New s Bul l e tin of the Union of Nati onal
Ec onomi c Assoc i ati ons i n Japan
No.49

2013
Contents○

Greetings from the President

Kenichi ENATSU ·············· 3○

Report on Business Activities in FY 2012···································· 4○

List of Primary Proceedings of Meetings in FY 2012···································· 7○

Publication of English Information Bulletin No. 32

Katsuaki ONISHI ·············· 9○Reports on International Conference Attendance

Eunji SEO ···················· 11
Kazuhiro UETA ·············· 14○

Reports on the Use of Assistance for the Invitation and Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars
Japan Association for Cultural Economics ·························· 17Japan Society of Human Resource Management ··················· 19
The Japan Statistical Society ·········································· 22○

Reports on the Use of Assistance for Academic Conference Expenses
The Society for the History of Management Theories ············· 24
Japan Association for Management Systems ······················· 26
Japan Academy of Management ······································ 28
The Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting ·············· 30○

List of Member Association Trustees ························································ 33○

List of Union Directors ········································································· 35○

List of English Information Bulletin Editorial Committee Members ····················· 35

Tradition and Reform
President Kenichi ENATSU
One phrase that has impressed me recently is “tradition is a progression of reform.”
Not to dwell on the point for too long, when an organization or institution continues over along period of time, some sort of “tradition” develops, for better or worse. This is subjected
to a commensurate social evaluation and labeling.
The quintessential example of this has been the long-established businesses of Japan, which
nowadays have been frequently spoken of in public. These long-established businesses
demonstrate the success brought about by the “will,” “wisdom,” “courage,” and “effort” ofthe founder, and gather years as that DNA of the founder is passed down generation by
generation. There, it is necessary for the successors to sincerely face the vicissitudes of thesocial environment of each era, and in light of the results of such an assessment, continue
reforms aimed at the continuation and further development of business. These would not be
eye-catching reforms (innovation), but rather the repetition of down-to-earth, small reforms(transformation).
“Globalization” and “innovation” have become buzzwords, and in various academic circles
as well, are frequently adopted as a unified theme in universities and the like. In such cases,
a tendency is seen for “innovation” to connote overcoming a large barrier (breakthrough) or atremendous advance (giant leap).
However, the success story of Professor Shinya Yamanaka, who won the Nobel Prize forPhysiology or Medicine for his research on iPS cells and was thrust into the limelight, was not
the result of ambitious activities aiming at some sort of “flashy” innovation. Rather, it isclear that this was the result of the blood, sweat, and tears of trial and error and a string of
failures built up day in and day out by a plain, down-to-earth “uncle” (in the words of the manhimself) based on cool wits, firm conviction, and vibrant relationships.
Nevertheless, the glory won by that effort was truly startling.
In Japan, long-established businesses are by and large regarded highly. They are
respected as truly symbolizing the traditional culture of Japan. On the other hand, the exact
opposite is the case with the criticism of the “elderly,” who in an aging society should beplaying the leading role (although this may be the bias of the author).
Meanwhile, there is no negative nuance to the adjective “old” in China. The character for“old” is an honorable prefix added to the subjects of respect. The words for “teacher,” “oldfriend,” “boss,” “aged wine,” and “long-established business” are all examples using thisprefix. Here, “old” is like a crown that cannot be bestowed merely through passing the timewith mischief without any creative ingenuity or efforts for improvement, and signifies
something that is respected and that cannot be found just anywhere.
For this purpose, it is vital to “renew daily,” cultivating that DNA of accumulating
down-to-earth efforts to reform.
3

It is wished that this Union of National Economic Associations in Japan and member
associations can continue to be respected “old” academic groups through the daily effort oflaying down unpretentious, small reform activities one by one, and submitting their results tosociety.

Report on Business Activities in FY 2012
I. Assistance for the Invitation and Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars
Four applications were submitted in this fiscal year, and as a result of a review by theboard of directors, assistance was granted to the three academic groups listed below.

For thereports of the three academic groups, see the “Reports on the Use of Assistance for theInvitation and Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars” of this news bulletin.
1. Japan Association for Cultural Economics: This association held the 17th
International Conference on Cultural Economics (at Doshisha University) jointlywith the Association for Cultural Economics International, and ¥150,000 was used toinvite Professor Stanley J. Liebowitz of the University of Texas in the United States
to come to Japan to be a keynote speaker. Professor Liebowitz participated in theentire conference, and gave a lecture titled “Creative and non-Creative Destruction ofCultural Industries.”
2. Japan Society of Human Resource Management: This society held a symposium
titled “Invitation to Asian HRM” with the unified theme of “The Dawn ofCompetition for Human Resources in Asia” at its 42nd National Conference (atWakayama University), and ¥100,000 was used to invite Professor Ningyu Tang of
Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China to be a panelist.
3. The Japan Statistical Society: At the 2012 conference of the Japan Federation of
Statistical Science Associations (at Hokkaido University), ¥100,000 was used toinvite Professor Ming-Yen Cheng of National Taiwan University in China (Taiwan),
who came to Japan to hold an international session under the hosting by statisticalsocieties of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
II. Assistance for Dispatching to International Conferences
Four applications were received during the fiscal year, and as a result of a review by theboard of directors, assistance was granted to the two academic groups listed below. For thereport from each case, see the “Reports on International Conference Attendance” of this news
bulletin.

4

1. Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution: ¥100,000 was used to dispatch Eunji
Seo of Fukuyama Heisei University to the 2012 Global Marketing Conference atSeoul (hosted by the Korean Scholars of Marketing Science) held during July 19-22,
2012 in Seoul, South Korea.
2. CIRIEC Japanese Section (Japan Society of Research and Information on Public andCooperative Economy): ¥250,000 was used to dispatch Professor Kazuhiro Ueta of
the Graduate School of Economics and Faculty of Economics at Kyoto University to
the 29th International Congress of CIRIEC (International Center of Research andInformation on the Public, Social, and Cooperative Economy) held during September
12-14, 2012 in Vienna, Austria.
III. Assistance for Academic Conference Expenses
In order to promote interdisciplinary study, assistance is given to a portion of conference
expenses necessary for activities related to interdisciplinary study, such as co-hosting andjoint hosting among member associations and requesting speeches from outside experts. Fiveapplications were received this fiscal year, and as a result of a review by the board of directors,
assistance was granted to the four academic groups listed below. For the report from eachcase, see the “Reports on the Use of Assistance for Academic Conference Expenses” of thisnews bulletin.
1. The Society for the History of Management Theories: ¥50,000 went towards thehosting of the 20th Anniversary National Conference of the society (held during May
25-27, 2012 at Meiji University with the unified theme of “Contributions andReflections of Management Studies: Facing the 21st Century,” with exchanges ofexternal panelists and a search for the issues and directionality of the future study ofmanagement from an interdisciplinary and international viewpoint as well as ahistorical viewpoint).
2. Japan Association for Management Systems: ¥50,000 went towards the hosting of
the 48th National Research Presentation Conference (held during June 2-3, 2012 at
Waseda University with the unified theme of “Management Systems in a Networked
Age,” under which external experts were invited, keynote lectures and special
lectures were held, and then during the exchanges of research result presentations
from individual participating members, the discussion from each standpoint
progressed in an interdisciplinary manner).
3. Japan Academy of Management: ¥50,000 went towards the hosting of the 12th
International Symposium since co-hosting an international symposium with the
Academy of Management in Mongolia in July 2000 (held during August 7-8, 2012 at
Yamanashi Gakuin University with the unified theme of “Harmony Between the5Environment and Economic Growth, and Management Practices” and reports by four
people on the Mongolian side and four people on the Japanese side.

