The Development of Social Welfare and the Role of the JapaneseSociety for Historical Studies of Social Welfare
NAGAOKA Masami, President
Japanese Society for Historical Studies of Social Welfare

1.

About the Japanese Society for Historical Studies of Social Welfare(1) The History of the Japanese Society for Historical Studies of Social Welfare
The Japanese Society for Historical Studies of Social Welfare (JSHSSW) is an academic
society that has been pursuing historical studies of social welfare in Japan, as well as in othercountries and regions. Our research activities have been closely tied to the Science Council ofJapan.
In May 1973, we started as the Study Group of Histories on Social Work. YOSHIDA Kyuichi(deceased), a professor at Japan College of Social Work who was well-known as a pioneer ofhistorical studies on social welfare after World War II, started to organize researchers who werealso interested in historical studies. Those who helped Yoshida closely were ICHIBANGASEYasuko (deceased), a professor at Japan Women’s College, and TAKASHIMA Susumu, professor
at Nihon Fukushi University at that time. In the end 21 researchers joined this Study Group andbecame the founding members of this organization.
There had been some study groups of this kind before Yoshida organized this society. Some of
the researchers who were members of the New Studies on Social Work or the Study Group ofContemporary Social Work had already started historical studies of social welfare beginning in the
1950s. They wanted to develop democratic social welfare activities in Japan, however theiractivities were limited to local bases. We may conclude that Yoshida’s group was the first nationalorganization of this kind.
The purpose of the Study Group of Histories of Social Work was “to contribute to thedevelopment of scientific research activities and democratic policies and practices in social
welfare in Japan.” In the course of its development it was registered as one of the registeredacademic research organizations of the Science Council of Japan (designated as cooperative
science and research bodies in 2005). Then in 1998 it was reorganized and renamed the JapaneseSociety for Historical Studies of Social Welfare.
We have been strongly encouraging intellectual exchanges among researchers who shareinterests and responsibilities concerning the development of democratic social welfare. This policy
has not changed since Professor Yoshida created this organization in 1973.
Our members numbered only over 300 in 2012. But we believe this small group has beenhighly valued among the researchers in social welfare in Japan. Our historical studies on
democracy, human rights, peace, and welfare have been helping many researchers to profoundly173

understand social problems. Our historical analyses have been an indispensable part of studies onsocial welfare, while our historical studies on thoughts and perspectives could lead to the future
development of social welfare.
We hope that we will be able to continue to carry out our mission of encouraging the
democratic development of social welfare. We know that our historical studies are needed morethan ever because the system of social welfare should be restructured now. The policies, practices,
theories, and values on social welfare should be reviewed carefully in order to adjust to the chaotic
social and economic changes brought about by globalization.
The focus on our historical studies has been expanding significantly over the course of socialchanges. We now specialize in historical studies on not only social work and social welfare
policies and practices, but also closely related subjects such as living conditions among people,
welfare thoughts, theories of welfare, human care, and social security.
The researchers who currently join our society come from the disciplines of not only social
welfare, but also special needs education, medicine, and nursing. It is crucial to conduct
interdisciplinary efforts in order to analyze the current social problems and put them into proper
historical perspectives. We are now producing more interdisciplinary studies on histories of social
welfare, as well as philosophies and principles of social welfare.
(2) Our Society’s Activities
The fourth provision of statutes of the Japanese Society for Historical Studies of Social
Welfare defines our society’s activities as follows:・ To have a conference and general meeting annually (usually in May)・ To publish biannual academic journals and other publications
・ To find and preserve historical resources
・ To develop interdisciplinary studies
・ To do the work necessary in order to fulfill the society’s purposes
Accordingly, we have carried out our activities as follows
1) We have our annual conference usually in May for two to three days. A typical program forthe conference consists of a general meeting, special lectures, symposia, and special sessions
dealing with various historical topics.
We also have a special meeting for young researchers during the annual conference. They areencouraged to bring in their research ideas and methods for their historical studies. The
discussions and intellectual exchanges they have in the meeting will enable their intellectual
growth and raise the academic standards for our society’s future.
The themes of the annual conferences over the past 19 years are as stated below:
22nd (1994): “History of Social Services for People with Disabilities” at Aichi Prefectural
Social Wefare Center in Nagoya
23rd (1995): “History of the Relationships between Public and Private Social Service
Agencies” at Aichi Prefectural Social Wefare Center in Nagoya
24th (1996): “Social Work during the Second World War and its Aftermath” at Aichi
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Prefectural Social Wefare Center in Nagoya
25th (1997): “Natural Disasters and Social Welfare” at Aichi Prefectural Social Wefare Centerin Nagoya
26th (1998): “History of Child Welfare” at Aichi Prefectural Social Wefare Center in Nagoya
27th (1999): “Social Welfare in the 20th Century” at Hanazono University in Kyoto
28th (2000): “History of Social Services for the Elderly” at Tokyo Metropolitan University
29th (2001): “Religious Activities and the Beginning of Social Work” at Shukutoku
University in Chiba
30th (2002): “Establishing the Japanese Public Assistance System” at Chukyo University in
Nagoya31st (2003): “Colonial Administration and the History of Social Work” at Osaka Prefectural
University in Osaka
32nd (2004): “The Role of Historical Research in Studies of Social Welfare” at Shukutoku
Junior College in Tokyo
33rd (2005): “Preservation and Utilization of Historical Materials” at Nagano University in
Ueda, Nagano
34th (2006): “Social Welfare in Japan Before and After the Second World War” at Ryukoku
Junior College in Kyoto
35th (2007): “International Comparative Studies on the History of Social Services for People
with Disabilities” at University of Tsukuba in Tsukuba, Ibaraki.
36th (2008): “History and Future Perspective on the Social Welfare Movement” at Chukyo
University in Nagoya
37th (2009): “History of Policies for Supporting People’s Daily Lives” at Toyo University inTokyo
38th (2010): “History of Social Welfare Philosophies and Their Future Development” at
Kwansei-Gakuin University in Nishinomiya, Hyogo
39th (2011): “Local Histories of Social Welfare and Their Prospective Future” at Notre Dame
Seishin University in Okayama
40th (2012): “Confirming and Prospecting Historical Studies on Social Welfare” (with theSpecial Meeting of Natural Disasters and the Roles of Social Welfare)41st (2013): “Historical Development of Social Welfare in the Far East” at Shukutoku
University in Chiba
2) We publish our biannual academic journal Historical Studies on Social Work. (It was
published annually from 1973 to 2010, and the current issue is Volume 43. Fuji Publishing
Company has been the authorized seller of this journal.)
The editorial committee takes responsibility for editing and publishing this journal, andappoints proofreaders.
We also publish occasional reports of our committees, historical research guidebooks, andnewsletters.
3) Our Society gives two kinds of awards annually, both of which are reviewed carefully by175

