No.13
ISSN 0289 - 8721

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令 JON o19ふ‘Information Bulletin of

The Union of National
Economic Associationsin Japan

日本経済学会連合

1993

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 169-50, JapanCOPYRIGHT 1993 BY THE UNION OF NATIONAL ECONOMIC ASSOCIATIONS
Printed in Japan.
ISSN 0289-8721

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS INSTITUTE, INC. Tel. (03) 5273-0473

Editorial Committee
Shusaku YAMAYA, Toyo University
Fumihiko HIRUMA, Waseda University
Tatsuya SAKAMOTO, Keio University
Minoru MURATA, Chuo University
Ryojiro IWAKI, Chiba University of Commerce
Akinobu TERASAKA, Ryutsu Keizai University
Akifusa FUJIOKA, Keiai University
Yoshikuni ISHI, Josai University
Susumu OKADA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Koji OKUBAYASHI, Kobe University
Yoshinori KAWAMURA, Waseda University
Directors of the Union
President

Masao UNO, Waseda Unversity
Yasuo OKAMOTO, Aoyama Gakuin University
Kyoichi FUTAGAMI, Waseda University
Satoru TAKAYANAGI, University of Tsukuba
Yoshiaki SHIMABUKURO, Aichi Gakuin University
Yoshiyuki SEKIGUCHI, Yokohama National University
Yuziro HAYAMI, Aoyama Gakuin University
Toshiya HANAWA, Hitotsubashi University
Mitsuo MORIMOTO, Aoyama Gakuin University
Saiichi MIYAZAKI, Kanto Gakuin University

Secretary General
Kenichi ENATSU, Waseda University
AuditorKazuo GOI, Chuo University
Osamu NISHIZAWA, Waseda University
Emeritus
Shigeta TSURU, Hitotsubashi University
Yoichi ITAGAKI, Yachiyo International University
Takashi SHIRAISHI, Kyorin University

THE UNION OF NATIONAL ECONOMIC ASSOCIATIONSIN JAPAN
日本経済学会連合
The Union of National Economic Associations in Japan, established in 1950,
celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1990, as the sole nationwide federation of
associations of scholars and experts on economics, commerce, and businessadministration. In order to obtain membership an association is subject to an
examination of its academic work. As of 1992, the Union had a membership of 44
associations, as listed on pp. 79-93. Inclusion of one recent entrant to the Union
brings the total membership for 1993 to 45 associations (the name of this newmember is given on p. 94).
The aims and objectives of the Union are to support the scholarly activities of its
member associations and to promote academic exchanges both among members
themselves, and between Japanese and academic societies overseas. The main
activities of the Union are: (1) the publication and distribution of academic material
concerning Japanese economics and papers presented by member scholars, (2) the
sending of members to overseas conferences, (3) the holding and supporting ofinternational conferences in Japan, (4) providing financial assistance to member
associations who invite foreign scholars to Japans, and (5) collecting information on
activities of member associations and the issuing of a news bulletin.
The Union published in 1974 Keizaigaku No Doko (The Trend in Japanese
Economics), based on a survey of economic studies undertaken in postwar Japan. A
supplementary volume covering Japanese economic studies after 1974 was
published in 1982.
The Union and the International Economic Association (IEA) jointly held theFifth World Congress of the IEA in Tokyo from August 29 to September 3, 1978.
The Union joined the International Institute of Public Finance in holding theInstitute's 37th Congress at Tokyo in September 1981. The Union dispatched 20
member scholars to the Eighth World Congress of IEA held in India in 1986. Most
recently the Union successfully sponsored the IEA Tokyo Round Table Conferenceon "Institutions in a New Dynamic Society" held between 15 and 17 September
1987.
The Union celebrated in 1980 the 30th anniversary of its founding by launchinga variety of activities, including the publication of The Information Bulletin. Prof.
Paul Snow.den of Waseda University acts as editorial adviser.

Address: Secretariat of the Union, c/o School of Commerce, Waseda University,
Nishiwaseda 1-6-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-50, Japan.

CONTENTS

Page
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION JAPAN SOCIETY OF ································1
COMMODITY SCIENCE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR ·········································6COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC STUDIES, THE ASSOCIATION FOR………. 11(Forn記rly : SOCIALIST ECONOMIES, THE ASSOCIATION FOR)ECONOMIC THOUGHT, THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF…………·17
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHERS, THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION OF……………·23
INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STUDIES JAPANESE ......................... 31
MONETARY ECONOMICS THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF ····························· 41
PERSONNEL AND LABOR RESEARCH, JAPAN SOCIETY FOR …………· 47
POPULATION ASSOCIATION OF JAPAN, THE……………………………………·56
PUBLIC UTILITY ECONOMICS, THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF…………………·63
REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL, THE……………·70

LIST OF MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS ……………………………………………………·79
NEW MEMBERSOCIALIST ENTERPRISE THE ASSOCIATION FOR ................................. 94

JAPAN SOCIETY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONThe Japan Society of Business Administration was founded in 1926, and its
members now number a little less than 2,000. It is composed of 6 divisions: Kanto,
Kansai, Hokkaido, Tohoku, Chubu, and Kyushu. Each division has its own meetings
several times a year. The Society has a conference with a unified theme once a year
and publishes its results as an annual bulletin, Keieigaku-ronshu.
The unified themes and the universities where the annual conference has been
held in the last decade are as follows.
The Government and Enterprises, Takushoku University, 1984
The New Trend in the Study of Business Administration, Matsuyama College ofCommerce, 1985
The Development of Information Technology and Business Administration,
Komazawa University, 1986
The Internationalization of Business Administration and Japanese Enterprises,
Ryukoku University, 1987
The Change of Industrial Structure and Business Administration, Otaru College ofCommerce, 1988
Reexamination of Japanese Management, Fukuoka University, 1989
Strategies of Business Enterprise in 1990s - from the Viewpoint of Innovations in
Production, Distribution, and Consumption, Toyo University, 1990
The Change of World Economic Structure and Tasks of Business Administration(Sub-theme A: The Change in the Socialist System and Business Administration;
Sub-theme B: EC Integration and Business Administration; Sub-theme C:
Globalization and Business Administration), Aichi University, 1991
New Image of Enterprise and Management (Sub-theme A: Enterprise Strategy andSociety; Sub-theme B: The Universality and the Particularity of "JapaneseManagement"), Meiji University, 1992.
Unified themes were different every year but in that they reflected many urgent
issues to be solved in Japanese enterprises, they are linked with one another. The
Plaza Agreement in 1985 brought the rapid internationalization of Japaneseenterprises as well as restructuring of Japanese industries. The large increase offoreign direct investment stimulated the interest in the effectiveness of Japanesemanagement and its transferability (the theme in 1986). The rapid increase of the yenvalue after.the Plaza Agreement stimulated, combined with other previously existing
factors, restructuring of industries and enterprises (the theme in 1988).
The change in the world economic structure caused by the rapid growth of theJapanese economy, the retardation of the American economy, the revitalization of
the EC integration process, and the collapse of the socialist system, etc. was a newchallenge to Japanese enterprises (the theme in 1991).

1

Recent unified themes have concerned reexamining the Japanese management
system and establishing a new one in Japanese enterprises. Papers presented on theunified theme (particularly on sub-theme B) last year show this trend.
New Image of Enterprise and Management (1992)
Sub-theme A: Enterprise Strategy and Society(1) "Competitive Strategy and Business Ethics", by Shozo KAWANO (Tohoku
University)(2) "The Philosophy of Corporate Alliance Strategy", by Kanji TERATOU (Aoyama
Gakuin University)(3) "Enterprise Strategy and Ethics in Management", by Masami NISHIKADO(Wakayama University)(4) "Business Management in the Period of Change", by Yoshinori TASHIRO(Seinan Gakuin University)
Sub-theme B: Universality and Particularity of "Japanese Management"(1) "Personnel Management and Labour Relations in the Contemporary Automobile
Industry in America", by Takehisa HIRAO (Sapporo University)(2) "On the Universality and Particularity in the International Transfer of 'Japanese­sty.le Management"', by Masaki HAYASHI (Chuo University)(3) "The Characteristics and Transformation of Japanese Management", by Motonari
YAMADA (Nagoya University)(4) "The Particularity of Japanese Management as the Capitalist Enterprise", by
Takayuki YAMASHITA (Ritsumeikan University)
Mr. MORITA, Chairman of Sony Corporation, raised a question on theprinciple of Japanese style management up to date and insisted on establishing a newprinciple (Bungeishunju, Feb. 1992). He said that Japanese enterprises had beenendeavoring to produce high quality goods at low cost (and sell them at low price),
which was welcomed by consumers but not accepted by producers in Westerncounties and rather considered as a kind of unfair competition. He proposed tochange this principle for new one, which should pay higher wages and reduce
working hours for workers, pay more to subcontractors, distribute more dividends toshareholders, and be more philanthropical towards society.
As his opinion clearly shows, reexamination of Japanese-style management
including its merits and demerits, has been taking the place of simple appraisal of its
effectiveness. Japanese Enterprises in the World, the unified theme of theConference in 1993 (Wakayama University) shows this trend more clearly.
Sub-theme A: Contribution of Japanese Enterprise to the World
1. "The Earth's Environment and International Management", by Kenichi
YASUMURO (Kobe College of Commerce)
2. "Japanese companies and International Symbiosis", by Yoshitomo IZAWA(Kyushu Sangyo University)2

3. "International Contributions of Japanese Enterprise", by Kohki SUZUKI(Komazawa University)
This sub-theme puts emphasis on the contributions of Japanese multinational
enterprises to the world in response to the criticism against them for such things as
environmental deterioration.
Sub-theme B: Reexamination of the Japanese Management System.
1. "Problems of Japanese Corporate Governance,―Defects in the Monitoring
System on Management", by Norio ITO (Yamagata University)
2. "Present-day Development of Social Responsibility of Enterprises and the
Closed Character of Japanese Enterprise", by Katsuhiko SAKURAI (Nagoya
University)
3. "The Change of Management Environment and Conditions for the Resuscitationof Japanese Enterprises", by Kiichi KAGEYAMA (Chiba College of Commerce)This sub-theme puts emphasis on the "closed" system of Japanese enterprises
such as crossholding of shares, keiretsu, and subcontracting, and how to improve it in
response to the criticism of Western countries.
Sub-theme C: Effectiveness and Limits of the Japanese Production System.
1. "Efficacies and Problems of the Japanese Production System", by Yoshiji
SUZUKI (Sapporo University)
2. "Labor and Management in Japanese-style Production", by Tsunenori YASUI(Hannan University)
3. "Effectiveness and Problems of Japanese Style Management and Production
System-Comparisons between Japanese and German Markets, Top Management
Structures, Work Organizations, Wage Systems and Policies of Labour Unions", by
Yoshiaki TAKAHASHI (Chuo University )This sub-theme puts focus not only on the merits but also on the demerits ofJapanese production system such as just in time production (JIT), on the job training(OJT), and total quality control (TQC).
Topics on management control have been important ones in our Society andseveral papers on it have been presented as free themes every year. This traditional
theme will now be one of our most important topics in the front of Corporate
Governance. This has been raised since the breakdown of the bubble economy in1990. In the era of high economic growth, enterprises depended on bank loans, sothat their debt to equity ratio was high. The burden of interest as well as monitoringby a main bank disciplined the management of the enterprise. As the rate of growth
dropped after oil crises, new investment was financed only by internal funds, so thatno stakeholder could discipline management; as a result return of investment (ROI)
decreased from 8.6% in 1981 to 5.6 % in 1991. This situation, as well as the generalpublic's anger at many scandals in management, has stimulated study of how tocontrol the management of big corporations. In the Conference in 1993, 3 papers
3were presented in the free theme.
1. "Investigation of the Problems on Corporate Governance"
2. "Formation and Development of Management Control in Japan"
3. "Management Control and Japanese Management"
About 30 papers on free (ununified) themes are usually presented at the annual
conference, which are selected among those presented in each division.
Workshops started in 1991, the themes of which were as follows.
1991:
Management of Technology
International Comparison of QWLStrategic Information Systems
1992:
Management Education
Problems of Financial Management (Dividend)Enterprise Culture (Organization)
1993:
The Present and the Future of Working Women
One of the outstanding activities of the Society has been the successful holdingof the First Conference of the International Federation of Scholarly Associations ofManagement (IFSAM). IFSAM was established in 1990 in Frankfurt: scholarly
associations of management in 12 countries took part in that inaugural meeting anddecided that a conference would be held every two years. Owing to the contributionof our Society to its establishment, the first Conference was held in Tokyo in 1992
under the auspices of IFSAM and our Society.
The theme of the Conference was High Technology and Management; and thefollowing 16 concurrent sessions were held : finance, marketing, small & medium
businesses, women in business, corporate strategy, research & development,
personnel management & labor relations, management education, entrepreneurship& venture business, regional development & environmental problems, socialistic
management & market economy, the Japanese management system, organization, &information systems in management, production, and international business &management.
Keynote lectures were made by two important persons: Prof. BURLAUD,
President of the French Academy of Management, and Prof. NOGUCHI, Chairmanof the Organizing Committee of the Tokyo Conference. The titles were as follows.
"Management and High Technology", by A. BURLAUD & P. MOREL, Universityof Paris Val de Mame & Ecole Superiere de Commerce de Paris, France.
"Macro High-Tech Systems and Micro High-Tech Management", by Tasuku
NOGUCHI, Nihon University.
Luncheon speeches were made by executives of big companies - two Japanese,4one American, and one German. Those topics were as follows.
1. "The Asian Economic Sphere and Technology Transfer"
2. "High Technology and Business Administration"
3. "The Trend of Marketing Strategy from Global to Local"
Participants numbered 559 from 24 countries. The 119 attending from outside
Japan included 23 from the USA, 19 from Germany, 12 from Finland, 10 from
France, nine from Canada and eight from the UK.
(Minoru MURATA, Chuo University)

