Report on the 84th General Assembly of the JapaneseArchaeological Association
HASHIMOTO Hiroyuki1ABSTRACTThis short essay reports the proceedings and some highlights of the 83rd Annual Meeting of theJapanese Archaeological Association, held on May 26 and 27, 2018, at Meiji University.
KEYWORDS: 84th Annual Meeting, Japanese Archaeological Association

The 84th General Assembly of the Japanese Archaeological Association (FY 2018) washeld on 26 (Saturday) and 27 (Sunday) May on the Surugadai campus of Meiji University.
It was the ﬁrst time in 11 years—since the 73rd meeting was held in 2007—that the general
assembly took place at Meiji University. The meeting was a great success thanks to theefforts of 95 alumni and students.
On the 26th, a general meeting and lecture (the 70th Anniversary Lecture Meeting)were held in classroom No. 1013 on the 1st ﬂoor of Liberty Tower (Liberty Hall). This wasfollowed by social gatherings at Kishimoto, Miyagi, and Yatsuhiro Halls on the 23rd ﬂoor.
On the 27th, an oral presentation and study session were held at Liberty Tower, while regularand high-school student poster sessions and a book exchange were held on the 2nd Victory
Floor of the Academy Commons. Another book exchange was held at the Global Front 1st
Floor Multipurpose Hall, which was completed in 2013. A total of 1,584 people participatedin the event. Of these, 396 attended on the 26th (i.e., 328 regular members, 8 support staff,and 60 members of the public), and 1,188 attended the events held on the 27th (i.e., 711
regular members, 15 support staff, and 462 members of the public). There were 4,052
members as of 1 April 2018, with 14 members having passed away and 71 withdrawing
since the previous year. In addition to the general assembly, an exhibition titled “The Past,Present and Future of Meiji University Archaeology: Beyond the Study of Things” was heldat the Meiji University Museum (Dates: 21 May–21 June 2018).
The general assembly began at 10 a.m. on the 26th. The moderator reported that thegeneral assembly had fulﬁlled constitutive requisites at that time. Opening remarks werethen delivered by President Akio Tanigawa, who said it was no coincidence that the 70th
general assembly was hosted at Meiji University, where Professor Sosuke Sugihara (who1 Board Member, The Japanese Arcaheological Association, 4th Floor, 5–15–5 Hirai, Edogawa Ward,Tokyo 132–0035, Japan(jjarch@archaeology.jp)
Category: Report (solicited)

Received: 19 February 2019

JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 6 (2019): 125–129

HASHIMOTO Hiroyuki

was devoted to establishing the Japanese Archaeological Association) taught for such along time. The Board of Directors was facing a structural overhaul, but President Tanigawa
noted that its members were to be re-elected and that the Association would like to continue
addressing the challenges entrusted to it by the former board. He also said that variousprojects commemorating the association’s 70th anniversary were planned for the current
year and that honorary and long-time members were to be honoured at the general assemblyfor that reason. Meiji University President Keiichiro Tsuchiya then welcomed attendees on
the institution’s behalf. He commented that archaeology was a featured curriculum at Meiji
University when introducing the storied program, which was built through the efforts ofmany ﬁne professors, including Sosuke Sugihara, Hatsushige Otsuka, and Hideji Ishikawa.
Executive Committee Chair Hideji Ishikawa then greeted participants. He also noted thatthe Japanese Archaeological Association was founded in 1948 and that the ﬁrst archaeology
course was established at Meiji University two years later. In continuing his address,
Ishikawa mentioned that 120 presentations were given at the 70th meeting, including poster
sessions at 10 venues. Including high-school student poster sessions, the total rose to 132. A
silent prayer was offered to honour the 14 former members who had passed away since lastyear after these opening remarks.
The moderator introduced the president just prior to the proceedings, also noting that
he was to act as Chair per the articles of incorporation. The Chair then nominated theVice-Chair and Secretary. Proceedings then began.
The ﬁrst issue was Proposal No. 1, which was titled “Regarding the Approval of New
Members.” At that time, the Admission Eligibility Review Committee Chair reported that46 members had passed the application review process. The Organizational Director thennoted that a total of 36 applications (i.e., for 3 corporate, 16 friendship, and 17 studentmembers) had been submitted, all of which were approved. The new members took thepodium immediately thereafter. Seira Ozaki acted as representative and highlighted
member ambitions.
Discussions then turned to Proposal No. 2, which was titled “Matters Related to the FY
2017 Business Report/Approval for Account Settlement.” Member Mitsuhiro Kuwahata’s“Inﬂuence of Mega-Volcanic Eruptions on Humanity: The Kikai Akahoya Eruption inSouthwest Japan” was ﬁrst selected for the Grand Prize by the Association Award Selection
Committee, while member Chizuko Kodera’s “Ancient East Asia and Glass Archaeology”
and member Tomohiro Sakakida’s “Research on Satsumon Earthenware: Chronology,
Grouping and Movements of Regional Pottery in the Northern Part of the AncientJapanese Archipelago” received Honourable Mentions. Member Shunsuke Yamada wasrecommended for the Excellence in Writing Award for his “The Succession of Deer HornSwords.” The Board of Directors approved each of these awards. The FY 2017 business
report (including the general meeting, public lecture, Board of Directors, annual report,© Japanese Archaeological Association