the award committees.
One is the Excellence in Publication Award for Historical Studies on Social Welfare. The
Society has given this award for excellence in historical studies published in each fiscal year since
1979.
The other is the Yoshida Kyuichi Memorial Historical Research Award. Yoshida was the
person who created and nurtured our society. The first award was given in 2009 when thesurviving family members of Yoshida donated the funds for this award. Each year the Memorial
Award grants 200,000 yen to each winner (up to three persons). The Memorial Award also chooses
one instance of academic research each year and gives a grant for its publication.
4) Currently we have three permanent committees and two temporary ones that are an integral
part of our society. The committees are expected to discuss and make recommendations regarding
the historical education of social welfare, historical research on social welfare, the preservation
and usage of historical artifacts, and international exchanges on social welfare.
① Committee on historical education for social welfareThis committee has conducted research regarding historical education on social welfare. Four
official reports have already been published and distributed to the public by this committee. The
committee and professional social work organizations have been very active in proposing to installthe “history of social welfare” as a part of undergraduate curriculum.
② Committee on preserving historical papers and artifacts
This committee has been conducting research on the conditions of historical papers related tosocial work and social welfare. The Guidebook to the Historical Papers for Research on Social
Work and Social Welfare was published as a product of the serious efforts made by this committee.
The committee also introduces archives to the public, encourages public awareness on preserving
historical materials, and recommends that welfare agencies and groups such as welfare councils
preserve and compile historical papers.
③ Committee on international historical studies
We regret that we hardly ever shared our studies with researchers in other countries until
recently. However, we did some international comparative studies on social welfare history andstudies on social work in the imperial Japanese Colonies. Since 2010, we have been trying todecide what kind of project would be appropriate for international exchanges and which regions orcountries we should focus on if we start joint projects. So far, to begin with we have done someresearch in Europe and North America. We made lists of recently published books and articles
whose topics were related to the history of social welfare and social work in these regions, andalso tried to identify the academic societies whose foci were related to the history of social welfare.
Second, we started comparative studies and international exchanges with researchers in the Far
East Region. The preliminary conference was held during our annual conference in 2012.
Professor SHEN Jie whose specialty is Chinese social welfare and Professor YOON Jungsoo
whose specialty is Korean social welfare were especially active in this project and they both
became members of this committee. We set a symposium dealing with historical studies on social
welfare in Far Eastern countries as the main program of the annual conference of 2013.
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The researchers from Korea, China, and Taiwan in our society are still small in number, butthey have been playing very important roles in the conference as well as in other programs. We
also have a few young foreign graduate students from Korea, China, and Taiwan. They are
expected to lead the international studies on the history of social welfare in Asia in the near future.
④ Our activities in relation to the Great East Japan Earthquake (Tohoku Earthquake andTsunami)Jointly with the union of social welfare academic societies, we raised some issues in helping
people from a historical standpoint. We also created a comprehensive study project regarding
natural disasters and social welfare. Next, we started to rescue and preserve historical materials
that contained the records of welfare activities and the lives of ordinary people in the disasterareas.
Finally, we had a special session to discuss the problems of the disaster areas during theannual conference in 2012.
⑤ Special committee for 40th anniversary projects
This committee was created to prepare the special projects for our 40th anniversary. It called
for papers and collected pictures and records of the activities of our society over the past 40 years.
The committee made them available to the members of our society and public during the annual
conference in 2012, and did the same thing in 2013.