5

JAPAN SOCIETY FOR COMMODITY SCIENCEThe Japan Society for Commodity Science was founded in 1935. The Society
has endeavored to promote commodity science through its national convention held
annually at leading universities and colleges across the country. During the war andearly post-war periods the Society's activities were suspended, but it made a fresh
start on Apr. 25, 1950.
The purpose of the Society is to achieve progress and development in science,technology and other matters concerning commodities through the co-operation of its
members. In order to perform this purpose, the Society conducts the following
activities: (1) holding of meetings for reading research papers, (2) issuing of theSociety's journal Studies of Commodities and publication of collections of papers,
reports and research results, (3) research and study and their promotion, (4)collection and utilization of literature and materials, (5) exchange with Japanese andforeign learned societies, (6) educational promotion and technical guidance, (7) otheractivities necessary for achieving the Society's purpose.
The Society holds a national convention once a year for the presentation ofmember's studies and for other events that help achieve the Society's purpose. Fromthe 19th national convention in 1968 at Kobe University of Commerce, the dual
format of free themes and symposium or common themes was adopted, and this stylehas been continued to date. The symposium or common theme of the national
conventions clearly reflect the major interests of the Society at that time.
The themes and the universities where the national conventions were held from1968 to 1986 are as follows.
Methodology of Commodity Science, Kobe University of Commerce, 1968
International Competitive Power of Commodities, Senshu University, 1969
Diversification of Commodities, Okayama University of Commerce, 1970
Pollution and Commodities, Hitotsubashi University, 1971
Value in Use and Quality of Commodities, Hokkai Gakuen University, 1972
Quality and Price, Osaka University of Commerce, 1973
The Subjects of Commodity Science, Yokohama University of Commerce, 1974
Theory and Practice of Commodity Science-The Classification of Commodities,
Fukuoka University, 1975
Commodities and Safety, Chiba University of Commerce, 1976
For a Systematic Methodology of Commodity Science, Fukushima University, 1977
Subjects and Methodology of Commodity Science, Senshu University, 1978
Commodities and Resources, Kagawa University, 1979
The Social Role of Commodity Science, Waseda University, 1980
Commodities and Packaging-From the Viewpoint of the Study of Commodities,
Aichi Gakuin University, 1981
6

Thoughts on the Characteristics of Commodities from the Phenomena of Markets,
Hitotsubashi University, 1982
Some Aspects of Formation of Commodities - For the Development of Theoretical
Commodity Science, Doshisha University, 1983
Conflict in International Dealings in Commodities - Aiming at Establishing
Analytical Methods from the Viewpoint of Commodity Science, Chiba University ofCommerce, 1984
Commodity Science and Commodity Testing, Otaru University of Commerce, 1985
Regional Character and Commodities, Yamaguchi University, 1986
Here are brief outlines of recent national conventions. In August 1987, the 6th
IGWT (Internationale Gesellschaft fur Warenkunde und Technologie) symposium
was held at Chiba University of Commerce and at the Kyoto International
Conference Hall as the most important event for the Society, replacing the 38th
national convention. The symposium aimed to discuss the main topic of Problems ofCommodity Study in an Age of Drastic Social Changes. Oral presentations on each
sub-theme were as follows: (1) Commodities and technology, (2) Commodities andinternational markets, (3) Commodities and living environment, (4) Packaging,safety, guarantee, labelling, prevention of damage and deterioration of commodities,(5) Others.
At this symposium, many speakers emphasized the importance of progress incurrent high technology and indicated how relevant environmental concern had
become in judging the quality of products. Latest proposals were also presented for
application of fuzzy mathematics theory to quantitative and qualitative analysis in
the aesthetic quality characteristics of products.
The 39th national convention was held on May 14 and 16, 1988 at the Sanuki
Kaikan Hall, Takamatsu, Kagawa. The theme of the symposium was The
development of Commodity Science Today. There were four sub-themes: (1) The
consumer's point of view, (2) The economics of consumer service, (3) Aninternational viewpoint, (4) The local viewpoint of commodities. Commodity
science as a discipline has been making steady progress, to diversify its function orform through the development of production technology and circulation technology.
Moreover, information and service have been attracting much attention as a form of
economic activity. Because of this, reference to exchange economics has been
increasing. It is our aim to understand the diversity and to develop the concepts ofcommodity science.
The 40th national convention was held on May 13 and 14, 1989, at Kanto
Gakuin University under the title of Commodity Science Today, Problems andProspects. How has commodity science responded to the changes taking place insociety? While increased economic activity has ensured that people get more service
and information, society is also affected by greater international contacts and7technological improvements.
Our discussion could best be summarized under four heads: (1) The viewpointof technical innovation, (2) The viewpoint of distribution, (3) The viewpoint ofconsumption and (4) The viewpoint of merchandise testing.
The 41st national convention was held on May 26 and 27, 1990, at the Ouzan
Kaikan Hall and School of Economics of Nagoya University. The theme of this
symposium was The Relation Between an Economy Inclined to Service or Softwareand Commodity Science. There were three opinions on this theme: (1) economic
development in Japan is mainly based on an economy inclined to service andsoftware, (2) the commodity is either visible or nonvisible, an object of economic
value to satisfy the demand of the consumer, (3) for reasons of economy, the successof software often depends on miniaturization: goods should be light, thin, short andsmall.
The 42nd national convention was held on June 8 and 9, 1991, at Senshu
University. Merchandise Systems for Twenty-first Century-Searching for
Commodities Gentle to the Earth was set as the theme of the symposium in light of
the growing concern on a global scale for environmental protection, the emergence ofrecycling and eco-mark goods, etc. On the basis of this theme, keynote lectures were
given and three suggestions were presented by the panelists.
The symposium was co-chaired by Masahiro IW ASHIT A (Doshisha
University) and Hiroshi KATAOKA (Hitotsubashi University). Kazuhiko
SAK.AIR! (Bunkyo University) gave a keynote lecture under the title of "Viewpoints
and Objects of the Merchandise System." Stressing the significance of thepreservation of the environment, he proposed the following measures: (1) directcontrol for utilization of natural resources and wastes , (2) systems of fines andsubsidies, (3) establishment of a discharge right market, (4) establishment of arecycling market, (5) prospects for an environmental industry, etc., and went onfurther to explain the (6) significance of the reformation in life style and social
activities and the (7) roles to be played by the government and public organizations.
Kinya MOTODA (Clean Japan Center) came up with the idea of "A System
Effective for Recycling of Natural Resources," stressing that in order to build up themerchandise system the environmental problems should be solved by taking
appropriate measures right from the production stage of goods rather than by startingwith the wastes of goods.
Yasuyuki MATSUMOTO (Tokyo Clean Office) presented a suggestion under thetitle "For Solving the Problem of Dump Treatment in Tokyo," and pointed out thefollowing five items: (1) products that cannot easily be dumped, (2) products that canbe put to reutilization, (3) products that can be easily disposed of, (4) products using
reutilized resources and (5) a recycle-type society.
Yoshimitsu TORIGOE (Okayama College Commerce) spoke about "The Safety of8，Commodities." Admitting that safety is one of the characteristics of commodities, hestressed that it is utterly important to ensure the safety of commodities thoroughly inorder to help find a solution to the environmental problem.
Harue SAKAMOTO (Seiyu Co., Ltd.) was the last person to speak. Her title was "A
New Packaging System." She proposed the abolition of excessive packaging,returning packaging materials back to their original forms, using reusable containers
and using regenerated packaging materials as appropriate measures in packaging.
In the 43rd symposium, keynote lectures as well as five suggestions were
presented under the general theme of Production and Circulation of Commodities in
East Asia, and the Problem of Economic Blocks. The symposium was co-chaired by
Isao NAKAMURA (Nagoya Gakuin University) and K. SAKAIRI. The keynote
lecture was given by Yuhei OGAWA (Seinan Gakuin University) under the title"Formation of Local Economic Blocks in East Asia and Commodities." Explaining
the status quo in East Asia, where a new international labor division is being
recompiled and formed, he went on to say that the region further needs mutual
economic exchanges such as the circum-pan Yellow Sea Economic Zone, thecircum-pan Japan Sea Economic Zone, etc. Aimy MASUDA (Mirage Apparel,
Hong Kong) spoke on "Quality Control and the Prospects of Chinese Textile
Products." Pointing out the factors causing the difference between Chinese andJapanese quality standards, she stressed the need to put efforts in building up theprocess-wise inspection system for high-grade quality control.
Speaking on "Singapore as the Base for World Material Circulation andBusiness," Setsuya SHIBUKAWA (Kansai Singapore Association) presented areport on the status quo of Singapore, and explained the further probability of
economic growth in this country. Chin Tsu RIN (Shintatsu Commercial Co.,
Ltd.,Taiwan) took up the topic of "Making Use of the Experience of Japanese Market
Exploitation in Advancement to Asia," and gave suggestions from the practical pointof view on problems such as circulation, commercial customs, quality, delivery term,
prices, etc. that must be solved if a foreign enterprise wants to do business in Japan.
Fun Chuck RIN (Osaka Office of Seoul East Sight-seeing Co.,Ltd.) spoke on"Production and Quality in South Korea," suggesting the problems and hardships forentering the Japanese market, citing mainly the cultural gap in consumers'
consciousness regarding commercial customs and quality. Keikichi SAKURAI(Hyogo Prefectural Laboratory of Life Science)'s theme was: "Imported Goods andQuality, and Future Problems." Citing actual data regarding damages suffered byconsumers in Hyogo Prefecture and their dissatisfaction, he presented his study andproposals about consumers'consciousness in Japan concerning imported goods, andthe quality control of the goods.
Earnest discussion was held and invaluable opinions were exchanged in the
symposium regarding the quality of products from South East Asia, consciousness ofJapanese consumers, problems of circulation in the Japanese market, etc.
The theme for the 44th symposium was: Current Problems of Commodities, andthe Effect of the Commodity Making Mechanism. As for the current problems ofcommodities, the following items were pointed out, and discussion was held on each
items: (1) product safety, (2) global environment and natural resources, (3) software
products.
The symposium was co-chaired by Toshihiro HINO (Towa University) and K.
SAKAIRI. Mutsuhiko MAKINO (Prince Electric Co., Ltd.) spoke on the topic of"Legal Control and Historical Transition of Electric Goods, and Effects on
Improvement of Their Characteristics," stressing the pertinence of leaving PL
responsibilities to the makers for both hard- and soft-wares.
Kazumasa SAEKI (Yamaguchi Prefectural Industrial Technique Center)'s
theme was: "The Relation Between Water Resources and Commodities, particularlyin the Food Industry." He stressed that in manufacturing food, water is as importantas preserving the environment.
Hiroshi IMAMITSU (Aichi Gakuin University) was the last person to take therostrum. His theme was: "From the Viewpoint of the Software of a Product."Taking up advertising as a current problem in merchandise information, he stressed
the importance of protection of customers from legal control of advertising. As forthe problems in merchandise systematization, he cited the material circulation
system, and stressed the need for consolidation of an intellectual industry typematerial circulation center.
The 45th national convention will be held at Nihon University on May 21 and22, 1994. The theme is "The Originality and the Social Meaning of Commodity
Science."(Ryojiro IWAKI, Chiba University of Commerce)