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institution magazines, and other items) was then presented, after which the Imperial
Mausoleum report, the Investigative Committee Research Environment report, the PRCommittee report, the International Exchange Committee report, Investigative Committee
on Social Studies and History Textbooks report, the Commission to Protect Buried Cultural
Properties report, the Disaster Response Committee report, the 2017 Kumamoto Special
Committee on Earthquake Countermeasures report, the Future Planning Study Committee
report, and the report of the 70th Anniversary Commemorative Project Subcommittee werepresented. Explanations were subsequently provided by the Director of Finance with regard
to the 2017 balance sheet. A report on the 2017 Kumamoto Earthquake Fund was thendiscussed. An audit report was also provided by the auditor, who indicated that all items
were appropriate and accurate. The auditor also commented that future improvements wereneeded to facilitate the collection of membership fees. The settlement of accounts wasﬁnally approved following a brief Q & A session.
Regarding Proposal No. 3, which was titled “The Election of Directors,” the Chair forElection Administration then moved that 23 persons (i.e., 22 election winners and 1 noncandidate winner from the Kinki district) be appointed as directors. All appointments wereapproved. Proposal No. 4, titled “The Appointment of Auditors,” was then presented. Atthat time, Vice President Kondo explained that the two current auditors had the same ofﬁce
terms and thus requested that one more auditor be appointed. This request was approved.
Regarding Proposal No. 5, which was titled “The Approval of Honorary Members,”
Assistant Committee Chairperson Ishikawa gave a recommendation to the Honorary
Members’ Selection Committee that member Hatsushige Otsuka be named an Honorary
Member. This recommendation was approved.
Moving on to post-deliberation issues, reports were presented on “Business Plans andIncome and Expenditure Budgets for FY 2018,” “the 70th Anniversary of Establishmentof the Association,” and “Partial Revision of Rules and Provisions of the JapaneseArchaeological Association.” These items concluded the general assembly.
An association awards ceremony attended by both honorary and long-standing members(69 total members) was held after the general assembly. Commemorative photographs weretaken at that time. The 18 honorary members, prize-winners, and long-standing members inattendance were recognized in a greeting given by Koji Kosaka.
Mr. Akio Tanikawa was elected new chair at the extraordinary executive meeting, which
was held at 12:30 p.m. Newly appointed President Akio Tanigawa made an inaugural
address at 1:30 p.m., at which time the new directors and auditors were introduced.
A memorial presentation was held at 2 p.m. to commemorate the association’s 70thanniversary. This included lectures titled “The History of Studies of the Paleolithic Age inJapan,” which was provided by Hideji Ishikawa (Meiji University Emeritus Professor), and“A History of Japanese Research on the Old Stone Age,” which was given by Masao Anbiru© Japanese Archaeological Association127