The

Academy’s National Conference was held during the period that the symposium washeld, after which a social get-together was held jointly by the participants of theInternational Symposium and the National Conference as a mutual international
exchange).
4. The Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting: ¥50,000 went towards thehosting of the 27th National Conference (held during October 12-14, 2012 at
Ritsumeikan University with a unified topic plan paying attention to fact that there
are diverse opinions in various circles in Japan, especially the world of economics,
regarding the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS),
which these days has been a global focus in the realm of corporate accounting, andwith three debaters joining a unified topic panel, the objective was to clarify thegeneral topic and the points at issue of each argument regarding the introduction of
IFRS in Japan).
IV. The Publication of the English Information Bulletin No. 32
At the FY 2011 Second English Information Bulletin Editorial Committee held inJanuary 31, 2012, Senshu University Professor Katsuaki Onishi (The Society for Industrial
Studies) was elected chairman of the committee.

For the progress of the editorial work, see“Publication of English Information Bulletin No. 32” in this news bulletin.
Additionally, the Information Bulletin No. 32 was published in mid-December 2012.

6

List of Primary Proceedings of Meetings in FY 2012
4/2012-3/2013
2012

5/21

First Board of
Directors MeetingFirst Board ofTrustees Meeting

7/2

Second Board of
Directors Meeting

10/15

Third Board of
Directors Meeting

Second Board ofTrustees Meeting

・ Report on closing the books for FY 2011
・ Budget for FY 2012
・ Parliamentary Procedure for the Board of Trustees
・ Reports on the Use of Assistance for Academic Conference
Expenses for the “Earthquake and Nuclear Reactor
Problem Fukushima Symposium”
・ FY 2012 First Review Report for Assistance for Dispatching
to International Conferences, Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars, and Assistance for
Academic Conference Expenses
・ Report on the Publication of the Union News Bulletin No.
48
・ Report on the Publication of English Information Bulletin
No. 31, Report on the Progress of Editing No. 32
・ Report/Approval of Audit of FY 2011 Settlement of
Accounts
・ Future Operation of Special Accounting Activity
Administration Fund・ Approval of FY 2012 Budget
・ FY 2012 Business Plan
・ Review of Main Elements of Academic Conference
Assistance・ FY 2012 Second Review for Assistance for Dispatching toInternational Conferences, Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars, and Assistance for
Academic Conference Expenses
・ Report on the Progress of Editing English Information
Bulletin No. 32
・ Correction of FY 2012 Accounting Budget (Predicted Valueof Interest Earned)
・ FY 2012 Interim Accounting Report
・ FY 2013 Business Plan
・ Parliamentary Procedure for the Board of Trustees
・ Report on the Progress of Editing English Information
Bulletin No. 32
・ FY 2012 Second Review Report for Assistance for
Dispatching to International Conferences, Assistance for
the Invitation and Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars, andAssistance for Academic Conference Expenses
・ Correction of FY 2012 Accounting Budget (Predicted Valueof Interest Earned)
・ FY 2012 Interim Accounting Report

・ FY 2013 Business Plan

7

2012

10/26

First English
Information
Bulletin Editorial
Committee Meeting

2013

2/4

Second English
Information

・ Final Inspection of Draft for No. 32
・ Confirmation of Editing Activity Schedule until Publicationof Bulletin・ Organization Heading the Writing of English Information
Bulletin No. 33
・ “CiNii (Citation Information Navigator Service)“ run by the
National Institute of Informatics
・ Election of Editorial Committee Chairman for English
Information Bulletin No. 33

Bulletin Editorial

・ Editing Activity Schedule until Publication of Bulletin

Committee Meeting

・ Review of Writing Summary for English Information
Bulletin No. 33
・ Report on Number of Copies of English Information
Bulletin to Issue, Distribution Destinations, and Number toDistribute・ “CiNii (Citation Information Navigator Service)“ run by the
National Institute of Informatics

4/1

Fourth Board of
Directors Meeting

・ Report on the Publication of English Information Bulletin
No. 32・ Budget for FY 2013
・ FY 2012 First Review for Assistance for Dispatching toInternational Conferences, Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars, and Assistance for
Academic Conference Expenses

8

Publication of English Information Bulletin No. 32
Katsuaki ONISHI, Editorial Committee Chairman
The publication of the English-language Information Bulletin of The Union of National
Economic Associations in Japan is an important undertaking of the Union disclosing theactivities of member associations domestically and abroad.
In January 2012, the first English Information Bulletin Editorial Committee Meeting for the
32nd issue was held, a committee chairman was elected, and the work schedule and the likewere confirmed. The editorial committee comprises Mazuru Nakamura, Shujiro Urata,
Michihiko Tokoro, Shuichi Nakagawa, Hajime Takahashi, Takayuki Matsui, ToshihikoMatsuo, Nobuaki Endo, Naoki Senda, and Katsuaki Onishi, and Onishi was elected as the
Editorial Committee Chairman. Also, 11 writing members (affiliated academic groups)
were selected from 10 academic groups: Mazuru Nakamura (Japan Economic Policy
Association), Masahiro Endo (The Japan Society of International Economics), Michihiko
Tokoro (The Society for the Study of Social Policy), Hironobu Oda (The Japan Association of
Economic Geographers), Hajime Takahashi (The Society for the Economic Studies of
Securities), Takayuki Matsui (Japan Auditing Association), Toshihiko Matsuo (Japan
Logistics Society), Yoshihiko Akashi (The Society for Industrial Studies), Nobuaki Endo andTomio Takada (Japan Society of Logistics and Shipping Economics), and Mitsutoshi Hirano(The Japanese Association of Administrative Science).
The draft was due at the end of July, 2012, the English was corrected by Professor Paul
Snowden (Waseda University School of International Liberal Studies), and 900 copies ofEnglish Information Bulletin No. 32 were printed in December 2012. The Information
Bulletin was distributed not only to the universities of the leading universities in Japan, but
about 360 copies went to 44 countries abroad to introduce academic activities in Japan to theworld.
Also, the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan is providing the Information
Bulletin on the internet through “CiNii (Citation Information by NII),” a service of the
National Institute of Informatics (NII), the Research Organization of Information and Systems,
and the Inter-University Research Institute Corporation. CiNii is a data service with which it
is possible to search for articles from academic journals issued by Japanese academic
societies, and to display and print pages from those articles. The Information Bulletin can besearched for as a publication of an academic society under “CiNii Articles.” The Union of
National Economic Associations in Japan provides the Information Bulletin gratis, but somedocuments accessed by logging in require a payment, and if institutional flat-rate pricing(usage registration by organization) or an ID (usage registration by individual) is obtained,
there are privileges including preferential pricing. The details are available at http://ci.nii.ac.jp.

9Furthermore, in order to access the Information Bulletin from the website of the Union of
National Economic Associations in Japan, the top page is provided with the English versionof the Announcements and the “About Us” sections. Related to this, the “Union News
Bulletin” of the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan issued this Spring will be
posted in an English version in addition to the Japanese version in order to enhance theinternational system for releasing information.
Finally, in the publication of the Information Bulletin No. 32, we particularly offer our
deep gratitude to Paul Snowden for his cooperation with revising the English text, toSecretary General Masataka Ota of the Union, who was in charge of the progress of editing
activities, and to Yoshiko Ishii, who was in charge of office affairs.