2. The Role of the Japanese Society for Historical Studies of Social Welfare andExpectations for International Collaboration(1) Development of historical studies and historical education on social welfare1) International exchange in historical studies and historical education on social welfare
That social welfare has strong historical influences is a common understanding we share
across borders; comprehending the history of social welfare is the very basis of research into andeducation on social welfare and social work. This understanding is influenced by ideas of howsociety ought to be and is closely intertwined with politics, economics, and culture. Social welfare
has been understood both in aspects of practical efforts to help one another and live together,which have developed into diverse activities as specialized, scientific, social work, and also inmanagement systems for social control by policy-makers and their integrated responses to poverty
and various needs.
In what ways have the policies and practices of social welfare and their various
elements—institutions, facilities, enterprises, organization and management, movement, values,
and thoughts—developed? And in what ways have social work and its professionalization
developed to enhance social welfare? Historical studies of social welfare include research into
welfare regimes, social policy, and social security, as well as investigations into charity,
philanthropy, mutual aid, volunteering, support networks, and social action. By using historicalanalyses of various fields to clarify what social welfare has been, we can find solutions to today’s
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problems and strengthen the basis on which to build a universal and sustainable welfare system.
The Society’s members are working in various fields, time periods, and countries, and making
their own respective contributions to the research.
The Society is currently carrying out a trend survey on the current state of research andeducation on social welfare in various countries, which has already shown vast diversity. This
diversity stems from differences in historical background, social systems, poverty, and the specificneeds of the peoples in each country and region. We must have a dialogue to examine thesedifferences. However, there are still too few opportunities to discuss historical studies or history
even at international conferences on social welfare and social work. International exchange andcollaboration in historical studies of social welfare would help develop new angles to study aid
and human security. We therefore sincerely hope that networks of social welfare will begin to growaround the world.
2) Development of archives
In addition to historical material related to policies and institutions, vital records ininstitutions and regions and historical materials on services and aid activities are also important inhistorical studies of social welfare. Historical materials are important in carrying out international
comparisons and in studying cross-border policies and practices in colonies and emigration
destinations. We hope to construct a network of archives on social welfare as shared resources bycollaborating with colleagues in other disciplines such as history, in addition to collaborating overhistorical studies on social welfare. Collaboration to preserve historical material that would
otherwise be lost requires organization and cooperation. At the moment, some social welfare
archives are being developed in Japan—a very important step in comparing primary materials, oral
history, and vital records. It is necessary to pass down, unearth, collect, and store records andstories from the social welfare field for the future. We also seek to collaborate to tackle theinternational challenge of preserving historical records and the premises of research and education,
as well as to facilitate the sharing of these records.
(2) Development of social welfare in Asia and the sharing of a historical understanding
1) The situation in East Asian countries and challenges of historical understanding from theviewpoint of social welfare
Peace and welfare are especially important in Asia today. Regarding recent conflicts among
East Asian countries and controversies over historical events in particular, examining the historyof mutual influence, exchange, shared historical characteristics, and differences of social welfare
policy and practice will contribute to deepening mutual understanding. Examining the historicalfacts of the social work policies of the Japanese government and individual practices that werecarried out in subordination or defiance of the government’s policies during colonial rule andinvasion would not only contribute to the development of social welfare through research in eachcountry and international collaboration, but also go some way toward building a new sharedunderstanding of history from the perspective of social welfare.
The JSHSSW has pursued research into social enterprises in East Asia that were encouraged178during the period of Japanese colonial rule, and also carried out a comparative analysis of thedevelopment process of social welfare in East Asian countries after World War II. By engaging insuch collaborative work and stimulating research exchanges we hope to face the mistakes of thepast with sincerity, to clarify what was done in the field of social welfare, and to promote peace
and welfare. This includes highly political issues and the problems of war, regional conflicts, andethnic conflicts that occur in many parts of the world. We think, however, it should be possible tobring about recollection and reconciliation by deepening historical understanding through mutual
exchange and comparative analyses of social welfare history.
2) Historical analysis of the East Asian model
Also important is a historical analysis of the East Asian model of social welfare. Japanesesociety has developed a unique form of social welfare that draws from its traditional social
structure, with influences from Asia in the pre-modern period, and those from Europe and theUnited States in the modern period. There are also some commonalities with East Asian countries.
Comparative studies within East Asia would entail a historical study of development of the field,
which has been historically formed by a combination of public sector, voluntary sector, andinformal structures in pursuit of social welfare, a product of blending policy and practice. This
would enable us to contribute to the discussion of welfare regimes and to clarify typologies ofcharity and mutual help. Also, analyzing the historical context and professionalization of social
work and care work, the development of professional bodies, professional training and education,ideals of institutions, and historical experiences of community development also poses a challenge.
By pursuing these analyses, we expect to come to understand diversity and commonality in social
welfare in East Asia in the context of each state’s sovereignty, autonomy, and international
solidarity.
(3) After the Great East Japan Earthquake: Lessons from the disaster
Finally, we touch upon what the Great East Japan Earthquake has wrought. Major disasters
have happened in every corner of the globe, and people overcome them to rebuild societies,
rebuild their lives, and work for a better system of security and mutual help. Japanese society is
still recovering from the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, and nuclear radiation
remains a danger. Japanese society has endured major catastrophes such as earthquakes, tsunamis,
typhoons, and frost damage. During the Edo Period, an enormous number of people died in threemajor famines (Kyouhou, Tenmei, and Tenpou). And the great earthquakes in the Ansei Era killed
numerous people. Modern times have seen the Great Nobi Earthquake of 1891, two Sanriku
Earthquakes (tsunamis) in 1896 and 1933 that hit the same area as the 2011 earthquake, the Great
Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Ise-wan Typhoon (Typhoon Vera) of 1959, the Great Hanshin/Awaji
Earthquake of 1995, and so on.
Furthermore, although Japan has a history of war and aggression, it has also experienced
atomic weapons used on its soil. The horrific experiences from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and theirprolonged suffering and struggles have been the driving force behind the campaign for world
peace and the abolition of war. And we now have Fukushima. These experiences provide valuable179