HASHIMOTO Hiroyuki(Meiji University). All attendees then moved to Kishimoto, Miyagi, and Yatsuhiro Halls on
the 23rd ﬂoor of Liberty Tower, where social gatherings were held.
Morning and afternoon oral presentations were given on the 27th, including 11 research
projects at venues No. 1–No. 3. An additional 11 sessions were simultaneously held atvenues No. 4–No. 9. Titled “Standardized Resources as Education, Research and CulturalResources” (comprised of ﬁve research papers), the ﬁrst morning session was held atvenue No. 4. Held in the afternoon, session 2 was titled “On the Frontline of Methods forRestoring Ancient Feeding Habits That Utilize Residual Lipid Analysis of Earthenware”(comprised of ﬁve research papers). Held at venue No. 5, morning session No. 3 was titled“The Cultural Alternation of the Diffusion of Newcomers and Original Inhabitant Groups:
A Viewpoint from Holocene Archaeology/Ethnology” (comprised of four research papers),
while afternoon session No. 4 was titled “Assessing ‘Housing’ at the Beginning of Jomon
Period” (comprised of ﬁve research papers). Morning session No. 5 was held at venue No.
6, and was titled “The Shortening of Rice Preparation Time from the Yayoi Period throughthe Middle Ages” (comprised of six research papers), while afternoon session No. 6 wastitled “Reﬂections on the Early Yayoi Period” (comprised of ﬁve research papers). Titled“Interdisciplinary Research of the Haizukayama Tumulus in Kitakata City” (comprisedof six research papers and jointly presented with the Archaeology Subcommittee of theJapanese Anthropological Society of Japan), morning session No. 7 was held at venue
No. 7, while afternoon session No. 8 was titled “Artefacts Excavated from Isomaiwakage
Ruins in Wakayama Prefecture” (comprised of four research papers). Morning session
No. 9 was presented at venue No. 8 by the Japanese Archaeological Association FY 2017
Kumamoto Special Committee on Earthquake Countermeasures. The presentation wastitled “Protecting and Restoring Cultural Assets Damaged by 2017 Kumamoto Earthquakeand Investigating Buried Cultural Properties: Circumstances and Issues.” Afternoon session
No. 10 consisted of a presentation titled “Revisions to the Law for the Protection of Cultural
Properties and Its Application to the Preservation of Archaeological Sites” (comprised ofﬁve research papers and jointly presented with a subcommittee of the Science Council ofJapan’s Part I Historical Committee, which is involved in protecting and utilizing culturalproperties). Morning session No. 11 was held at venue No. 8. At that time, a presentation
titled “History Covered and Left Out of Textbooks: From Practices in Hokkaido, Gunmaand Okinawa” (comprised of ﬁve research papers) was given by the Japanese Archaeological
Association Investigative Committee on Social Studies and History Textbooks.
The Poster Session Venue (venue No. 10) featured 33 presentations. Presenter comments
were held from 1–2 p.m. The third annual high-school student poster session featured 12
total presentations (three more than the previous year) given by students from the Fukushimaand Fukuoka prefectures. This event attracted much attention. Student explanations
were given at 1 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony. Itoshima High School in Itoshima© Japanese Archaeological Association128

REPORT ON THE 84TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE JAPANESE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Prefecture received 1st Prize for a project titled “Basic Research on Masonry in the Itoshima
Area” (Masayuki Umemoto, Kenta Takayma, Takuro Karashima, Sho Nichiyu, KokoIrie, Yoshitaka Yama, and Sho Nichijo). In addition, the Gakuyukan High School HistoryClub in Tochigi Prefecture (Haruka Ogawa, Masato Sakurai, and Maki Hashi), Tokushima
Municipal High School History Research Department (Natsu Kawakami, Hanako Imura,Akihide Masuda, Ruka Kasai, and Azumi Ikoma), and Tokushima Literature and Science
High School Regional Studies Department (Yuki Inoue, Sota Kanbara, and KyoichiNakayama) each received Awards of Excellence for their respective projects, which weretitled “The Iwade Tumulus and the Religious Beliefs of Mt. Fuji: A History of the Religious
Beliefs of Tochigi Prefecture’s Iwade-cho and Iwakurayama,” “Japan as Seen by Tori
Ryuzo,” and “The Utilization and Spread of Buried Cultural Properties by 3D Printer.”
After the award ceremony, President Tanigawa noted that the number of participating
schools had increased. He also said that both the number of research themes and quality ofpapers had increased each year, adding that the quality of these papers was comparable toreports submitted by college students.
Blessed by ﬁne weather, the general meeting was a great success. The events attracted
a large number of participants. This was largely due to the support offered by MeijiUniversity, which was reinforced by the efforts of students and the General Assembly
Executive Committee, to whom I would like to express my sincere gratitude.

© Japanese Archaeological Association129