10Reports on International Conference Attendance
Report of Participation at the 2012 Global Marketing Conference at Seoul
Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution Eunji SEO(Fukuyama Heisei University)
On recommendation from the Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution, I received
dispatch assistance from the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan, participatedin the 2012 Global Marketing Conference at Seoul, held at the COEX convention center inSeoul during August 19-21, 2012, and was able to present my research.
This was the first time I participated in the Global Marketing Conference. It was alarge-scale international academic conference with 110 sessions overall and over 300 scholars
participating. As a result, the system was such that the sessions were divided by research topic
among ten rooms in the COEX conference center held simultaneously, and each participant
selected the presentations that he or she was interested in. Also, aside from research reports
by scholars, the city of Seoul as well as KOOKSOONDANG, a South Korean company that
produces and sells alcoholic beverages, participated as sponsors and gave away small articles
to all the participants. Furthermore, there was also a speech by the president of a South
Korean company at a dinner party hosted by the conference, and so there were diverse events
prepared in addition to the academic conference.
Unique were the social activities during the day preceding the start of actual sessions.
They specifically consisted of first going to a temple in Seoul called Bongeunsa in themorning, practicing bowing and the like, and eating a lunch consisting only of vegetables at
the temple. Afterwards, we visited a Lotte Department Store and a Lotte Supermarket.
Lotte, which is a famous company in Japan as well, has operations in South Korea ranging
from candy production to shopping malls such as department stores and retail shops.
Besides these, its multi-faceted business has included opening an amusement park called
Lotte World.

Then, we visited NCSOFT, which an online game company, and were given

the chance to see the work of drawing game characters.
At the academic conferences in Japan that I have participated in up to now, it has beencommon primarily for research presentations to be conducted, and I had not seen the direct
inclusion of social activities in the conference program.

However, at this conference,

diverse events were prepared starting from the day before the research presentations took
place, and my impression was that it took advantage of the unique characteristics of aninternational conference as a forum for exchanges with participants from other cultures andfor introducing the culture of the country, in addition to academic objectives. This is because11

in the experience at the temple, the reaction from the participants from Asia was mild, but
those from the West were tremendously delighted.
Starting from the following day, the actual research reports took place. In particular, thiswas the first time the Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution participated as a co-host,and a track was specially provided called “Japanese Perspective on Value Creation inMarketing and Consumer Behavior.” I was also able to present research at this session, but
aside from myself, four teams from Japan introduced the trends in marketing research inJapan.
Scholars from many countries having an interest in Japanese marketing research
participated in this session, and were able to exchange views.

I presented research titled“Cross-functional Communication Behaviors in Japanese Industrial Company: The
Moderating Role of Alternatives.”
This research pertained to sales aimed at high customer accommodation in industrial goods
companies as well as technology partnership and communication. In industrial goods
companies, expert product knowledge and high customer accommodation are called for, andso it is common for a technical representative to be present during sales activities. I studied
the effect at such times of conflicts brought about by differences in background knowledge
and the tasks of each person on bidirectional communication between the sales representative
and the technical representative and the level of satisfaction regarding the information
received from the technical side. Meanwhile, since the sales representative depends on thetechnical representative in the work, it is not possible to easily eliminate the work dependencesolely due to dissatisfaction in the relationship. As a result, I quantitatively verified that sales
representatives with high conflict with technical representatives reduce their level ofsatisfaction and bidirectional communication with technical representatives only in the case ofsales representatives with many other technical representatives who can be relied on asalternates. From this survey, I was able to present the practical implications of distributing
tasks within a company and at the same time emphasize the contributions on sales
management research, conflict research, and social network theory.
Each session lasted one and a half hours, with four research reports lasting about 15-20
minutes with 10 minutes of questions and answers. After my presentation, I received
comments regarding doubts of the non-linear relationship between variables and thepossibility of an effect of the length of service of the sales representative, and so was able togain deep points of view for reviewing and revising the study.
I received more comments and questions than expected, and since the time was short, there
were scholars who came to give me their comments after the session ended as well. I feel that
there was an atmosphere in which it was possible to very actively exchange opinions.
The other teams aside from myself presented research regarding marketing problems that12

have been garnering attention in Japan and the world in recent years, such as an expansion in
manufacturer channels in Japan, hesitation by consumers to make purchases through online
shopping, research pertaining to mobile coupons on the internet, and the like.
After my presentation, I participated primarily in sessions pertaining to innovation anddevelopment of new products, and was able to see these presentations.
English was the official language of the conference, and although this was my second
presentation at an international academic conference, it was my first experience of one of sucha large scale, and I was quite nervous due to the heavy pressure regarding English and thecontents of my research. However, I was able to make my presentation in an unexpectedly
friendly atmosphere.
Among the participants of this conference, I was able to directly attend presentations by
famous scholars such as Professor Kenneth R. Deans whose names I had only encountered inacademic papers in the past, and for reasons including this, I believe it was a valuable
experience that brought me closer to overseas research both psychologically and practicallyspeaking. Furthermore, I was impressed by the high level of the other research that waspresented, and so I felt that in the future I would like to increase my linguistic skills and thelevel of my research in order to be able to conduct research that can be presented on theinternational stage and exchange opinions with scholars from a variety of countries.
Finally, I once again offer my appreciation for being able to participate in the 2012 Global
Marketing Conference at Seoul due to the assistance for Assistance for Dispatching toInternational Conferences provided by the Union of National Economic Associations inJapan.

13

Report of Participation at the 29th International CIRIEC Congress
CIREIC, Kazuhiro UETA
(Kyoto University)
I participated in the 29th International Congress of CIRIEC (Centre International deRecherches et d’Information sur l’Economie Publique, Sociale et Coopérative; International
Center of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy; theJapan Society of Research and Information on Public and Cooperative Economy is combinedwith CIREC Japan) held in Vienna, Austria in September 12-14, 2012.
The overall theme of this conference was “public, social and cooperative economy
meeting the general interest.” I was requested to give a report at a workshop during theenergy session.

For the record, the themes of the other workshops that were held were water,

health, social housing, and transportation.
The report playing the role of a keynote report for the session was titled “Introductory
report on energy from Japanese perspective.” As a conjecture, the reason Japan was requestedby the CIRIEC congress organizers to give a keynote report on energy problems and policy
was due to wanting to know the directionality of Japan’s energy policy since the Fukushima
nuclear power plant accident in March 2011. I myself had habitually desired to organize thearguments regarding Japan’s energy policy and present them internationally, and so I
considered this report a good opportunity. Additionally, this is because the CIRIEC
international congress would be a valuable forum for providing information and exchanging
views as a locus where scholars and important implementers relating to public utilities
including energy would gather.
My report presented the fact that Japanese energy policy responded to the Fukushima
nuclear power plant accident by indicating a directionality towards an exit from thedependence on nuclear power, and the fact that three options regarding the makeup of powersources in 2030 were presented and subjected to national debate. Furthermore, as animportant argument regarding the selection of power sources, I stated that there is the problemof evaluating power generation cost, and that the government set up a Cost Verification
Committee in order to have a third-party verification. Based on my experience of participatingin the Cost Verification Committee, my report indicated that in evaluating the cost of power
generation by power source, the central point of contention was the problem of evaluatingsocial costs that are not included in the power generation costs of the power companies. In
particular, the environmental damage caused by greenhouse gases emitted during power
generation is central in the external costs of thermal power generation, and in the latest
14

version (2010 version, preceded by the 2005 version) of the Projected Costs of Generating
Electricity (of which the first report was released in 1983, after which new versions have been
published at the pace of once every 4 or 5 years) by the OECD, the price of 30 dollars per ton
was applied to CO2 emissions for the first time.
In the case of nuclear power generation, an issue is the evaluation of three types of costs
not sufficiently incorporated in the evaluation of electricity generation costs in the OECD
report.