10THE ASSOCIATION FOR COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC STUDIES(Formerly: THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDYIN SOCIALIST ECONOMIES)
1. The Association for the Study in Socialist Economies was founded on October
27, 1967. The Association retained this name until May 1993, when it was renamed
the Association for Comparative Economic Studies.
The purpose of the Association has been to promote studies of (former) socialist
economies from the theoretical and empirical point of view. There were 224
members as of June 1993. The Association usually holds an annual conference inMay, sometimes in June. The conference is divided into two parts, one of which is
the main theme session, while the other is a free theme session. In addition, theAssociation has one more session -a sub-conference devoted to the study ofquantitative analysis. The main conference lasts two days, and one more day is forthe quantitative analysis session.
The Association has been focusing on research into the process of collapse andtransformation of the socialist economic systems in recent years. In parallel with
this, much time and thought have been devoted to the discussion on the problem ofrenaming the Association. The reasons for renaming the Association are nottechnical ones, but historical and theoretical ones, and so the context of renaming will
be shown below.
2. As is generally known, in the year 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became generalsecretary of Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and a new era for theSoviet Union and the world began. Around 1987 perestroika and new approaches to
its foreign policy by the Soviet Union were introduced. In 1989 East European
countries were liberated from the Soviet bloc and the so-called ancien regime.
Slowly or rapidly those East European countries started abandoning socialism andtheir centrally planned economic systems and a transformation of planned economies
into market economies has been going on.
Under these conditions, at the general meeting of the Association in 1990 thechief representative of the association at that time Tsuneaki SATO (Nihon
University) proposed the renaming of the Association for the first time. At the next
conference in May 1991, after the main members of the Association expressed their
viewpoints on the great change in the Soviet Union, East European countries andChina, the problem of renaming the Association was discussed and was put to a vote.
In the end, the proposal to rename the Association was rejected.
The main reason why the proposal was rejected was that the Association has asits members socialists in the wide or narrow (Marxian) sense, for whom it was too
difficult or too early to eject the term "socialist economies" from the name of the11Association.
At last at the 33rd conference at Hokkaido University in 1993, the chief
representative Minoru NAGA SUNA (Kansai University) and the body ofrepresentatives proposed renaming the Association after performing a survey of themembers, and once again the proposal was put to a vote. This time the proposal was
safely passed with the approval of more than two thirds of the participants in theconference, and the Association changed its name to The Association for
Comparative Economic Studies.
The main reasons for renaming were as follows;(a) The old name had become unsuitable and needed to be changed.
1) The Association had been focusing on the study of economies and economics ofsocialist countries, but those socialist countries had ceased to exist or were in theprocess of disappearance.
2) The concept of socialist economies had become wide and diverse.
3) Under these conditions if the Association still focused on the study of "socialist
economies", it may suffer a decline.
(b) It is effective and useful for the development of the Association to change its
name to the Association for Comparative Economic Studies and to make the purposeof the Association the study of economic systems.
1) If the purpose of the Association is the study of economic systems, such themes
as capitalist and socialist economic systems, their variations, their past, present andfuture, their thoughts and theories, their history, coexistence of different systems,
transition from one system to the other may be taken as subjects for study. Thismeans a widening of the subjects for study in comparison with before.
2) The new name indicates an implicit or explicit comparison of economic
systems, and it also contains a succession and development of the earlier study insocialist economies.
3) Comparison of systems is not always necessary for the members.
4) Renaming of the Association and reformulation of its subjects for study will
help the Association to develop further.
3. Below we shall show the papers presented at the annual conferences for the past
three years.
In 1991 the annual conference was held at Chuo University from May 16 to 18.
The main theme was Systemic Transformation of Socialist Economies.
(1) Main Theme Session
Chairmen : Sei FUJITA (Osaka City University), Hiromasa NAKAYAMA(Meiji Gakuin University)" Systemic Transformation of Socialist Economies-Between 'Secession'and'Reform"', Tsuneaki SATO (Nihon University)
12

'"M arketization'and Economic System", Fumio ASHIDA (Ritsumeikan
University)"Marxian Economics and Theory of Economic Systems", Hiroyuki OKADA(Hosei University)"How we see the significance of the East European Revolution in the autumn andwinter of 1989", Masayuki IWATA (Chiba University)"Market Socialism and Private Ownership", Yuzo TANAKA (Ryukoku
University)"Systemic Transformation, Formation of a Locally Decentralized and Mixed
System—in the case of China", Kazuyoshi UEHARA (Kyoto University)"Systemic Transformation of Socialist Economies—in the case of China",
Yoshiyuki TANAKA (Chuo University)"Systemic Transformation—in the case of East Germany", Kunihiko AOKI
(Tohoku University)"Systemic Transformation—in the case of Hungary", Nobuyuki KADOWAKI(Shiga University)"Systemic Transformation—in the case of Yugoslavia , Hiroyuki FUJIMURA(Shiga University)"Is the Non-West-European 'Third Way'impossible?", Minoru SAITO (Hosei
University)(2) Free Theme Session
Division 1
Chairman: Kiichi MOCHIZUKI (Hokkaido University)"The Special Economic Zone of the Far-East and the Problem of Foreign
Investment", Kiyoshi INAGAKI (Mitsubishi General Research Institute)
Division 2
Chairman: Keiji IDE (Ritsumeikan University)"The Structure of a Polish Rural Community-A Report on Kamionka Village",
Etsuo YOSHINO (Hokkaido University)(3) Quantitative Analysis Session
Chairman: Manabu SUHARA (Nihon University)"Present State of National Economic Accounts in the Soviet Union", Tomoaki
SATO (Chuo University, Post-graduate student)"Living Standards according to Recent Household Research in the Soviet Union",
Tetsuro HOSAKA (Kochi University)
On the third day (May 18) after all the papers had been delivered, a general
discussion was held. At this conference discussions were held in consideration ofrenaming the Association. It was put to a vote, but rejected.
In 1992 the 32nd conference was held at Kagawa University from June 5 to 7.
The main theme of the conference was The Collapse of the Soviet Union and East13

European Socialism—its Roots, Present State and Perspective".
Since the 31st conference in 1991, the greatest event was the collapse of theSoviet Union at the end of 1991.
(1) Main Theme Session
Chairmen : Hiroyuki OKADA (Hosei University), Yuzo TANAKA (Ryukoku
University)"The Post-socialism' Strategy of Poland―Its Features and Problems", Hirokazu!EMOTO (Nanzan University)"The Present State of Systemic Transformation in Romania", Hiroshi ASAO
(Aichi University)"The End of Perestroika and the Destiny of Socialism―Questions to Economists",
Nobuaki SHIOKAWA (Tokyo University)"The Collapsed Perestroika Strategy of Gorbachev", Takeshi KAMIJIMA (Osaka
University of Economics)"'Socialism'for China―Its Effectiveness and Limits", Kazuko MOURI (Shizuoka
Prefectural University)"What was the Soviet Union?", Hiroshi ARATA (Kokugakuin University)
Comments on the Papers and General Discussion.
Commentators : Akira HAYASHI (Ryukoku University), Minoru SAITO (Hosei
University), Shinichiro TABATA (Hokkaido University), Katsuji NAKAGANE(Tokyo University).
(2) Free Theme Session
Chairman: Kunihiko AOKI (Tohoku University)"The Review of Socialist Enterprise-Decision-making and Soft Budget
Constraint", Yasushi NAKAMURA (Yokohama State University)(3) Quantitative Analysis Session (5th of June) Chairman: Riichi TABATA (Osaka
City University)"Economic Theory of J. Komai一his theory on the economic system", Masashi
MORIOKA (Kyoto University, Post-graduate student )After the 32nd Conference, the body of representatives in the Kansai District(host representatives for 1992) discussed once again the problems of renaming the
Association, because it was clear to everybody that almost all countries in the former
Soviet Union and East Europe had moved to a transition to the market economy andsocialism had been abandoned.
From May 27 to 29, 1993 the 33rd conference was held at Hokkaido University.
The main theme of the conference was The Present State and Perspective of Systemic
Transformation-Comparative Analysis among the former Soviet Union, Middle­
East Europe and China.
(1) Main Theme Session
Chairmen : Minoru SAITO (Hosei University), Shigeyasu SUZUKI (Hiroshima
14

University of Economics)"Retardation of the Systemic Transformation in Russia—its Structure of Pseudo­
capitalism", Hiromasa NAKAYAMA (Meiji Gakuin University)"The Genesis and Development of Private Enterprises in Middle Europe", Akihiro
ISHIKAWA (Chuo University)"The Features of so called℃hinese-type Socialism'and the Present State of its
Transformation", Koichi ZAMA (Yamaguchi University)"'Inevitability'and Difficulties of Systemic Transformation-Centering on
Russian Privatization", Minoru NAGASUNA (Kansai University)"Systemic Transformation and Economic Trends in the Former Yugoslav
Northern Republics", Nozomu ABE (Tokai University)"Privatization in the Former East Germany一the Role of the Trust Public
Corporation", Isamu MOMOZUMI (Komazawa University)
Comments on the Papers and General Discussion.
Commentators : Rihito YAMAMURA (Hokkaido University), Yoshiyuki
TANAKA (Chuo University), Yasushi NAKAMURA (Yokohama National
University), Hiroyuki FUJIMURA (Shiga University).
(2) Free Theme Session"Economic-Systemic Structure of the Marxian System", Kinya INUKAI (Niigata
University)(3) Quantitative Analysis Session (May 27)"The General Model of the Market Economy", Takashi ISHIKAWA (Shimane
University)
Round Table: "Systemic Transformation and Quantitative Analysis—Perspectiveof New Problems and their Solution"
Financial and Budgetary Reform: Shinichiro TABATA (Hokkaido University)
Theory and Estimate of Growth: Masahiko YOSHII (Kobe University)
Enterprise-industrial Organization and Industry-price Structure : Masaaki
KUBONIWA (Hitotsubashi University)
International Relations: Shuzo NAHMA (Yokohama University of Commerce)
As we have shown above, after the usual general meeting a special general
meeting was held concerning the discussion about renaming the Association. A
proposal for renaming was made and a vote was held by the body of therepresentatives. It was passed with the approval of more than two thirds of theparticipants in the conference.
4. Concerning the problem of renaming our Association, here we must add somewords to explain why it took us two or three years to change its name.
As we have already said above, the main reason why the proposal for renaming
our association was at first rejected and not accepted until three years later was that15

the Association has as its members both socialists in the wide or narrow (Marxian)
sense and non-socialists. It perhaps seemed to the socialists too early to throw away
the term "socialist economies" from the name of the Association. Therefore, manymembers only approved the renaming of the Association after the collapse of theSoviet Union. But in reality a problem remains for socialists, because the collapse of
the Soviet Union challenges socialists, especially Marxists, on the theoretical realityof the thought of socialism and Marxism.
Opponents to capitalism were fueled by the existence of the Soviet Union and so
the collapse of the Soviet Union deprived socialists of their power of opposition tocapitalism. Nevertheless, Soviet socialism did exist for more than seventy years andmade a deep impact on capitalism, and after World War II capitalism changed verymuch. Nobody can deny this fact.
People of the former Soviet Union and East Europe suffered greatly fromsocialism and Stalinism, but the world learned much from the experience positively
or negatively, and our knowledge about economic systems increased very much. The
former socialist countries being now in the process of privatization, we shouldobserve the process in order to give them effective assistance.
(Riichi TABATA, Osaka City University)

