of the Association such as articles, regulations, provisions, and bylaws of
the Japanese Archaeological Association as a general corporation had been mutuallycontradictory. Therefore, the board of directors prepared for a revision of the articles inﬁscal 2013, and new articles were incorporated at the 80th general meeting in ﬁscal 2014.
Correspondingly, the association regulations were revised drastically. Also ofﬁce rules,and provisions and bylaws regarding matters that were not set in the old articles, such asrules for honorary members, were organized. Although some works were delayed untilﬁscal 2015, reorganization of the Association is almost complete.
Under the new articles, regulations and provisions, activities of the Association arebeing carried out by seven standing committees.
As an academic society, one important activity of the Association is presentation ofresearch results, such as general meetings, conventions and public lecture. Publicationof periodical journals is one of such activities, and the Journal Editorial Committee has
published volume 37 and 38 of the Association journal, Nihon Kokogaku, that reﬂects
archaeological research activities.
Although Japanese archaeology has been achieving many research results andexcavation results, the results had not been accessible by the world. In order to make1 c/o 5–6–1 Kanzeonji, Dazaifu City, Fukuoka 818–0101, Japan(rinsho.takakura@gmail.com)

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Title ●●●● IN JAPANsuch results available to the English speaking community, an English Journal Editorial
Committee published an electronic journal in English, Japanese Journal of Archaeology
Vol. 2, No. 1. The ﬁrst publication became No. 1 although it was published only once ayear, because multiple publications are planned in the future just as two publications areplanned for the next ﬁscal year.
The Committee for International Exchanges has provided the latest excavation
results of Japanese archaeology to the world on the internet, by choosing one site fromeach period and a site related to Great East Japan Earthquake reconstruction from anillustrated historical book, Hakkutsu Sareta Nihon Retto 2013 (Excavated JapaneseArchipelago 2013), and translating the commentary into English on the Association’swebsite. In ﬁscal 2016, the World Archaeological Congress is planned to be held in
Kyoto, and internationalization of Japanese archaeology is indispensable, and theAssociation will continue with sincere efforts mainly with these committees.
The Committee for Research Environments focused on the decline of the numberof students majoring in archaeology at colleges, and highlighted the importance of theproblem with analysis on grooming successors in archaeological study. The Committeefor the Protection of Buried Cultural Properties held committee meetings, director
meetings, study meetings, and information exchange meetings, trying to grasp thesituation on the preservation and utilization of buried cultural properties in various
places. The Committee for Social Studies and History Textbooks has continued its efforts
toward revision of government curriculum guidelines.
The importance of activities by the Public Relations Committee has often been
neglected in the past. This is one factor due to which various activities by the Association
are not very well known, such as activities of the board of directors and committees,
efforts regarding the imperial mausoleum problem, release of research results throughpublic lectures, and submission of statements and requests of the Association chairman
and so on. Therefore, there is an effort to revitalize the Public Relations Committee andenrich its activities.
Fiscal 2014 continued to see sincere efforts by the Association members towardarchaeological study, and the results were published as books, theses, and excavation
reports. Such results will be discussed in this annual report.

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