The first is the problem of the cost of the so-called back end in the form ofradioactive waste and the nuclear fuel cycle. The OECD report does calculate back end costs,
but they are estimated as a portion of fuel costs. In other words, it is a provisional calculationthat assumes that the nuclear fuel cycle works as envisioned. But in reality, as seen in theretreat from policies of re-processing and fast breeder reactors in the countries of the world,
there are many facilities that are not working as envisioned and locations for the final disposalof highly radioactive waste products have not been determined. As a result, the estimates arefor how much disposal will cost assuming that disposal sites are decided upon, and theevaluation of those costs is problematic. Similarly to CO2 countermeasures for thermal power
generation, it is inevitable that the costs of countermeasures for disposal limitations (the factthat it disposal will become difficult, which will act as a limiting factor on power generation)
will increase in the future.
The second is the problem of the cost of handling the risk of accident. The greatest
concern with nuclear power generation is safety and controllability, but in most private
enterprises, the risk of accident is handled through insurance. However, information necessary
for creating insurance for nuclear power, namely the probability of an accident and themagnitude of damage were an accident to occur, have not been brought to light. As a result, it
is not possible to account for the cost of handling the risk of an accident as an insurance
premium.

In the report of the Cost Verification Committee, which verified the power

generation cost for nuclear power, an alternative and convenient method was used, but eventhen it was not possible to confirm to what extent the cost of damage associated with the
Fukushima nuclear power plant accident will rise. As a result, although the lower limit for thecost is clear, the upper limit is not. This greatly complicates the managing of a nuclear power
plant in the same manner as an ordinary private business.
Furthermore, the third is the costs that, while not being directly involved in the locationand operation of nuclear power plants, are indispensable for enabling them. Nuclear power
plants differ from other power plants in that it is necessary to provide subsidies to the local
municipalities where they are located. This subsidy, which has the Electric Power
Development Promotion Tax as a source, is founded on the institutional framework based on
the so-called Three Power Source Development Laws. Although it is not a cost paid by thepower companies, it is not possible to have a nuclear power plant located without it, and if the15

nuclear power plant cannot be moved, it would be necessary to evaluate the subsidy as a costaccompanying power generation. The Cost Verification Committee evaluated this under thename “policy cost.” There are no similar examples in the West, and so it is an institution
unique to Japan. At the end of my report, it was mentioned that the way in which powersystem reforms such as liberalization of the power market and the separation of power
generation and power transmission will also have a large effect on the competitive
relationship between power sources and the internalization of external costs.
Based on the above analysis, my report did indicate the results of re-evaluating power
generation costs by power source, but there were many questions and comments in the hall,and a very active debate ensued. Regarding the comparison of power generation methods,
there was a high interest in the point that instead of only considering the magnitude of power
generation costs and the technological elements, the social costs were estimated across theentire life cycle of each power generation method. In the discussion, it was confirmed that
although the directionality of Japan’s shift in energy policy is, naturally, garnering attention,at the same time, it was also confirmed that how to build a foundation of information for
considering this and what technical contributions are being made in this direction are points
that must not be forgotten.

16Report on the Use of Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars
Japan Association for Cultural Economics Conference ReportJapan Association for Cultural Economics, Kazuko GOTO
(Saitama University)
Tadashi YAGI(Doshisha University)
The 17th International Conference on Cultural Economics was held in Kyoto during June
21-24, 2012. This was the first time the conference was held in a country outside of the US
and Europe.
Assistance was received from the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan for
inviting Professor Stanley J. Liebowitz (University of Texas and Director of the Center for the
Economic Analysis of Property Rights and Innovation), who gave a keynote address.
Professor Liebowitz has performed detailed and comprehensive empirical study of the effectof illegal downloading on cultural industries, and is well known as a debater in this field.
The theme of the keynote address was “The Internet’s Upending of Cultural Industries:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” and investigated commonly held beliefs such as that
consumer choices have broadened through the advent of the internet, and the long tail (manyminor works will be able to survive). From an economic standpoint, the speech faced thequestion of whether illegal downloading will destroy the music industry or invigorate it.
The economic analysis of copyright is an interdisciplinary study, and also a very
contemporary theme. For this reason, the Nikkei Shimbun of June 18 covered this as the “firstacademic conference in Asia for the promotion of cultural industries,” and reported that “itappears that interest will be garnered regarding whether knowledge will be gained to make a
notable addition to the legal debate over copyright protection, such as penalizing illegal
downloads and creating regulations for parodies.”
Professor Liebowitz noted that it is true that consumer choices have become unlimited
due to the digitalization of cultural industries, but as a result, consumption has increased, andso it is necessary to scrutinize whether the consumption structure has changed. Also, using
the music industry as an example, he indicated that from data regarding album sales, market
size, concert earnings, and the like, the internet has not vitalized the music industry. He
noted the problem of illegal downloading as a cause for this, and argued that this is true forthe film industry as well. It goes without saying that Professor Liebowitz’s speech drew
tremendous interest and unfurled a lively argument.
Over 350 scholars, policymakers, and businesses from over 40 countries around theworld participated in this international conference. Of these, 250 came from abroad, mainly
from Europe. Aside from “Copyright and Economics,” there was a keynote speech inquiring
about the significance of cultural diversity from the viewpoint of “spatial economics,” special

17

sessions were formed on interdisciplinary themes such as the game industry, e-books,
intangible cultural heritage, and the like, and many arguments were developed.
There were also over 200 papers presented and many presentations pertained to newthemes, resulting in the evaluation that it was a very substantial conference. As a result, thisassociation is considering the desire to build an international and interdisciplinary research
network pertaining to the study of cultural industries and the like.

18

Japan Society of Human Resource Management 42nd National Conference
Report on the Use of Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars
Japan Society of Human Resource Management

Hisakazu MATSUSHIGE(Osaka University)

The 42nd National Conference of the Japan Society of Human Resource
management was held at Wakayama University during July 13-15, 2012 with aunified theme of “The Dawn of Competition for Human Resources in Asia.” Aside from
Professor Ningyu Tang of the Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao
Tong University, for whose invitation assistance was received, there were a total of four
panelists in Symposium A on the 14th including Natenapha Wailerdsak of Thammasat
Business School (Thailand), Associate Professor Qiulan Zhang of the Da-Yeh University
Department of Human Resource and Public Relations (Taiwan), and Associate Professor
Hyun-Tak Rho of the Yonsei University School of Business (South Korea). With Hisakazu
Matsushige as the moderator and Jun Ma (University of Toyama) as a commentator, thesession took place spanning two and a half hours with the theme of “Asia’s Invitation to
HRM.” There were many attendees including society members and opinions were actively
exchanged, and so it was meaningful.
The session was held with the objective of examining the economic development of Asia,
which has had the vigor to unflinchingly overcome the negative impacts of the Lehman Shock,which immediately cooled the global economy, the European financial crisis, and the like, andto debate the methods of cultivating human resources and managing personnel, which havebeen a driving force for that development.
The focus was on the human resource strategy in rapidly growing Asia against the
backdrop of concerns over the fact that with the Japanese economy remaining in a longstagnation, the Japanese style of HRM, which had once garnered attention as the wellspring of
the competitive strength of Japanese businesses, has ceased to be the subject of research, andthe question of whether this omission has invited the current situation or whether it remains
an excellent aspect while another overlooked factor is the problem.
Also, reflecting on the fact that academically speaking, Japanese research that conducts
an international comparison of HRM has put the emphasis on comparing Japan to the West,
there has arisen the necessity to conduct research that compares against Asian rival companies,
which have grown as powerful rivals to Japanese corporations and have come to frequently
show their overwhelming strength as global players.
The primary discoveries obtained through debate are as follows. First, there was astrong impression that companies in the Asian countries have achieved reforms at the speed
19described above and felt in Japan, and that in each of these countries, numerous large andpowerful global corporations have developed and are deploying business extremely
dynamically worldwide. Next, just like overseas global corporations and Japanese
corporations, these corporations also have problems including how to overcome HRM issues,for example, the spread of a performance-based system and how to overcome its defects, inorder to survive global competition. Also, it was noteworthy that how to secure talented top
managers and senior managers who are capable of global business deployment is a sharedtask. There are diverse strategies, including China, which attempts to hire from the outside
regardless of nationality, and Thailand, which basically aims for domestic development, but it
was clear that each and every country was attempting to tackle this issue.
Ningyu Tang (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), who was the subject of invitation
assistance during this conference, gave a speech as described below on the theme of “China’s
HRM: A Challenge to Globalization.”
Globalization in the Chinese economy is arising in the two arenas of foreign companies
foraying to China, and the forays by Chinese companies abroad. China began to accept direct
investment from abroad in 1992, and by the end of 2007, the regional headquarters of 35
multinational corporations were located in Beijing. By the end of 2008, 138 countries andregions had a presence in Shanghai, rising to 178 foreign-capitalized investment firms and
274 R&D centers, and 224 multinational corporations had their regional headquarters in thecity.
Meanwhile, from recent years, many Chinese corporations have started to advanceabroad through direct investment, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and theestablishment of overseas subsidiaries. For example, in 2010 there were 2,656 M&A cases
where a Chinese corporation was involved, and of the 2,057 cases where the value of thetransaction is known, the total reached $1.6963 trillion. Also, 3,125 companies had a presence
in 129 countries, and on a value basis this has been recording a 36.3% growth rate since 2009.
As a result of this overseas expansion, famous companies such as Huawei and Haier now
have established overseas branches and affiliates, and Lenovo, TCL, SAIC, and Geely havebecome international corporations through acquisitions.
Globalization gave corporations many growth opportunities, but at the same time gave
rise to many problems in terms of personnel. With regards to human resources, these
problems include whether there are human resources who have sufficient abilities andcompetencies, and whether there is a sufficient availability of human resources who can workin culturally different circumstances. As organizations, these are challenging issues in theform of whether it is possible for an organization that is scattered across diverse regions of the
globe to be unified, and what systems are capable of international integration while creating
institutions that are suited to local sites amidst differing political, legal, and cultural systems.
These are very serious problems, and a number of Chinese corporations have abandoned
globalization without being able to overcome national and cultural differences.