16

THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
The number of the historians of economic thought, and so the number of books
published on that subject, were by no means small in pre-war Japan, perhaps evengreater than their counterparts in the Western world, but it was as late as 1950 that theSociety for the History of Economic Thought was officially organized, with an
original membership of 123. The membership grew steadily and in the tenth year of
the Society's foundation it was about four times as large, i.e. 482; in the 30th
anniversary it amounted to 679 and in the 40th anniversary year it amounted to 805.
Along with this growth in membership, regional branch activities also
proceeded. The Kanto (East) and Kansai (West) Branches started as early as 1952,
and the Seinan (South-West) Branch in 1956. On the 30th anniversary of theSociety's foundation, i.e. 1980, the Tohoku (North-East) Branch was also organized
to cover the rest of the country.
The Society moved to make itself still more like an authentic academic
institution by starting its own bulletin in 1962. In due course the bulletin itself
consolidated its academic outlook even more, because up to No.26 in 1988 it was
restricted to a reporting function for surveys, book reviews, conference and study
group reports, obituaries and so on, but from the next issue it also began to include
original articles. Furthermore, the Society started publishing its Newsletter in 1992.
The Society's publications go further than these. In 1967, to commemorate the100th anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx's Das Kapital, vol.1, it edited abook entitled Shihonron no Seiritsu (The Birth of Das Kapital), published by
Iwanami-shoten, Tokyo, and in 1976 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the
publication of Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes ofthe Wealth of
Nations, it edited a book entitled Kokufuron no Seiritsu (The Birth of The Wealth of
Nations), published also by Iwanami-shoten. Then to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of its own foundation, it edited and published a booklet entitled
Keizaigakushi Gakkai Sanjunenshi (Thirty Years of the Society for the History of
Economic Thought) in 1980. A book entitled Nihon no Keizaigaku (Economic
Studies in Japan) was published in 1984 by Toyo Keizai Shinposha, Tokyo, andagain to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Society's fundation, a bookentitled Keizaigakushi : Kadai to Tenbo (History of Economic Thought : Tasks andPerspectives) was published in 1992 by Kyushu Daigaku Shuppankai (Kyushu
University Press), though the publication of the last two books was delayed by fourand two years respectively after the actual anniversary years.
In addition, the Society's Seinan (South-West) Branch edited, quite
independently, a book Kindai Keizaigakushi Kenkyu (Studies in the History of
Modem Economics) in 1972. and Keizaigakushi Kenkyu (Studies in the History of
Economics) in 1973, both published by Minerva-shobo, Kyoto.
17

The comparison between the themes taken up in the programme of the past
general meetings, and those in the most recent one, i.e. in 1992, may show what kindof continuity and change in the interest of the historians of economic thought in thiscountry are to be recognized. The Society used to hold biannual general meetings
until 1962, when it was agreed that the general meeting should be annual instead of
biannual from the next year. The papers read at the first general meeting over forty
years ago, in 1950, were: "Ricardo and the Industrial Revolution", M. SUMIYA;"Ricardo and Bailey on the theory of value", Y. TAMANOI; "Ricardo's theory of
distribution", T. HORI; "Marx's concept of abstract labour", K. SUGIYAMA;"Tableau economique and its significance for the modem age", S. KOSHIMURA;"Mercantilism and the formation of modem states", S. SHIRASUGI. Here we seethat half of the papers read were on classical political economy and one each was on
mercantilism, physiocracy and Marx.
Ten years later, i.e. in 1960, the following papers were read in a biannual
meeting: "Marxism in Britain", K. IDA; "John Miller's view of the French
Revolution", S. YAMASAKI; "Moses Hess and Karl Marx", R. YAMANAKA;"Wilhelm Weitling's revolutionary thought", T. MORITA; "The logic andconstruction of Tableau economique", T. YOSHIHARA; "The character of moral
philosophy in the 19th century American economic thought", T. HAYASE;"Substance and form of the value of commodity", A. WATANABE; "Fixed capitaland accumulated fund in Marx's expanded reproduction scheme", S. NIHEI;"Modem revaluation of Hilferding's Finanzkapital", T. FURUSAWA. Here we seethat more than half of the whole ?apers were on Marxian economic thought.
Another ten years later, i.e. m 1970, the papers read in the annual meeting wereas follows : "The process of the formation of the reproduction scheme", A. TAKAGI;"A study of effective demand from the history of economic thought point of view", I.
ARITA; "An examination of Schultz's theory of inflation", K. NAKAMURA;"Schumpeter's theories and their present day significance", Y. TAMANOI; "Saint­
Simon and the French Revolution", A. HIROTA; "On the methodology ofProudhon's system of economic thought", S. SATO; "Hess and Marx", K. HATA;"The formation and significance of the theory of capital revolving", T. YAMADA;"Ricardo's images of developing society", Y. YOSHIZAWA; ℃ontroversy at thetime of the formation of credit unions", S. MORI; "Economic journals in the Meiji
era", S. SUGIHARA; "The significance of the 'birth of modem economics' for thehistory of economic thought", J. HAYASHI. Here, too, we see that one third of thewhole papers read were on Marxian economic thought.
After about another ten years, or rather ten years ago, i.e. in 1983, the number of
papers read at the annual meeting was beyond all comparison with those seen above.
The papers read in three different rooms on the first day were : "On the formation of
Marx's thought centering around his econo-philosophical manuscripts", T. OISHI;
18

"Interpretations in the present century of Adam Smith's view of the measure ofvalue", E. NAKAGAWA; "Theories of value in the mercantilist age", E.
YAMAMOTO; "Marx on estrangement", H. YAMAMOTO; "The construction of
Adam Smith's theory of value", K. IDA; "Inflation and the agricultural interests in thefirst half of the 19th century", T. NISHIZAWA; "Capital in general and theaccumulation of individual capitals", K. KAWAMOTO; "Adam Smith's moral
philosophy in his Theory of Moral Sentiments", K. KAWAKUBO; "The economic
thought of Francis Wayland", A. FUJIWARA; "Marx's theory of capital
accumulation as seen in 1861-63 manuscripts", N. HARA; "Scottish Enlightenment
and Thomas Reid", H. SHINOHARA; "J. A. Robson's theory of underconsumption",Y. OMIZU; "Marx's two reproduction schemes", A. MIYAGAWA; "Ricardo's
theory of value and circulation", T. MIZUTA; "Keynes's theory of capital", J. SOGA.
The papers read in the first half of the following day were : "Problems in Marx's
theory of international value", Y. KIHARA; "Mill and Marx: their methodologies",
H. MAWATARI; "A Russian liberalist's view of state: B. N. Chicherin and theabsolutist government", S. SUGIURA; "Some materials on Hilferding so far scarcely
studied", M. KUROTAKI; "Mill and the wage fund theory", T. NEGISHI.
Out of 20 papers in all six were on classical political economists and seven wereon Marx or Marxists. Moreover, the second half of the day was solely devoted to a
symposium on Marx with three presentators and three commentators.
Fairly different in kind from all these were the papers read in the latest annual
meeting in 1992. On the first day the following papers were likewise read :"Government and economy in Charles Davenant's thought", S. ITO; "James Stueart's
theory of the rise and fall of a great commercial country", N. KAWASHIMA; "AdamSmith on natural jurisprudence and his Theory of Moral Sentiments", T.
MORIMOTO; "Adam Smith's political economy reconsidered", I. INAMURA; "J. S.
Mill's image of ideal society and state", M. MAEHARA; "Conventional minimum,
moral minimum and national minimum : the construction and logic of the Webbs's
Industrial Democracy", T. FUJII; "Reproduction scheme and capital circulation", J.
HAYASHI; "Studies made in Holland on Rosa Luxemburg's Die Akkumulation desKapitals", M. KAMISHIRO; "Early Hilferding's thought on economic policy", H.
KONO; "Later Hilferding's economic thought" M. KURATA; "Nature's control andlaw : from Descartes to Physiocrates", K. MORIOKA; "J. A. Hobson's theory ofmarket and some organistic elements", J. HIMENO; "Theoretical andmethodological viewpoints of Schumpeter's Das Wesen und der Hauptinhalt der
theoretischen Nationaloekonomie", K. HAYASHI; "Statistical studies made on rice
market", A. IKEO; "Tanzan Ishibashi's politico-economic thought", K. IDA.
Apart from the special lecture by J. M. Pullen on "Why modem economists
should read Malthus's Principles of Political Economy", the following papers wereread on the second day : "The third way: visions of fraternal socialism", Y.
19

KOBAYASHI; "Smith and Malthus : Smith's criticsm of com export bounties andMalthus's defence of the protection of agriculture", T. YOKOYAMA; "Malthus andRicardo: different developments from Smith", K. WATARAI; "Malthus and J. S.
Mill: their connections in thought, method, theory and policy", H. MAWATARI.
Interest in classical political economy is apparent in all these meetings over forty
years but there are ,obvious differences in between. Although there is still somestrong interest in the economic thought of the Marxian school in the latest annual
meeting, yet the papers of that sort have obviously become smaller in number.
Another characteristic, if not quite as apparent in the 1992 meeting, is that themeetings in recent years such as those in 1990 and 1991 show a steady increase in thenumber of papers on modern economists such as Walras, Menger, Marshall,
Schumpeter, Post-Keynesians, and Sraffa. This tendency is further backed by the
programme of the 1993 meeting, which, though it has not yet been officiallypublished in printed form, includes such papers as: "The birth of dynamics in Keynes
and Harrod"; "Market theory of the later Hicks"; "The theory of market process in the
New Austrian School".
This tendency is also apparent in the articles inserted in the recent numbers of
the Society's bulletin. Apart from No.28, 1990, which was devoted to the 200th
anniversary of the death of Adam Smith, No.27, 1989, which was, as stated above,
the first number to include articles, contained such articles as "On the quantative
method in the Wealth of Nations", C. TADAKOSHI; "Malthus's Essay andPrinciples", Y. NAKANISHI; "A paradox in the history of modern economics:
Reconsideration of Boehm-Bawerk's earlier thought", S. TOMO; "Speculation in
Keynes's General Theory : on Leijonhufvud's view", M. KANO. No.29, 1991,
besides an article "Wicksell on capital, finance and economic science", A. IKEO,
devoted the rest to the centenary of Alfred Marshall's Principles by including sucharticles as "Marshall on method in the Principles", S. HASHIMOTO; "Statics inMarshall's Principles", M. SAKAGUCHI; "Dynamics in Marshall's Principles", E.
NAGASAWA; "Marshall's Principles and the Cambridge School" M. NEI, andNo.30, 1992, presented such articles as "Malthus on the revision of the Com Laws
after the Napoleonic War", T. HATORI; "Malthus and his contemporaries on'commercial society', Y. FUKAGAI; "Ricardo's intellectual circle and political
economy", H. IDA; "Journalistic experience of Carl Menger", K. YAGI; "Helvetius :the 'honour' in utilitarianism", T. MORIMURA; "J. S. Mill and the quantity theory ofmoney in his pre-Principles period : the formation of a question for Principles", H.
TAKEUCHI; "Leon Walras on state intervention : equality, competition andentrepreneur", K. MI SAKI; "The aggregative structure of assets and theeffectiveness of monetary policy in Keynes's General Theory", M. KANOU.
Along with such a tendency, some interest in the history of Japanese economic
thought has also become clearer. If not as apparent as far as the papers read in the20annual meetings are concerned, with only one paper on Tanzan Ishibashi in 1992 asshown above and another onYukichi Fukuzawa (J. UMEZU) in 1990, the interest is
no doubt in steady increase. Among some study groups, not officially registered asacademic societies or associations, or even inner branches of the Society, such as the
Hume-Smith study group composed of those members interested in the Scottish
Enlightenment, or the history of economics research group, or the history of
economic doctrines research group composed mostly, if not wholly, of the younger
generation of the Society's members interested in modem economics, particularly
active is the group on the history of Japanese economic thought, holding meetings
fairly regularly. In 1993 it has gone as far as to hold a special meeting, not in Tokyo
as usual but in Matsuyama. On top of this, as though reflecting this fact, a quarterpart of the coming annual meeting of the Society is to be allotted to a symposium on
the history of Japanese economic thought, covering Edo, early and mid-Meiji andlate Meiji periods.
Another fact may also be pointed out to characterize a recent tendency, which is
the internationalization of the activities of the Society and its members. Besides
inviting some notable historians of economic thought from abroad to give lectures atannual or branch meetings, the Society has been sending its members, though only
from time to time, to conferences held abroad, in some cases to read papers there.
Along with such activities of the Society itself, there are some tendencies in its
members'participation in international activities, among which particularly notable
may be as follows
The one is a three-year international project on the institutionalization ofpolitical economy, the aim of which was to do research in how political economy
came to be recognized as a subject to be taught in higher educational institutions indifferent countries and to publish the results. The Japanese team was the very first,
earlier than any other team from the member countries such as the U.S.A., Italy,
France, Germany and Britain, to publish a book on the results : Enlightenment and
Beyond : Political Economy comes to Japan, edited by Chuhei SUGIYAMA andHiroshi MIZUTA and published by the University of Tokyo Press in 1988.
The other is the research meeting held in Nagoya in 1990 to commemorate the200th anniversary of the death of Adam Smith. Similar meetings were to follow in
Scotland and Canada, but it is believed that the Nagoya meeting was the most fruitfulof all. Nineteen participants read their papers, namely one each from China, France,
Germany, lndia, Italy, Russia and the U.S.A., four from Britain, two from Canada
and six from Japan, and the results were compiled in the book Adam Smith
International Perspectives, edited by Hiroshi MIZUTA and Chuhei SUGIYAMA andpublished by Macmillan, London, in 1993.
One more fact may also be added, which is that not a small part of the membersof the Society has been and still is interested in so-called social thought, in the sense21different from sociology. Even after the official launching of an independent society
for the history of social thought in 1976, the Society for the History of Economic
Thought did not alter the part of its rules and regulations stating its aims withreference not only to the history of economic thought but also to the history of social
thought.
To prove this fact, as already shown above, some papers of that kind were readat the annual meeting in 1983 on such topics as Adam Smith's moral philosophy,
Scottish Enlighterunent and Thomas Reid, Marx's thought on estrangement, and stillin 1992 such topics as Adam Smith's natural jurisprudence, Mill's image of ideal
society, and the like. Moreover, at the 1993 meeting such papers are also scheduled
to be read as on "Montesquieu's social theory," "The natural theology of Lord
Kames", and "The Wealth ofNations and politics'.
Lastly, the Society has had fourteen representatives since its establishment. At
first they could be elected to the office for any number of successive terms, but later
it was agreed that their office should be confined to one term of two years only. The
exceptional case was C. SUGIYAMA, who had to serve a little more. Their names
and the terms of service are as follows: A. KUBOTA, 1950-58; T. HORI, 1958-68;
Y. DEGUCHI, 1968-72; N. KOBAYASHI, 1972-74; H. MIZUTA, 1974-76; C.
SUGIHARA 1976-78; C. SUGIYAMA, 1978-81; K. MAZANE, 1981-83; M.
HAMABAYASHI, 1983-85; T. HATORI, 1985-87; M. TANAKA, 1987-89; Y.
YOSHIZAWA, 1989-91; T. TANAKA, 1991-93; and T. TSUDA, 1993-.
(Chuhei SUGIYAMA, Tokyo Keizai University)

22THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHERS
The Japan Association of Economic Geographers (JAEG) publishes the Annalsof the Association of Economic Geographers on a quarterly basis, reaching Volume
39 in 1993. It also publishes Keizai Chirigaku no Seika to Kadai (Results andProspects for Economic Geography) every ten years. The fourth volume of thisseries was published in 1992, containing articles, written mostly by JAEG members,
on a wide range of topics and trends from the past decade. This brief introduction to
the Association will include topics from that volume, of which the writer is on theeditorial board, and will also mention recent themes from our annual meetings.
The long term trend of the general meetings of the Association was to consider
problems in regional economics and regional policies in the first half of the 1980s,
and internationalization and the changing industrial and regional structure of Japan in
the last half. Both theoretical and methodological themes were taken up in symposia.
The subjects shifted gradually to the concerns of overseas countries. A list of
symposium themes in the last ten years is as follows:
Location and Regional Economics in the Period of Low Economic Growth, Kansai
University, 1984, 31st Annual Meeting
The Changing Regional Economy of Japan in the Process of Internationalization,
Aichi University, 1985, 32nd Annual Meeting
The Changing Industrial Structure and the Metropolitan Region in Japan, Meiji
University, 1986, 33rd Annual Meeting
Structural Change of Economic Activity on the Fringe of the Metropolitan Area,
Tokyo Gakugei University, 1987, 34th Annual Meeting
Structural Adjustment of Industry and Regional Economy in Japan, Hiroshima
University, 1988, 35th Annual Meeting
Searching for a New Perspective on Economic Geography, Chuo University, 1989,
36th Annual Meeting
Recent Aspects of Regional Development in Japan, Sapporo University, 1990, 37th
Annual Meeting
Some Problems of Foreign Area Study- the case of Asia, Nippon Kogyo University,
1991, 38th Annual Meeting
Changing Economy in Regions on the Sea of Japan, Niigata University, 1992, 39th
Annual Meeting.
Space and.Society, Meiji University, 1993, 40th Annual Meeting.
In this report, the subjects may be grouped into four categories.
1. Impact of Industrial Changes for Regional Economics and Regional Policy
In the 1980s, the economy of Japan significantly changed its structure, shiftingfrom heavy and material industries to service and soft-oriented industries under the23

new communications technologies, and a strong yen and weak dollar in international
exchange circumstances. Steel, aluminium, chemical and shipbuilding industries
and other mass production equipment industries went into a phase of structural
recession. The cities where these factories were located came under severe economic
and labor market conditions, which influenced every aspect of social life. Masayasu
MURAKAMI (1985, Kansai University) studied "The Reduction of the Special
Shipbuilding Industry Facilities in Japan" (AJAEG, 31-3) in which more than ten
medium-sized shipbuilders went into bankruptcy and closed down facilities.
Kohichi TOGASHI (1986, Gifu University) studied the locational change of thepetrochemical industry under the restructuring policy and pointed out how it was
becoming concentrated on the Tokyo Metropolitan Area and the Kansai,("Restructuring and Locational Change of the Petrochemical Industry in Japan after
the Second Oil Crisis" AJAEG, 32-3). Those single enterprise cities with small
populations were harmed by reduced job availability, so that the population
decreased and they also plunged into serious economic conditions. The steel
industry city Kamaishi was a typical case under these circumstances.
Traditional machinery assembly industries reduced their forces because of thedegradation of exporting conditions under the rapid strong yen trend. Hightechnology industries now occupied the leading position in the place of traditional
heavy ones. Thus the development of these sectors differentiated and changed theeconomic structure.
In 1988 at the 35th Annual Meeting, we discussed Structural Adjustment ofIndustry and Regional Economy in Japan. Koji MATSUHASHI (Meiji University)
reported on "Decentralization of Machinery Industries and Changing Regional
Structures of Manufacturing Industry in the Peripheral Region" in which one of theleading industries of Japan, the electrical machinery and electronics industry, tended
towards decentralization of branch plants away from major metropolitan areas, forthe reason of shortage of labor force and the rising price of land. The locational
dynamics have brought changes in the spatial division of labor, so that the economyof peripheral regions based on branch plants has been influenced by external control.
Yasutoshi NAKATO (Toyama University) discussed regional policy under the·
1 policy 1s
c1rcumstances of mtemat10nal trade frictions. A new type of reg1ona
needed that will make non-metropolitan areas more self-sustaining, efficiently
utilizing local natural resources to preserve natural environment, historical andcultural tradition in terms of living as well as industrial development, ("Structural
Adjustment of Japanese Industry and Regional Policy"). Makoto MURAKAMI(Hiroshima University) presented on "Regional Economy under the Structural
Depression Industries" in the case of the Seto Inland Sea area. These are reported in
AJAEG 34-4. Thus, Japanese industry reached the stage of post-industrialization,with the tertiary industry now taking possession of a great portion of the national
24

economy.
At the 38th Annual Meeting at Nihon Kogyo University in 1991, foreign areastudies were discussed, specially in the case of Asia, with relation to Japan in the
1980s. The recent rapid expansion of Japanese enterprises to East and Southeast
Asia brought changes a spatial division of labor between these areas and caused
internal negative effects on the Japanese economic structure.
Articles from the meeting are reported in the JAEG, 38-1 (1992) as follows;
Makoto OKADA (Association of Kyushu Economic Research) : "A Prospect forSoutheast Asia and Strategy for Promotion of Kyushu's Socioeconomy". The reportseeks to clarify the effects of internationalization of Kyushu in relation to thedevelopment of the NIEs and ASEAN. Mikio HIRATO (Takushoku University):"Industrialization and Local Capital in Malaysia", in which he considered therelationship between domestic capital and external capital under the Bumiputra
Policy for rapid economic growth. Wei-Dong XU (post-graduate student, Tokyo
University ): "Some Aspects of the Change of Industrial Location under Economic
Reform Policy in China". He pointed out the restructuring of the socialist economic
system of China from a viewpoint of industrial geography, and the question of thebalance between the market economy and the planned economy, between the central
government and the local governments. Kiyomi YAMASHITA (Akita University):℃ontribution of Japanese Geographers to the Study of Southeast Asia after theSecond World War", in which he reviewed the geographical studies on this region.
Yasuo MIYAKAWA (Aichi University of Education) : "Mutation of Politico­
Economic Structure and Metamorphosis of Industrial Systems in East Asia". Hiscontention was that the East Asian Orbit centered on Japan will be one of the largest
economic powers in the world by 2000. Economic competition between thesecountries will emerge in every sector of industry; he explained the case of theautomobile industry.
Studies have been made for a long time in the area, but they have not beenorganized systematically in the frame of reference of global and local regions, andnot been discussed on any basis of economic geographical methodology. It issuggested that a new style of study should start in the near future.
Regional economic questions have been discussed in the regional meetings of
the Association, held since 1991. The first attempt was held at Shinjo, Yamagata
Prefecture in October. The subject was Regional Economy and Integrated
Administration. The meeting aimed at an assessment of the settlement area of theThird National Development Plan, which has one model area in the Tohoku Region.
A dialogue was held by geographers, entrepreneurs and administrators. Participantsconsidered how this will active affect the dynamics of the local economy and how theeffects of enticement of industry may be estimated; after that the development
process was discussed.

25

The regional meeting in Kagawa Prefecture was held at Kagawa University inNovember 1992. The theme of the symposium was Regional Management and
Vitalization, where the central issue is that though the prefectural capital city
concentrates all activities at the regional level, like the unipole concentration on
Tokyo at the national one, other local cities and rural areas are declining in theireconomy. Regional economic trends were reported by Goichi TSUJI (Osaka City
University) and others, from the aspects of local government policies, a technopolis,
and local commercial activities in the case of the Shikoku Region.
In 1993 the regional meeting to be held at Matsumoto on the subject oflnformationizing for Agriculture as the third attempt. This meeting was to focus ontruck farming in the highland region with high productivity around the Matsumoto
Basin, from the viewpoint of information and distribution. This would appear to be
an attempt to be reconsider the agricultural geography by introducing a new concept.
2. Tokyo Problems and Regional Structure in Japan
After the rapid economic growth of Japan from the 1960s, the three major
metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya attracted a concentration of
population and economic activities, especially in manufacturing and service
industries. This raised spatial disparities between urban areas and rural areas. This
trend continued to the 1980s, and moreover it over-concentrated on the Tokyo
metropolitan area, where political, economic and cultural functions are accumulated.
It caused spatial differentiation from other areas for its international economic
relationships, particularly in financial functions.
The global economy is closely connected to the activities of multinational
enterprises. Tokyo has accumulated a large amount of capital, not only gatheredfrom domestic sources but also attracted from overseas, so that it has come to beplaced among the first three world money markets, after New York and London.
Financial enterprises headquarters and foreign and domestic branch offices werelocated in a small area ofMarunouchi, which composes the core of the CBD. Branch
offices of local banks, securities firms and other financial enterprises were all locatedin the so-called "Tokyo Triangle". Along with the internationalization of thefinancial markets of Japan, and the growing importance of Tokyo the area has
gradually enlarged to include Akasaka and Roppongi in Minato ward.
The urban system of Japan has developed under a hierarchical network with
Tokyo at the top. It is obvious that the "Tokyo Unipolar Concentration" was one of
the critical problems for rational land use in Japan since the second half of the 1980s.
This trend was enforced by the development of computer technology and thedigitalization of communication contingent on the second institutional liberalizationof telecommunications that took place in 1982. (1988, Akinobu TERASAKA et al.
"The Transformation of Regional Systems in an Information-oriented Society").
26