lessons for today’s social welfare activities and disaster prevention measures, and contribute to theestablishment of welfare, peace and human rights, and disaster preparedness systems. It is vitalthat we learn the history of disasters and wars so we can draw clear lessons for today from theviewpoint of social welfare. We are fully aware of our obligation to carry out historical analyses ofJapanese social welfare and to accumulate accounts of experiences. By doing so, we hope to makea positive contribution to open discussion.

Conclusion
The Japanese Society for Historical Studies of Social Welfare engages in the historical studyof global social welfare and international comparative research. To mark its 40th anniversary, theSociety is conducting a survey on trends in historical studies of social welfare in various countries
led by the International Exchange Committee. We are also initiating research exchanges on thehistory of social welfare in Asia in order to contribute to enhanced exchange among countries andregions through the historical study of social welfare and world peace. The historical study ofsocial welfare can fulfill its academic obligation when it contributes to the development of mutual
understanding between countries and to peace, as well as to continued academic development.
We are determined to maintain our efforts to realize a world of welfare by forminginternational solidarity with others studying sociology and social welfare through historical studies
of social welfare, social policy, and social work. We consider this message to the world to be an
important opportunity to pursue our aim.
Current Administration and Board Members (2011-2015)
HIRATA Katsumasa (Nagasaki University), KANEKO Koichi (Toyo University), MUROTA
Yasuo (Kwansei Gakuin University), NAGAOKA Masami (President, Nihon Fukushi University),
NAKAMURA Makio (Fukuyama City University), NISHIZAKI Midori (Secretary-general,
Fukuoka University of Education), TERAWAKI Takao, UTO Eiko (Senshu University), KIKUCHI
Yoshiaki (Auditor, Toyo University), UTSUNOMIYA Minori (Auditor, Aichi Prefectural
University),
Contact Address
Office of the JSHSSW
c/o Prof. Nishizaki’s Office, Fukuoka University of Education
1-1 Akama Bunkyo-cho, Munakata-City, Fukuoka 811-4192, Japan
Telephone: +81 940 35 1683, Facsmile: +81 940 35 1783
Official Website: http://www.jshsw.cher-ish.net/
E-mail: nisizaki@fukuoka-edu.ac.jp

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