20

In order for companies to overcome these sorts of hurdles, more advanced HRM has
become necessary. First, when a company expands abroad, it is necessary to be aware not
only that the corporate policies are suitable to the locale, but also if there is the possibility thatdifferences between individuals, organizations, and nations will cause hostility or problems.
As a result, the key to corporate globalization strategy is to gain the ability to adapt people
and organizations to diversified cultures.
Next, a personnel plan must consider the quantity and quality of global human resources.
As of 2004, it is estimated that China requires 75,000 capable people with overseas
experience, but only has 5,000. In order to close this gap, it is necessary to cultivate the ability
for individuals and organizations to understand other cultures, and to that end a training andeducational program plan as well as the execution of that plan are required. Human resource
departments should change from traditional management to playing strategic roles.

21

Report on the Invitation of a Foreign Scholar
International Session at the 2012 Conference of the Japan Federation of Statistical
Science Associations
The Japan Statistical Society, Hiroshi SAIGO(Waseda University)
The 2012 Conference of the Japan Federation of Statistical Science Associations was heldat Hokkaido University and was scheduled during September 9-12, 2012. On September 11,
the three joint sessions described below were held hosted by the Japan Statistical Society, theKorean Statistical Society, and the Chinese Statistical Association. These three statisticalorganizations take turns holding international sessions, and the Japanese Statistical Society
hosted in FY 2012.
The international session schedule was as follows:1.

September 11 (Tuesday) 9:30-11:30 JSS-KSS-CSA International Session I:
Analysis of data with correlated errors

2.

September 11 (Tuesday) 12:30-14:30 JSS-KSS-CSA International Session II:
Inference for high dimensional data

3.

September 11 (Tuesday) 14:45-16:45 JSS-KSS-CSA International Session III:
Computational statistics
A total of 45 statisticians attended the three sessions, there were active discussions of thefront-line research in statistics, and the sessions ended in success.
Each session is summarized below.
Session I comprised research reports regarding statistical analysis methods for correlated
data such as longitudinal data and time-series data, which often appear in medicine,
economics, and the like. Associate Processor Johan Lim gave a lecture titled “Multivariate
T-statistic for Partially Paired Data with an Application to Finding Differentially Expressed
Gene Sets,” and reported research results pertaining to an analysis of higher dimensional datawhen the data is paired. From the Chinese Statistical Association, Professor Tsung-Shan Tsougave a report titled “Robust Likelihood Inference for General Correlated Data,” reporting thelatest research results regarding more robust likelihood.

22

Session II comprised research reports pertaining to statistical inference methods forhigher dimensional data, which has been becoming ever more important in recent years.
From the Korean Statistical Society, Professor Chong-Sun Hong gave a lecture titled“Pythagoras in Statistics,” reporting on research results pertaining to a new application of the
Pythagorean theorem.

From the Chinese Statistical Association, Hsun-chih Ko gave alecture titles “Application of James-Stain Thresholding Estimator on Feature Selection,” andreported on the latest research results pertaining to variable selection based on a reduced
estimator.
Session III comprised lectures pertaining to the latest topics in computational statistics.
From the Chinese Statistical Association, Professor Tsung-I Lin gave a lecture titled “Anefficient ECM algorithm for maximum likelihood estimation in mixtures of t-factor
analyzers,” and reported on research results pertaining to an efficient calculation method in amixed model.

From the Korean Statistical Society, Professor Hyunjoong Kim gave a lecture

titled “Weight-adjusted Pruning for Classification Ensemble,” determined the optimal
weighting for a pattern recognition problem by means of an iterative computation, andpresented research results pertaining to a new discrimination method.
Finally, we express gratitude for the Assistance for the Invitation and Stay in Japan of
Foreign Scholars from the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan, which
financially supported the operation of the international sessions.

23

Report on the Use of Assistance for Academic Conference Expenses
Report on the Holding of the 20th Anniversary National Conference of the Society
for the History of Management Theories
Society for the History of Management Theories

Nobutaka KAZAMA(Meiji University)

The 20th Anniversary National Conference for the Society for the History of Management
Theories received assistance for academic conference expenses from the Union of National
Economic Associations in Japan, and was held at the Meiji University Surugadai Campus forthe three day period of May 25, 26, and 27. As an anniversary conference, more than 120
members participated, exceeding initial expectations. Due to the active debates in eachconference room, it was a fruitful gathering full of activity befitting of an anniversary
conference.
At the 20th anniversary conference, Professor Tadashi Mito (society advisor) gave acommemorative address titled “Development and Reflections of Economics in Japan.”
Afterwards, under the unified theme of “Contributions and Reflections of Management
Studies: Facing the 21st Century,” three subthemes were provided: 1) corporate theory, 2)business theory, and 3) organizational theory. The following six reports were given: undersubtheme 1 of corporate theory, Nobuo Katsube (Kumamoto Gakuen University) on “Thedevelopment of Corporate Theory and 21st Century Management Studies” and Hiroshi Iwata(Setsunan University) on “The Trend of Increasing Responsibility of Corporations and the
Direction of Civilized Society,” under subtheme 2 of business theory, Masayuki Munakata(Kobe University) on “A Century of Industrial Management Debate: Its Contributions andLimits and the Issues of Management Studies” and Takeo Kikkawa (Hitotsubashi University)
on “TEPCO, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident, and Problems ofManagement Studies and the History of Management,” and under subtheme 3 oforganizational theory, Izumi Mitsui (Nihon University) on “Freedom and Control: The Storyof Individuals and Organizations in Management Thought” and Haruo Murata (Aomori
Public College) on “Organization and Time in the History of Management Theories:
Organizational Development and Individual Satisfaction.” Also, on subtheme 1, Masayuki
Yamagata (Kinki University), on subtheme 2, Tsuyoshi Numagami (Hitotsubashi University),
and on subtheme 3, Kazuhiro Fujii (Aomori Public College) participated in the respective
themes as debaters, and an energetic and lively Q&A and debate ensued in each session.
Moreover, as an Anniversary Conference, we as members were greatly stimulated by the24report by Professor Takeo Kikkawa, who is not a member.
In accordance with the essence of the unified theme, each of the reports considered thecentury of history of management theories as the history of the formation of “20th century
management studies,” elucidated the characteristics of the fundamental principles and leading
theoretical frameworks of that history, and surveyed the possibility of a new “21st century
management studies.” They presented new information regarding the study of the history ofmanagement theories, and presented future issues. As a result, it is thought that the major
milestone in the history of the society that is the 20th conference will be remembered bymembers as the conference that took a fresh start towards developing the society.
During the conference period, a total of nine free-topic reports were given in six conference
rooms. Each of these free-topic reports were based on a keen problem consciousness andreported the latest research results pertaining to study in the history of management theories,
which imparted a significant intellectual stimulation to the members.
The assistance for academic conference expenses received from the Union of National
Economic Associations in Japan was an extremely large support for the operation of thisconference. As a representative of the society, I express my heartfelt thanks to President
Kenichi Enatsu of the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan as well as eachconcerned party.