This was discussed at the 36th Annual Meeting on Searching for a New Perspective
on Economic Geography and Information-Oriented Society; he developed thepossibilities and perspectives for spatial organization with new technologies.
The analysis of central management functions remains to be proved. Kazutoshi
ABE (Aichi University of Education) pointed out this trend historically in his book
Nihon no Toshi Taikei Kenkyu (Study of Urban Systems in Japan, 1991). There
must be economic rationality in any enterprise, so that it makes hierarchicalrelationships between the headquarters and branch offices of big private companies
according to the urban system of Japan. Especially in the CBD areas, that is inparticular in the three inner city wards of Tokyo, there are some merits to theaccumulation economy. As most branch offices of foreign companies are located inthis area, the high concentration has created new types of service industries aroundthere. But the ever-increasing demand for office space triggered a great deal of land
speculation and sharp rises in land prices. This was a bottleneck for rational land use
in Japan. The National Land Agency's remodeling plan for the capital is bound to
fail, because no business enterprise would relocate its central administrative
functions to outside the CBD areas.
Osaka has a special position on the national level. Since the Second World War,
its economic position has been gradually degraded. Big projects like the new Kansai
Airport offshore from Senshu and the Keihanna Techno-culturo-polis located on theborder of Kyoto and Nara prefectures are intended to recover the position of the
Kansai relative to the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The hierarchical urban structure can be applied to several regional centers suchas Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka, where various sub­administrative functions are concentrated in these regional centers. The information
gap among regions is widening, along with the decrease in the relative importance ofprovincial cities, including Osaka and other regional centers due to the concentrationof information in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The 39th Annual Meeting at Niigata was held on the subject of Changing
Economy in Regions on the Sea of Japan. For the purposes of vitalization of the Sea
of Japan region which is in a relatively less developed situation, it seems reasonable
to suppose the development of a multi-international relationship between the Russian
Far East, North Korea and three provinces in Northeastern China. Of course, there
are many problems to be solved on political and economic conditions among them,but there is the possibility to remedy the irrational land use and economic structure
between the Pacific Belt and this region. This movement in a provincial region
derives from an attempted counter-balance to the Tokyo unipolar concentration.
3. Urban Problems and Redevelopment Policy
Regional planning policy was one of the themes at the 36th Annual Meeting.

27

lwao KANEYASU (1989, Keio University) reported on "An Approach toward an
Urban and Regional Planning and Policy", in which he presented a strategic planning
process for regional planning at the level of the city, town and village, and illustrated
the comprehensive regional planning of Shiroishi City, Miyagi Prefecture. Hidenori
OKAHASHI (1989, Hiroshima University) made a presentation at the same meeting
titled "Perspectives on the Study of Peripheral Regions in Japan - A considerationfrom economic geography". He applied the framework of core-periphery analysis toshow that most rural regions have become closely integrated functionally with thenational economy and spatially with the major metropolitan areas.
Inner city problems relating to economic decline, physical decay and social
disadvantage have appeared in some cities like Osaka and Kobe. Toshio
MIZUUCHI (1986, Toyama University) discussed the matter from the viewpoint ofhistorical understanding of urban poverty emphasizing in labor problems. Kozo
NARITA (1987, Osaka City University, "Daitoshi Suitai-chiku no Saisei","Restructuring of the Inner City") analyzed mainly the aggravated urban problems incentral Osaka from population to industrial structure in comparison with New Yorkand London. The general tendency was to an increase of offices in the late 1980s,
while central part of the city lost its inhabitants, and residential areas decayed.
The series of urban studies monographs was published between 1985 and 1990
by Osaka City University, whose core members belong to JAEG. They include theworld's big cities: London, Shanghai, Mexico City, New York, Moscow, Bangkok,
Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Tokyo and Osaka. They analyze urban problems
such as population, housing, transport, environment and finance and also the urban
development process and spatial structures. These reports suggest important
viewpoints on international comparison of urban problems, and contribute to ourcountry's urban policy.
4. Socio-economic Geography
The latest symposium was held in May 1993, on the theme of Space and Society.
The subjects presented are as follows"Spatial Approach to History" by Ryuichi NARITA (Nippon Women's University)"Perspective to Historical Study on Geography" by Toshio MIZUUCHI (Toyama
University)"Nation and Democracy in Contemporary Political Space" by Tetsuro KATO
(Hitotsubashi University)"Meeting on Political Science and 'Space and Society"' by Akihiko TAKAGI(lbaraki University)"A Process to Reorganization of Spatial Theory" by Naoki YOSHIWARA (Tohoku
University)"Dialogue to Sociology or Utopia on the Study of Spatial Theory as a Geographer" by
28

Harumichi YAMADA (Matsusho Women's College)"Economics and Spatial Organization" by Yoshimitsu ONOZUKA (Ehime
University)"Subsumption to the Market Economy on Space and Production in Inequality of
Spatial Organization" by Fujio MIZUOKA (Hitotsubashi University)
Guest speech by David LEY (University of British Columbia, Canada), a leading
urban social geographer, with a presentation entitled "Approaches to Explanation in
Human Geography: the Case of Inner City Gentrification."As this was a special 40th anniversary meeting, experts from adjacentdisciplines such as historians, sociologists and political scientists were invited anddiscussed the space for human activities. Space is not a monopoly of geography, butinvolves common interests for other social sciences, too. We are confronted by thequestion of how to construct a valuable explanation for spatial theory. This is anurgent and actual problem.
Social geography has been developed since the late 1960s in Europe and North
America, as an alternative to quantitative geography or logical positivism and aims
for geographical reconstruction, to include political economy. Japanese economic
geographers also became more interested in social realities than economic interestsin the 1980s, following rapid changing social and economic circumstances.
Geography has come to focus on the provision of public services by local
government, involving many aspects of society, politics and economics. D. LEY
distinguished three geographical approaches: positivist, structuralist and humanistic,
in studying inner city gentrification. He suggested that some cross-fertilization ofthese three perspectives has occurred.
New history analyses space consciously as an object, especially in the study ofurban history. Area or regional historical studies deal with space from potentiality toactuality. On the other hand, historical geography has neglected modem periods.
Therefore, the dialogue could not work validly between them.
The Chicago school of sociology as human ecology has been reconsidered
recently, so that spatial concern for urban social phenomena is considered as a basis
for argument between geography and the new urban sociology which has developedin the last twenty years. Many works of D. Harvey have found respect in the social
sciences in developed countries, and they have influenced urban studies. Spatialconcerns require the total comprehension of the society and a new approach tocollective consumption.
The development of global economy has made a borderless world, but politicalspace has enforced policies with political borders. It is a critical subject to analyze
the relationships between them. The future prospect for economic geography is thatit may be united to political economy by changing its dynamics from the production29

of space to the control of space. The idea of the world system proposed by I.
Wallerstein was introduced to political geography by T.P. Taylor. He insisted on aframework of analysis with three spatial categories, on global, national and regional
levels. This notion might produce a good result for a new arena in economic
geography, because in traditional studies the primary interest for us has been to
analyze meaning on the mechanism of the difference between political space andeconomic space.
(Akinobu TERASAKA, Ryutsu Keizai University)

30

JAPANESE ASSOCIATION FOR
INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STUDIES
I. Research on International Accounting before the Establishment of JAIAS
in 1984
1. The Dawn of International Accounting Research in Japan
Although accounting regulation and research in Japan have had an international
heritage from their origin, it was not until 1969 that the first Japanese book oninternational accounting was published. This book, however, was a translation of an
original monograph entitled International Accounting by G. G. MUELLER(University of Washington). Then in 1970, Kyojiro SOMEYA (Waseda University)
edited and published a book with the title Internationalization of the Economy andContemporary Accounting. The Way to International Accounting. Despite theseworks, it might be fair to say that it was not until the latter part of the 1970s that
serious studies on international accounting in Japan began to surface.
In March 1978, Kyojiro SOMEYA published his International Accounting.
This is the first book of its nature ever published in Japan by a single Japanesescholar. In October of the same year, a collection of papers was published with thetitle Studies on the Internationalization of Accounting under the editorship of Kazuo
MIZOGUCHI (Kobe University). Following these pioneering works, International
Accounting Standards edited by Seigo NAKAJIMA (Ferris Women's College) andStudies in International Accounting by Kiyomitsu ARAI (Waseda University) were
published in 1981 and 1982, respectively. The appearance of these books in a sense
signaled the diffusion of interest in international accounting.
2. The Japan Accounting Association and International Accounting Researchduring the Period
During the period, several papers on international accounting were presented ateach annual and regional meeting of the Japan Accounting Association (JAA), which
was the sole major academic organization devoted to accounting research in Japan atthat time. An international accounting issue was selected as the major topic for the
Tokyo regional meeting of 1981. Generally, the paper presentations at thesemeetings were made as the result of research efforts by the Association. Every year,
JAA organizes a few Special Research Committees and Study Groups to undertake
research on specific topics. No such formal group was ever organized for the study ofinternational accounting until 1981. In that year, the Special Research Committee on
Annual Reports prepared its final reports, which compared aspects of annual
31

shareholders'reports published by US, UK, Australian, German, French andJapanese corporations. Even in this case, the purpose of the Committee was notdirected at international accounting research specifically. In addition, JAA had no
official organization like the International Accounting Section of the American
Accounting Association.
3. Characteristics of International Accounting Research during the Period
What then were the characteristics of international accounting research during
the period? Kazuo HIRAMATSU (Kwansei Gakuin University) performed a survey
on the topic in 1982. According to the survey results, the following remarks can be
made.
Regarding the general trend in the number of publications, publications on
international aspects of accounting increased during the 1970s. This is true both forthe absolute number and for the relative percentage of total accounting publications.
Publications on accounting for multinational corporations and international
comparisons of accounting and financial reporting increased moderately, while
publications on introduction / explanation of non-Japanese accounting regulations
d practice showed a marked increase over the decade. Thus, in general, academic
mterest in international aspects of accounting in Japan rose during the period prior to
the establishment of JAIAS in 1984.
Turning to major topics treated in international accounting research
publications, their general characteristics can be summarized as follows. As regards
accounting research for multinational corporations, most publications dealt withfinancial accounting issues. Within financial accounting research, major topics were
foreign currency translation, international harmonization, and disclosure bymultinational corporations. Management accounting played "second fiddle" tofinancial accounting. This is also true for tax accounting and auditing. The numberof publications on international comparisons was small. Of these publications, many
dealt with the differences between Japan and other countries. Among those on
introduction / explanation of non-Japanese accounting regulation and practice, thosedealing with US accounting were the most numerous. Introduction / explanation ofEuropean accounting, especially accounting in France, West Germany and the UK
came next. Much attention was paid to harmonization in EC accounting. Researchon accounting in Communist bloc countries was undertaken by a few scholars.
Accounting related to East Asia and ASEAN was still an undeveloped area of study
in Japan and thus left for future research.
Typical research approaches of international accounting in Japan rested upon
the basis of foreign literature and foreign accounting systems. Therefore, survey orrigorous research type papers were still few in number.

皿

32

With the background as explained above, there were growing demands toestablish an academic organization which specialized in international accounting
research. It became reality in 1984. The next section will describe the establishment
and activities of JAIAS.
IL JAIAS : Its Establishment and Activities
1. Establishment of JAIASThe Japanese Association for International Accounting Studies (JAIAS) wasestablished on June 23, 1984, at a founding meeting held at Waseda University.
Seventy-two members were emolled as founding members, and 30 of them attended
the meeting. As of June 30, 1993, JAIAS had 446 individual members, 15
supporting members and 8 honorary members.
At the founding meeting, Kyojiro SOMEYA was elected as the first president of
JAIAS. Since its establishment, the following persons have served as presidents of
the Association.
1. 1984-1985 Kyojiro SOMEYA
2. 1985-1987 Seigo NAKAJIMA
3. 1987-1990 Hirohisa MASUTANI (Kwansei Gakuin University)
4. 1990-1993 Kiyomitsu ARAIAt the 10th annual meeting of 1993, Kiyoshi OGAWA (Waseda University) was
elected as the fifth president of the Association.
The objective of JAIAS is to promote research in international accounting. In
order to accomplish this objective, JAIAS holds an annual meeting and publishes the
Bulletin of the Association.
2. Annual Meetings and Presentations
The First Annual Meeting was held on December 8, 1984, at Waseda University(Chairman: Kiyomitsu ARAI). Under the main theme of Development and Present
State of International Accounting, the following presentations were made: "TheHistory of International Accounting Congresses" by Hiroshi NAKACHI (Tohmatsu
Awoki & Co.); "International Financial Reporting and Annual Reports" by Kazuo
HIRAMATSU (Kwansei Gakuin University); "Adoption of Accounting Standards:
A Comparison of Japan and Korea" by Yoshizumi OTAKA (Nanzan University);"The Influence of the EC Fourth Directive on the Legislation of Each Member
Country" by Hideo TODA (Aichi Gakuin University); "The Basic Orientation and
Problems of Accounting Harmonization in the European Communities: A Study ofthe Fourth Directive" by Yasuo MORIKAWA (Meiji University), and "The33

Development and the Present Situation of International Accounting in France" by
Kentaro NOMURA (Kobe University of Commerce).
The Second Annual Meeting was held on November 8-9, 1985 at Kwansei
Gakuin University (Chairman: Hisao FUKATSU). The main theme wasInternationalization of Financial Reporting: Ann叫Reports of JapaneseCorporations for Foreign Readers. Papers presented under the main theme included:"International Accounting Standards and the Annual Report of Hitachi" by Hiroshi
MORITA (Babcock-Hitachi K. K.); "Financial Reporting for Overseas Interested
Parties: the Case of S.S. K." by Shozo TATSUMI (Soka University); "A Survey ofAnnual Reports of Japanese Business Firms Prepared for Overseas Purposes" by
Y oshiro SUEKAWA (Sanwa Audit Corporation), and "International Flow of
Financial Information as a Development of Charge-and-Discharge Accounting" by
Fujio INAGAKI (Aoyama Gakuin University). Other Presentations were also made.
They were: "Movement of the Approval of Accounting Standards in Australia" by
Kazutoyo SUMITA (Chubu University); "Trends of Accounting Education in U.S.
Universities" by Norio TAKEMURA (Senshu University), and "U. S. Taxation for
Affiliated Groups: Consolidated Return, Transfer Price, and Unitary Tax" by
Nobumasa NAKATA (Momoyama Gakuin University). F. D.S. CHOI (New York
University) was invited as the guest speaker. He gave a lecture on "Research
Frontiers in International Accounting".
The Third Annual Meeting was held on November 7-8, 1986 at Keio University(Chairman: Yosio AIDA). Under the main theme of Accounting Problems ofMultinational Enterprises, the following papers were presented: "Foreign Currency
Translation and Deferred Income Taxes" by Kazuya TSUSHIMA (Asahi Shinwa &Co.); "Accounting Standards for Multinational Corporations" by Yasuo
MORIKAWA (Meiji University); "Multinational Enterprise and Consolidated
Financial Statements" by Kentaro NOMURA (Kobe University of Commerce), and"The Behavior Pattern of Multinational Corporations and the Function of
Accounting" by Haruzo KANEKO (Hosei University). Other presentations
included: "Accounting of Monetary Items arising from Foreign Currency
Transactions: An Empirical Study of Japanese Methods" by Toshihiko SHIRAKI(Sanno Junior College); "A Trend of International Assets Valuation Standards" by
Inosuke MATSUI (Tohmatsu Awoki & Sanwa Co.); ℃orporate Disclosure Systemsof Medium- and Small-Sized Companies in the UK: Lessons from their
Developments and Problems" by Shuichi SASAKI (Tohmatsu Awoki & Sanwa Co.).
As the guest speaker, Y. DA-WU (University of the People's Republic of China)
gave a lecture entitled "On the Chinese Accounting System".
The Fourth Annual Meeting was held on October 24-25, 1987 at Yokohama
City University (Chairman: Hideo UNAYAMA). Four papers were presented for themain theme of Internationalization of Accounting Information. They were:34

"Financial Accounting Information for Japanese Corporations' Financing inOverseas Capital Markets: Japanese Basis Financial Accounting Information forInternational Users" by Kenji YOSHINO (Asahi Shinwa & Co.); "An International
Comparison of Financial Databases" by Hiroshi OYACHI (Aoyama Gakuin
University) and Akira USUI (Niigata University); "A Study on Performance
Evaluation of Multinational Corporations" by Kanji MIYAMOTO (Osaka Gakuin
University); "A Management Accounting Approach to Business Policies in Some
International Business Enterprises" by Akira YOSHIDA (Yokohama National
University), and "Financial Reporting of the Small- and Medium-sized Firms in the
U. K. and SSAP: On the Opinions of the Managers and the Accountants or the
Auditors of the Small- and Medium-sized Firms" by Norihiko FUJII (Kyoto Sangyo
University). G.G. MUELLER (University of Washington) was the guest speaker.
The title of his lecture was "A Review of Recent Developments in International
Accounting".
The Fifth Annual Meeting was held on October 21-22, 1988 at Hiroshima Shudo
University (Chairman: Etsuzo KISHI). The Present State and Future Prospects of EC
Accounting was the main theme, for which the following presentations were made:"A Consideration on the Harmonization of the Accounting Systems in France:
Concerning the Provisions of the 'Plan Comptable G箪ral' on the Consolidated
Accounts by Takatoshi IYODA (Osaka University of Economics); "Recent
Developments of Accounting Regulation in the UK" by Hiroshi TANAKA (Aichi
Gakuin University); "Accounting Regulations in the Netherlands: Present
Circumstances and Prospects" by Yoshinao KOZUMA (University of Shizuoka);
and "Some Examinations on the New Commercial Code in West Germany" by
Hiroyasu OKITSU (Kinki University). Other Presentations were "Issues of Push
Down Accounting" by Tsuneaki KUWAHARA (Shohoku Junior College); "TheNew Problems on Consolidated Accounting" by Gen'ichiro MASUOKA (Chiba
University of Commerce); "A Study on Foreign Currency Translation: By
Reviewing Research Results on the Effects of SFAS No. 52" by Tatsuo INOUE(Kwansei Gakuin University), and "Segment Information Disclosure" by Fumihiko
KIMURA (Tohmatsu Awoki & Sanwa Co.).
The Sixth Annual Meeting was held on October 21-22, 1989 at Nanzan
University (Chairman: Nobuo KAMATA). The main theme was Accounting and Its
Environment. Papers presented for the main theme were "International Environment
and Japan·ese Accounting Regulations" by Masato KIKUYA (Asia University);"Accounting and the Political Environment" by Tae-Eun KWON (Aichi Women's
Junior College); "Accounting and the Environment" by Kentaro NOMURA (Kobe
University of Commerce); "The International Accounting Firm on the Move:
Changing Alignments" by Hiroshi KAW AKITA (Tohmatsu & Co.). Other
presentations included: "Issues in the International Comparison of the Net Worth35

Ratio" by Eri OKADA (Yokohama National University); "IASC 'Conceptual
Framework': IAS E32℃omparability of Financial Statements"' by Keiichi KIMOTO(Kinki University); "The Present Trend of Lease Accounting in the UK" by Satoshi
CHINONE (Aichi Gakuin University), and "The Impact of Culture on Accounting"by Terutake KINOSHITA (Meisei University). The guest speaker was S.A. ZEFF
(Rice University). His speech was offered on "The Significance of Comparative
Study in International Accounting".
The Seventh Annual Meeting was held on June 16-17, 1990 at Senshu
University (Chairman: Yasuhito OZAWA). Under the main theme of The Current
Status and Problems of Accounting in Different Countries, the following
presentations were made: "The Present Condition and Problems of the Accounting
Education in a German University" by Nagayuki HEISHI (Senshu University); "TheCurrent Status and Problems of Accounting Education in China" by Iwao Takahashi(Aichi Gakuin University). Other presentations were: "International Harmonizationof Accounting Standards: Cross-Cultural Analysis" by Kenji HAYASHI (Toyama
Women's Junior College), "Tax Effect Accounting in Foreign Countries and Japan"
by Tadashi SHIMADA (Tokyo University of Information and Science) ,"Communication of Accounting Information within the International Company: Its
Improvement and the English Language" by Makoto ISOBE (Seikei University).
W.J. McGREGOR (Australian Accounting Research Foundation) gave a speech on"Setting Accounting and Auditing Standards in Australia" as the guest speaker.
The Eighth Annual Meeting was held on June 15-16, 1991 at Kansai University(Chairman: Yoshinobu SUEMASA). The main theme was International
Harmonization of Accounting Standards Setting and Its Problems. Papers presented
for the main theme included: "Harmonization of Accounting Principles in the EC:
Effects in the U.K." by Shigeru FUJITA (Showa Ota & Co.); "Some Considerations
on the International Harmonization in the German Accounting System Based on theCommercial Code and Accounting Disclosure" by Takeshi GUNJI (Osaka Gakuin
University); "International Harmonization Accounting Standards: Comparison of US
GAAP with IASC's Standards" by Yuji HAYASHI (Takachiho College ofCommerce). Other presentations were: "Free Revaluation Regulated by the
Accounting Standards in France: Comparing Accounting Standards in France withthe 4th Directive, and with IAS" by Masamichi YOSHIOKA (Science University ofTokyo); "Foreign Currency Translation in Hyper-inflationary Economies" by Tatsuo
INOUE (Kwansei Gakuin University); "A True and Fair View in the UK" by Atsushi
SASAKURA (Kansai University), and "Accounting for Currency Options" by
Tetsuyoshi HASEGAWA (Ryutsu Keizai University). As the guest speaker, V.K.
ZIMMERMAN (University of Illinois) spoke on "International Accounting: Current
Issues and the Search for Standards".
The Ninth Annual Meeting was held on June 20-21, 1992 at Kokugakuin
36University (Chairman: Yasuhiro HANADO). As the guest speaker, S.J. GRAY
(University of Glasgow) gave a presentation on "The Future of International
Accounting Harmony: Mutual Recognition or Uniformity?". An open symposium
was held for the theme of "Development of International Accounting Standards andtheir Problems". The symposium was chaired by Shonosuke SHIRATORI (Seijo
University), and the following persons, as well as S.J. GRAY, served as panelists/commentators. Tsunehiro TSUMORI (Kyushu University), Kazuo HIRAMATSU(Kwansei Gakuin University), Yukio FUJITA (Waseda University), Yukio ONO(Tohmatsu & Co. ) and Tatsumi YAMADA (Corporation Finance ResearchInstitute). Other presentations were also made, including: "Evaluation of Enterprise"by Akiko TOCHIO (Saga University), "Possibility of Uniform AccountingStandards: Foreign Currency Translation" by Toshihiko SHIRAKI (Chubu
University), and "The Financial Reporting Review Panel in the U.K." by Mitsutoshi
HARA (Osaka Gakuin University).
The Tenth Annual Meeting was held on July 3-4, 1993 at Waseda University(Chairman: Kiyoshi OGAWA). D.R. BERESFORD (Financial AccountingStandards Board) was invited as the guest speaker. He gave a keynote speech on"International Harmonization of Accounting Standards and Cooperation between the
United States and Japan". Fujio INAGAKI (Kanto Gakuin University) chaired thesymposium on "Internationalization of Accounting Standards and Cooperation
between the United States and Japan". Keiko KITAMURA (Chuo University),
Yoshikuni HIROSE (Waseda University), Tokugoro MURAYAMA (Chuo Audit
Corporation), Yoshihiro TOKUGA (Kyushu University) and Michimasa
HAMAMOTO (Yokohama National University) participated in the symposium as
panelists / commentators. Other presentations included: "Characteristics ofCanadian Accounting Standards" by Ichiro MUKAI (Ichimura Gakuen JuniorCollege); "Trends of Society-oriented Accounting in Europe" by Masao YUDA
(Dokkyo University), and "International Harmonization of Segment ReportingStandards" by P. PACTER (University of Connecticut).
The Eleventh Annual Meeting will be held on September 23-24, 1994, hosted by
Kwansei Gakuin University (Chairman: Kazuo HIRAMATSU). The main theme is
Education / Training of International Accounting. G. MEEK (Oklahoma State
University) will be the guest speaker for the meeting.
3. Publications
JAIAS publishes the Bulletin of the Japanese Association for International
Accounting Studies once a year as its official journal. In general, the Bulletin
includes the papers presented at the annual meeting, the minutes of the board of
directors'meeting and general assembly of membership, a report of the annual
37

meeting, and a membership list. It also includes a summary of papers and symposia
in English.
III. Recent Developments and Future Prospects ofInternational Accounting Research
Today, research has come to be performed more actively in every area ofinternational accounting. We can observe an increase in the number of publications
and expansion in the coverage of the topic as well as research methods. Because no
survey is available relating to recent international accounting research, it is hard todescribe rigorously the recent trend and characteristics of research activities.
However, it can be said that harmonization is the key issue. This is because theenhancement of international comparability of financial statements is an urgent issue
due to the following factors.
First, internationalization of business activities has been accelerated. Direct
investment by Japanese multinationals to foreign countries increased drasticallyduring the 80s. These countries cover the whole world, and accounting standards ofthe countries differ significantly from each other. Second, the financial activities ofJapanese corporations expanded to international markets. Disclosure requirementsof stock exchanges differ worldwide. In the meantime, the number of companies
listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange has shown growth. They provide financial
statements prepared based on the accounting standards of their home countries.
Under such circumstances, there were strong needs from the user side to makefinancial statements internationally comparable. And, in fact, internationalorganizations such as the United Nations and the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development have been actively involved with harmonization
efforts. Among the international organizations, however, the International
Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) and the International Organization of
Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have been playing the most important roles fromthe harmonization point of view.
IOSCO has government organizations as its members, e.g. the Securities
Exchange Commission of the United States and the Ministry of Finance of Japan.
IOSCO's policy to endorse the accounting standards of IASC made a turning point in
discussing international harmonization of accounting standards. IASC, with such a
supportive policy from IOSCO, issued exposure draft No. 32℃omparability of
Financial Statements" (E32) in 1989, which tried to eliminate the options and thus
enhance the comparability of financial statements. Because of its contents, E32
should have a strong influence over domestic accounting in many countries. For thisreason, those interested parties who had long neglected the activities of IASC,
including business enterprises, began to respond seriously to IASC.
38