25

Report on the National Research Presentation Conference of theJapan Association for Management Systems
Japan Association for Management Systems, Minoru TOKITA(Waseda University)
The 48th National Research Presentation Conference of the Japan Association forManagement Systems was held at Waseda University during June 2-3, 2012. This conference,
which aimed for the fusion of the humanities and sciences, included interdisciplinary debatesby experts in various academic disciplines including the humanities and sciences as well as
various practical fields of management under the unified theme of “Management Systems in a
Networked Age.” To this end, as outside experts, Professor Katsuhiro Nishinari of the
University of Tokyo took the scientific stance and gave a keynote address titled “The Study ofTraffic and Management Systems” presenting the study of traffic, which took advantage of
network simulations, and its application to the study of management systems, and Tsuneaki
Taniguchi, former President of the Japan Productivity Center, took the humanities andpractical implementation stances and gave a special address titled “Creating Japanese
Productivity” presenting the nature of the productivity movement in the social network called
Japan. With this, it was decided to hold an overarching debate. Furthermore, as a sectional
meeting, a session directly related and a session indirectly related to the unified theme were
provided, and expert deliberations took place in each.
Professor Nishinari introduced first a conventional analysis method by means of queuingtheory in operations research and then a new analysis method that pays attention to statechanges in cellular automata arranged in a network. He further indicated his own definitions
and concepts in regards to traffic and introduced a number of fascinating theoretical results
derived from them. In turn, he introduced the application to management systems studies of
the concept of traffic in work, the determination of an optimal lot using a traffic model, asimulation of overall production time, and the like. Finally, as a lesson from the study of
traffic, he concluded his talk by describing the suggestion for social networks that maximizing
individual benefits results in losses for the whole, while the whole benefits when theindividual concedes slightly. This was followed by an active debate going beyond thesciences/humanities standpoint.
Mr. Taniguchi first reflected and commented on the history of the productivity movementin Japan, and then as principles of the productivity movement, noted three points: themaintenance/expansion of employment in the social network as a whole, the cooperation andconsultation between labor and user as an important sub-network in the social network, and26

the distribution of justice to the social network as a whole as a product of increased
productivity. Beneath this, he presented fascinating data such as that pertaining to thetrendline of labor productivity in Japanese society and the relationship between the trendlineof productivity and the trendline of international competitiveness, and discussed the desirable
appearance of the productivity movement in a social network. Furthermore, he introduced
the new network-building of the Japan Policy Council, the Work-Life Balance Conference,and the like, as future endeavors of the Japan Productivity Center, cited management
consulting for promoting diversity management as a networked management system,
innovation in management as a whole as a network organization resulting fromself-assessment, promoting mental health of individuals as members of the social network,building a Japanese version of a customer satisfaction index, and the like, and concluded thatin the future, these would be tackled not only by individual corporations but by the society as
a whole. It goes without saying that Mr. Taniguchi’s speech was also actively debated.
Unfortunately, the time for debate over the keynote address and the special address felt
insufficient. However, I will add that Mr. Taniguchi also participated in a social get-together,at which the Q&A continued.
Following the keynote and special addresses, six talks including “A Method for
Adjusting Parameters for a Complementary Search Combining Global and Local
Information,” “A Method for Adjusting Interactions for Controlling an Economic
Environment Model Taking into Consideration Inter-Corporation Transaction Networks,” andthe like were given to present research pertaining to the unified theme, and each was actively
debated.
Studies having an indirect relationship to the unified theme were called “free-topics,” andthere were a total of 58 lectures. The free-topics were not necessarily limited to research
connected to the unified theme, and there were cases where the research was in a specialized
narrow field, but as a result, deep deliberation ensued.
Taking a birds-eye view of the conference as a whole, although the debate did not progressand diverge in the direction of the unified theme set to begin with, instead of converging on apoint and sending forth a unified opinion for the conference, the future of management
systems study was faced and its development characteristics were surveyed. In light of thedisposition of this National Research Presentation Conference, this was unsurprising.
Finally, amidst a situation of financial stringency, I wish to note that the successful
holding of this conference was largely due to the Assistance for Academic Conference
Expenses from the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan, and to express
abundant gratitude to the Union.

27

Reflecting on the Japan Academy of Management 22nd National Conference andthe 12th Japan-Mongolia International Symposium
Japan Academy of Management, Shoichi KANEKO(Yamanashi Gakuin University)
The 22nd National Conference of the Japan Academy of Management and the 12th
Japan-Mongolia International Symposium were held for the three-day period of August 7-9 at
Yamanashi Gakuin University in Sakaori, Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture.
In the 22nd National Conference of the Japan Academy of Management, the unified
theme was “Corporate Sustainability and Management Practices,” and five professors gave
reports on this topic. Hiroaki Itakura reported on “Regional Commitment and ‘Regional
Strength’—A Reevaluation of ‘Regional Bonds,’” Hiroshi Yamashita on “Synchronous
Production and Asynchronous Production in a Resource Cycling Model Using the Three Rs,”
Saburo Ota on “Large Earthquake Disaster and Bankruptcy/Rebirth,” Jihyang Lee, Yuji
Yashima, and Damon Drummond on “The Issues of CSR Activities in Regional Problems:
From Cases of Tackling Agricultural Problems in Japan and South Korea,” and Osamu
Furusho on “Directionality and Management Issues Regarding Institutionalization of the‘Integration Report’: An Approach From Financial Reporting Theory,” and intense
discussions were developed even more actively than the mid-summer heat of the Kofu Basin.
Furthermore, there were 18 free-topic reports appropriate to the Japan Academy ofManagement. The teachers of each commentator made comments to deepen the discussion,
many questions were posed by followers, and it was a very meaningful conference.
During the National Conference on August 7 and 8, the 12th Japan-Mongolia
International Symposium was held. This symposium is co-hosted by the Japan Academy ofManagement and the Mongolian Business Union, and 23 professors from Mongolia came to
Japan including Chairman T. Dorj (Professor at the National University of Mongolia). The
unified theme was “Harmony Between the Environment and Economic Growth, andManagement Practices,” and four professors gave reports from each of the Japanese andMongolian sides. From the Mongolian side, Idenbayar (President and CEO of Bogda Holding
Company) reported on “Corporate Governance and its Characteristics” (proxy reading),
Namjil (National University of Mongolia, and Orkhon University President), on “Various
Problems Pertaining to the Distribution of Profits from Mineral Resources,” Burmaa(Professor of Economic Studies at the National University of Mongolia) on “Problems ofMongolian National Inspection Activities and their Amelioration: Centering on theExperiences of the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and France,” and Baasgai
28

(Ulaanbaatar, Bagakhangai Citizens Council Chairperson) on “Problems of Conditions forDevelopment of Regional Municipalities Resulting from Decentralization.” From theJapanese side, Yoshiaki Horikoshi reported on “Recovery Plan for the Great East Japan
Earthquake and Harmony between Environment and Economy: Focusing on Iwate Prefecture,
Miyagi Prefecture, and Fukushima Prefecture,” Masao Yuta on “Ideals and Realities of CSR
Management in Modern Corporations,” Ryuichi Horie on “Attempts in the Field of Real
Estate Aiming for Harmony Between Environment and Economic Growth: The Role of Green
Buildings (Environmental Real Estate),” and Yasuhiko Miura on “Risk Management in
Corporate Environmental Management.” A lively exchange of opinions ensued.
Additionally, through the three-day conference, there were 160 professors attending, and in
the social get-together as well, there were over 100 professors in attendance, and so it was anextremely successful conference and get-together. Also, the professors from Mongolia visitedcompanies, paid a courtesy visit to Yamanashi Prefecture, and inspected the prefecture. We
express gratitude to those professors such as Koto and Nomura who went so far as be with the
Mongolian representatives from going to meet them upon their arrival all the way to seeing
them off at their departure.
Finally, for allowing us to host the conference, we once again thank President Kikuchi, themembers whose support we received, the professors who served as presenters, moderators,
and commentators, the interpreter Oyuntsetseg, and Kikuchi of the Executive Office. Also, weare extremely grateful for having received assistance for conference expenses from the Unionof National Economic Associations in Japan, and would like to use this space to express
appreciation.

29

Report on Holding the 27th National Conference of the Japan Society for Social
Science of Accounting
Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting, Yoichi HARA
(Ritsumeikan University)
The 27th National Conference of the Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting washeld at the Suzaku Campus of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto on both days of October 13
and 14, 2012, with the unified topic of “Accounting Contributing to Economic Activity,” At
the conference, there was the concentrated holding of unified topic session reports anddebates in the afternoon of the 13th, as well as a special address in the form of a luncheon
seminar, two study group reports, four free-topic reports, a membership meeting, and a social
get-together.
With the unified topic, paying attention to the existence of diverse opinions within eachsector in Japan, especially the field of economics, regarding the adoption of the International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which has been a global focus in the area of corporate
accounting, as debaters who have regularly continued to actively speak out about IFRS in
economic circles, the three intellectuals Kazuo Yuasa (General Manager, IFRS Office,Corporate Finance Unit, Fujitsu Ltd., and Member of the IFRS Interpretations Committee),
Makoto Kaimasu (Senior Vice President of Education at The Securities Analysis Associationof Japan, and Member of the Standards Advisory Council of the Financial AccountingStandards Foundation), and Yoshiaki Nishimura (President of Tokai Rubber Industries, Ltd.,
Member of the Financial Services Agency Corporate Accounting Council, Member of the
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Corporate Finance Executive Committee, andCouncilor of the Financial Accounting Standards Foundation) participated in a unified topic
panel as informants from outside this academic society. From the society, Takashi Fujita(Visiting Professor at Ritsumeikan University), who was General Manager of the
Administration and Accounting Department at Mitsui & Co., Ltd. for many years, held
important posts in the field of administration including as the head of said department, served
as managing/temporary member of the Corporate Accounting Council, and then has engaged
in research and education regarding accounting as a university teacher, was added as apanelist. Yoshihiro Tokuga (Professor in the Graduate School of Economics and Faculty of
Economics at Kyoto University), who has numerous accomplishments as a scholar ofinternational accounting, held the role of chairman for moderating the reports and debate of
the four people mentioned above with their abundant practical experience pertaining tointernational accounting. Chairman Tokuga explained that the aim of the current unified
30

theme was to learn the thoughts of the business side regarding the various points at issue
regarding IFRS, and to suitably understand the differences in conception of IFRS between thebusiness side and academia.
In the report portion, Fujita reported on “IFRS Seen from the Standpoint of a Trading
Company,” Yuasa on “The Effect of IFRS on Economic Activity,” Kaimasu on “IFRS Seenfrom the Standpoint of an Analyst,” and Nishimura on “IFRS Seen from the Standpoint of a
Manufacturer,” for 30 minutes each. Fujita raised examples of cases from Mitsui & Co., andargued about why general trading companies are not actively evaluating IFRS and puttingemphasis on the US standard to the extent of the past. Yuasa detailed the fact that even while
Fujitsu has been adopting the Japanese standard, it has continued to engage in graduallybringing the company’s accounting process policies materially closer to IFRS, and argued thatthe introduction of IFRS by Japanese companies is not as great an obstacle as it is normallysaid to be. Kaimasu introduced the fact that there is wide-ranging support for IFRS in therealm of securities analysts in Japan, and emphasized the importance of “reconciliation” with
the Japanese standard while fundamentally accepting IFRS. Nishimura introduced the factthat Tokai Rubber Industries as well as Sumitomo Electric Industries, where he was once an
executive, both have been making preparations towards the introduction of IFRS, and at thesame time emphasized the significance of efforts towards forming an “adequate IFRS” that
also takes into account the various points that should be asserted by Japanese corporations,particularly corporations that engage in manufacturing.
In the first half of about two hours of debate that followed the reports of these four, thefour panelists responded to three issues posed by Chairman Tokuga: 1) What effect will IFRS
have on the business practices and corporate behaviors that are unique to Japanesecompanies? 2) What relationship regarding accounting standards should the concerned parties
including the creators of financial statements, the users of financial statements, accounting
auditors, regulatory bodies, and the like have? 3) The importance of estimates and judgmentin accounting based on IFRS increases, but how will the reliability of information produced inthat way be guaranteed, and how should the ballooning of the information disclosed beconsidered? The commonalities and differences in the opinions of the four panelists regardingthese three questions stood out. As a result, in the latter half, the debate over the problems
pertaining to the introduction of IFRS was deepened through the responses from the four
panelists to more than 10 questions submitted by attendees on the floor. Finally, Chairman
Tokuga summarized that through the series of reports and debates, the characteristics of thepoints of view and priority issues for scholars and for implementers with respect to IFRS
became clear, and the possibility of cooperation between the two would expand through amutual understanding of each other’s uniqueness. This concluded the unified theme session,
which totaled four hours.
31

At a luncheon seminar held on October 14, Tsunehiro Tsumori (Kyushu Institute ofInformation Sciences) reflected on his many years of progress as a researcher and university
professor, and gave numerous valuable suggestions to the attendees for the future ofaccounting research. Regarding the study group reports that took place on the same day, theresults of “Methods for Management Accounting Research and Practical Issues: The
Possibility of Action Research” headed by Okihiro Maruta (Kyushu University) and“Productivity Accounting Research: Focusing on the Relationship between Productivity andPayment Reward” headed by Kazuki Uchino (Rikkyo University) accompanying thecompletion of study were reported by the chief investigator of each group. The free-topic
reports given on both the 13th and the 14th consisted of the following four as well as the Q&A
following each.
Tario Itabashi (Meiji University) “A View of Assets and Liabilities in Tax Management and aConsideration of Fair Value”
Noboru Nishikawa (Kanagawa University) “The Significance and Issues of ‘The Basic
Essentials Pertaining to Accounting in Small and Medium Enterprises’”Aya Sugimoto (Hokkaido University) “Fair Value Information Shifted from MD&A to
Disclosure by Note”
Isamu Iwasaki (Kyushu University) “Handling Goodwill”
Once again we express thanks for having received valuable financial support from theUnion of National Economic Associations in Japan for holding this conference. It is planned
that the 28th National Conference of 2013 will be held at Tokyo Keizai University.

32Member Association Trustees
2013.3.31
Japan Society of Monetary Economics

Yoshio WATANABE

Fumihiko HIRUMAThe Society for the History of Economic Thought

Seiichiro ITO

Yuji SAITOThe Japan Society of Public Utility Economics

Hideki IDE

Takeshi KATOUNO

Socio-Economic History Society

Haruhito TAKEDA

Satoshi BABA

The Political Economy and Economic History Society

Tetsuji OKAZAKI

Yasuo KAWAIThe Japan Accounting Association

Michimasa HAMAMOTO

Nobuhiko SATO

Japan Academy of Business Administration

Hiroshi OTSUKI

Kenichi KURODA

Japan Economic Policy Association

Yasuhide TANAKAThe Japan Society of Transportation Economics

Kazusei KATO

Mami AOKIThe Japan Institute of Public Finance

Takehiko IKEGAMI

Eiji TAJIKA

The Japan Statistical Society

Hiroshi SAIGOThe Agricultural Economics Society of Japan

Katsumi ARAHATA

The Japan Society of International Economics

Keiichi UMADA

Japan Society for Commodity Science

Yasuhiro YAMAMOTOThe Society for the Study of Social Policy

Kazuro SAGUCHIThe Japanese Society of Insurance Science

Yasuo KOFUJI

Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution

Tetsu KOBAYASHIThe Japan Association of Economic Geographers

Shuichi NAKAGAWA

Katsuki UMEDA

Japan Association for Asian Studies

Tetsuya KOMAGATA

Tomoo MARUKAWA

Japan Society of Political Economy

Mitsuhiko TSURUTA

Yoshikazu SATO

Japan Business Communication Association

Yasuo NAKATANI

Yuichiro YAMAMOTO

Japan Society of Business Mathematics

Nobuhide TANAKA

Isao USUIBusiness History Society of Japan

Shin GOTO

Japan Academy for International Trade and Business

Tatsuo NOBU

Mazuru NAKAMURA

Hiroshi KOJIMA
Takuya HASHIGUCHI
Shujiro URATA
Yoko KENMOKU
Kingo TAMAI
Hiroshi SUZAKI
Takeshi MORIGUCHI

Tetsuya KUWAHARA
Toru YAMAJOThe Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International
Hidehiko KANEGAE

Hiroyuki SHIBUSAWA

The Society for the Economic Studies of Securities

Hiroshi FUKUMITSU

Hajime TAKAHASHIThe Population Association of Japan

Hisakazu KATO

The Japan Association for Comparative Economic Studies

Yasushi NAKAMURA

The Academic Association for Organizational Science

Kenji YAMAKURA

Junjiro SHINTAKUJapan Society of Human Resource Management

Kazuo KIKUNO

Yoshio SASAJIMAThe Society of Economic Sociology

Kazuyoshi K ARASAWA

Takao MAMADA

Japan Finance Association

Yasuhiro KOBAYASHI

Makoto ICHIMURA

Japan Association for Planning Administration

Yasuo MATSUYUKI

Sukehiro HOSONO

Japan Auditing Association

Yoshimasa TOMOSUGI

Toshifumi TAKADA

33

Yoshio YOSHIDA
Shizuko KATO

Japan Academy for Consumption Economy

Haruo ISHIBASHI

Japanese Association for International Accounting Studies

Yoshihiro TOKUGAJapan Society for Applied Management

Kisaburo SEKIYA

Fumihiko HIRANO

Yuji OSHITA
Yoshiyuki KANEKO

Nippon Urban Management and Local Government Research Association
Makoto ONOJIMA

Tatsuo ITOJapan Port Economic Association

Hideki YOSHIOKA

Hisashi FURUI

Nippon Academy of Management

Yasuhiro OGURA Yoshio MATSUMOTO

The Academy of Management Philosophy

Kenshu KIKUZAWA

Japan Risk Management Society

Kazuo UEDA

Japan Logistics Society

Mitsumasa NAKA

Japan Association for the Comparative Studies of Management

Toru SAKURAI

Eikou RYU

Japan Academy of Management

Isuke KOTO

Kiyoharu IWAI

The Society for Industrial Studies

Katsuaki ONISHI

Japan Association for Management System

Akira OTABE

Koji OHIRA
Katsuyuki KAMEI
Hirohito KUSE

Yoshihiko AKASHI

Masanobu MATSUMARU

CIRIEC Japanese Section (Japan Society of Research and Information on Public and Cooperative Economy)
Teizo ANAYAMA

Kazuyoshi UENO

The Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting

Takashi OGURI

Shigekatsu KUMAGAIJapan Society of Logistics and Shipping Economics

Nobuaki ENDO

Katsuhiko HAYASHIThe Japanese Association of Management Accounting

Kazunori ITO

Tomoaki SONODA

The Society for the History of Management Theories

Yoshiaki TAKAHASHI

Nobutaka KAZAMAJapan Scholarly Association for Asian Management

Tasuku NOGUCHI

Takahide KOSAKA

Japan Academy of International Business Studies

Kenichi ENATSU

Yoshiharu KUWANA

Japan Academy of Advertising

Satoshi HIKITA

Koichi SHIMIZU

Japan Society for Business Ethics Study

Kuniaki MATSUMOTO

Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics

Yuji ARUKA

Masaaki YOSHIDA

Toshikazu NAGAYAMA

Kimito NASUNO

Japan Academy of Labor and Management
The Japanese Association of Administrative Science

Yasuaki KIDO

Business Analysis Association

Tsutomu OKATO

Akira SAITO

Yasuo HOSHINO

Yasuyoshi KUROKAWA

Japan Academy for Asian Market Economics

Hiroichi IINUMA

Itsuro KANEKOThe Japan Society of Household Economics

Joji ASAHI

Kyoko UEMURA

Japan Association for Cultural Economics

Kazuko GOTO

Tadashi YAGIJapanese Research Association for Chinese Economy

Naoki MURAKAMI

Midori KIZAKI

34

Directors of the Union
President

Kenichi ENATSU (Japan Academy of International Business Studies)
Fumihiko HIRUMA (Japan Society of Monetary Economics)
Tetsuji OKAZAKI (The Political Economy and Economic History Society)
Hiroshi OTSUKI (Japan Academy of Business Administration)
Shujiro URATA (The Japan Society of International Economics)
Mitsuhiko TSURUTA (Japan Society of Political Economy)
Yasuhiro OGURA (Nippon Academy of Management)
Katsuaki ONISHI (The Society for Industrial Studies)
Yoshiaki TAKAHASHI (The Society for the History of Management Theories)
Yoshiharu KUWANA (Japan Academy of International Business Studies)

Secretary General
Masataka OTA
AuditorYoshihiro TOKUGA (Japanese Association for International Accounting Studies)
Yoshimasa TOMOSUGI (Japan Auditing Association)

Emeritus

Takashi SHIRAISHI
Osamu NISHIZAWA
Yasuo OKAMOTO

Information Bulletin No.32 Editorial Committee Members
Chairman

Katsuaki ONISHI (The Society for Industrial Studies)
Mazuru NAKAMURA (Japan Economic Policy Association)
Shujiro URATA (The Japan Society of International Economics)
Michihiko TOKORO (The Society for the Study of Social Policy)
Shuichi NAKAGAWA (The Japan Association of Economic Geographers)
Hajime TAKAHASHI (The Society for the Economic Studies of Securities)
Takayuki MATSUI (Japan Auditing Association)
Toshihiko MATSUO (Japan Logistics Society)Nobuaki ENDO (Japan Society of Logistics and Shipping Economics)
Naoki SENDA (The Japanese Association of Administrative Science)

35

Correspondence to be addressed:
Secretariat of the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan,
c/o School of Commerce,
Waseda University,
Nishiwaseda 1-6-1, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 169-8050, Japane-mail: rengo@kurenai.waseda.jp
http://www.gakkairengo.jp

36