Many accounting researchers now write papers on international harmonization
with the main focus on IASC. This trend is certainly reflected in the main themes ofrecent annual meetings of JAIAS. Recall that, for three recent meetings, they wereInternational Harmonization of Accounting Standards Setting and Its Problems, The
future of International Accounting Harmony: Mutual Recognition or Uniformity?,and International Harmonization of Accounting Standards and Cooperation between
the United States and Japan. Furthermore, research into conceptual framework, as
the basis to achieve harmonization, is also being performed recently.
Noteworthy is the fact that recent research is not restricted to that performed byan individual researcher. This is typically reflected in the symposia at the most recent
two annual meetings of JAIAS. At the ninth annual meeting, a symposium was heldwith two academics, one CPA, and one corporate accountant from the Corporation
Finance Research Institute (COFRI) together with S. GRAY as the guest speaker. At
the tenth annual meeting, four academics and a CPA besides D.R. BERESFORD of
FASB conducted a symposium with the support of COFRI. One of thecharacteristics of these symposia is that not only academics but also the standards­
setter, the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA) and COFRI
were involved with the activities. The implication of this is that effective research or
symposium cannot be performed without the cooperation of such organizations,which have direct involvement with practice. Today the issues of international
accounting have come to be regarded as so important even for practice that theycannot be left to academics only. However, this remark is not intended to deny theimportance of purely academic research. Rather, it indicates the importance ofcooperation among interested parties in order to make academic research moremeaningful for practice.
Relating to the facts as indicated above, the activities of internationalorganizations themselves have recently been studied often. Descriptions bybureaucrats of the Ministry of Finance of IOSCO, explanations by representatives
from JICPA about the progress within IASC, reports on the conferences of standards­
setters of the world at Brussels in 1991 and at FASB in 1992 are important as well in
discussing the trend towards international harmonization of accounting anddisclosure. Now, international accounting research needs to be developed not only
by academics but also by government officials, CPAs and practitioners.
It is also noteworthy that academics as a whole now cope with the issues ofintematiorial accounting. In October 1987, the Sixth International Conference on
Accounting Education was held in Kyoto. It was an epoch-making event in that theJapan Accounting Association hosted this international conference. However, at thattime, only four papers were presented by Japanese participants, although there were
372 Japanese attending the conference. This is a good contrast to the Seventh
Conference held at Arlington in 1992, where 26 scholars participated from Japan and39eight papers were presented by the Japanese. It might be a sign that the international
contributions by Japanese scholars are now taking off as a result of a slight change inattitude from just importing foreign ideas to somehow exporting Japanese researchideas to outside Japan.
In October 1993, Kiyomitsu ARAI visited several universities of the UnitedStates as a distinguished international lecturer of the American Accounting
Association and offered lectures on Japanese accounting scenes. There are demands
from foreign countries on further understanding of Japanese accounting, including
cultural backgrounds. This will be a new research topic in the near future.
As the final point, education in international accounting should be referred to. It
did not spread far among Japanese universities during the 1970s. According to thesurvey performed in 1979 by Takenori SAITO (Yokohama City University), only six
out of 112 schools responding to his questionnaire answered that they had courses ininternational accounting. In contrast, his recent survey in 1989 revealed that 19
schools out of 123 respondents answered that they had such courses. This represents
the trend that more schools are now offering international amounting courses. An
increase in the courses in education will deepen and widen the scope of international
accounting research in the future.
(Kazuo HIRAMATSU, Kwansei Gakuin University)

40THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
1.
The Japan Society of Monetary Economics was founded in 1943 with the aim ofpromoting theoretical, empirical and policy-oriented academic research in monetaryand financial economics and money & banking.
Since its foundation, the society has held general meetings twice a year. The
spring meeting is usually held in the Tokyo area and the fall meeting in some otherlocal area. Besides the bi-annual meetings, the society has 6 local sections. Each ofthese sections holds meetings two or three times a year.
The society used to publish bi-annually its official bulletin, called Kinyu Gakkai
Hokoku, containing summaries of papers and the proceedings of meetings. In 1991,
the official bulletin was reformed with many improvements such as an introductionof a referee system, under the new title Review of Monetary and Financial Studies.
The present president of the society is Toshiya HANAWA (Hitotsubashi
University). The society's membership covers academic and business economists
interested in monetary and financial economics. It has about 950 members and 7
supporting institutional members.
2.
A meeting is held for two days and starts with the opening presidential address.
The meeting is composed of two parts: the one is a section for free topics, whichusually has about twenty presentations; the other is a section for a panel discussion.
Themes of the panel discussion at the meetings reflect major interests in thesociety at that time. The themes in the last ten years have been as follows:
Monetary Policy in Japan: Reappraisals and Prospects, 1983 Spring
Financial Innovation in Japan, 1983 Fall
International Aspects of Finance in Japan, 1984 Spring
Changes in Financial Structure in the U.S. and Japan: A Comparative Perspective,
1984 Fall
Financial Innovation and Monetary Policy in Japan, 1985 Spring
Financial Globalization and Monetary Policy, 1985 Fall
Technical Innovation and its Effects on Fundamentals of Finance, 1986 Spring
Monetary Policy under the Trend of Yen Appreciation, 1986 Fall
Financial Innovation and Stability of the Financial System, 1987 Spring
Securitization, 1987 Fall
Financial Globalization and Stability of Financial Markets, 1988 Spring
Financial Deregulation and Risk Management, 1988 Fall
What is Money ?- In Relation to the Developments in Financial Systems, 1989
Spring41

Changes in Financial Environment and Financial Institutions, 1989 Fall
Changes in Financial Environment and Monetary Policy, 1989 Fall
Financial Power, Japan's Problems, 1990 Spring
Behaviors of Asset Prices and Monetary Policy, 1990 Fall
Private and Public Finances in the Twenty-First Century, 1991 Spring
Flow of Funds in the World Economy, 1991 Fall
Social Roles of Banks and Maintenance of Orderly Credit Conditions, 1992 Spring
EC Monetary Union and the Future of the International Monetary System, 1992 Fall
Japanese Economy and Finance in the 1980s: How to Maintain and Foster the
Stability of the Financial System, 1993 Spring
The next section presents major themes at the free topic sections and briefsummaries of the panel discussions in recent meetings.
3.

1991 Meetings
The Spring meeting was held at Nihon University on June 1 and 2. It had
eighteen papers presented at the free topic section. Those papers covered various
themes, such as money demand function in Japan, financing problems of medium
and small-sized enterprises, the recent conditions of the stock market and option
market in Japan, theory of financial hierarchy, public finance, corporate pensions in
the U.S., debt behavior of households in Japan and so on.
The panel discussion at this meeting was entitled "Private and Public Financesin the Twenty-First Century" and there were four panelists.
Shoji SAITO (Taiyo-Kobe-Mitsui (now Sakura Bank)) recognized theimportance of public finance in promoting national welfare programs dealing withsocial problems such as aging, and insisted on the need for a disclosure system inpublic finance to enhance cost-consciousness and deter moral hazards.
Kazuto HIROSE (Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications) admitted theimportance of public finance to complement private finance and decentralized
market mechanism. He especially insisted on the necessity of a postal savings
system as an infrastructure for providing a nation-wide network for savings andsettlements.
Shoichi ROYAMA (Osaka University) focused on possible changes in publicfinance in the wave of present financial liberalization and pointed out that the publicfinance system should be changed to cope with the intense free competition withprivate financial intermediaries.
Finally, Shiro HARA (Yokohama Municipal University) summarized the recent
discussions at the Committee on Financial System (an advisory body of the ministryof finance) and presented several problems of public finance, such as interest rate
42

determination by public financial institutions, the role of the Postal Savings infinancing local areas, etc.
The Fall meeting was held at Shiga University on October 26 and 27. There wasa special lecture by Mr. Akira NAMBARA (executive director, Bank of Japan). The
title of his lecture was "Problems of Monetary Policy in the 90s". He stressed that the
Bank of Japan was endeavoring at realizing a sustainable economic growth in theworldwide shortages of funds through stabilizing the value of currency. He also
discussed relations between the bubble and monetary policy.
The meeting had 22 free topic presentations. Those presentations encompassed
different themes, such as theory of加ney, monetary policy, corporate finance,banking, international finance and so on.
The panel discussion was entitled "Flow of Funds in the World Economy."
There were four panelists at the panel discussion.
Takashi KOY AMA (Bank of Japan) reviewed the recent situation of theworldwide flow of funds and discussed how to assist financially East European
countries and Russia, and possible roles of private and public financial institutions infinancial assistance.
Hirohiko OKUMURA (Nomura Research Institute) classified demand for funds
into ex-ante and ex-post ones. He discussed the idea that, while price mechanism
could be very effective in dealing with the ex-ante demand for funds, public
institutions would play a vital role in dealing with the ex-post demand for funds,
especially in the case of countries with no financial infrastructure.
Shigeo NAKAO (Osaka City University) threw a strong doubt on the assertion
that Japan is a financial power, and presented some evidence for his doubt, such as
poor credibility of the yen as an international currency, closed-ness of domestic
financial markets including the stock market, etc.
Finally, Sadao ISHIDA (Meiji University) remarked that the shortage ofliquidity rather than savings should be crucial for the world economy. He discussed
the main conditions for the sustainable growth without inflation of the world
economy, such as reduction of the U.S. fiscal deficit, increase in savings of eachcountry, stable financial and exchange markets. He also insisted that Japan, as amajor capital export country, should be an anchor for price stability in the world
economy.
1992 Meetings
The Spring meeting was held at Hitotsubashi University on June 6 and 7. There
were 26 free topic presentations. The themes of those presentations were various, forexample, banking, security markets institutions, insurance companies, securitization,
corporate finance, public finance, international finance, monetary policy, financial
system in various countries and so on.
43The theme of the panel discussion was "Social Roles of Banks and Maintenanceof Orderly Credit Conditions". There were four presenters at the panel discussion.
Masaki KOTANI (Bank of Japan) mentioned the importance of prudence
policy, referring to examples of some other countries. He drew a clear distinction
between a micro-focused prudence policy and a macro-focused one: the former
dealing with the soundness of individual financial institutions and the latter dealing
with the soundness of a financial system as a whole.
Shinichi GOTO (Sakura Economic Research Institute) summarized the contentsof several Japanese laws related to finance, focusing on key terms, such as social
roles of banks, depositor protection, maintenance of orderly credit system, etc. He
also reported historical developments and interrelationship of those laws.
Akira YOSHIDA (Musashi University) discussed the problems of nonbanks inrelation to the maintenance of orderly credit conditions. Noting that the nonbank isoften an affiliate of a commercial bank, he pointed out that the problem ofmanagement discipline of the commercial bank as a lender to its affiliate (nonbank)could be crucial in considering nonbank regulation.
Kazuto IKEO (Kyoto University) contended that policies for maintenance of theorderly credit system should be regarded as a risk management policy and that, tocope adequately with possible financial disorders, there should be a dual policy
system: an ex-ante policy for maintaining the sound management of individual
financial institutions and an ex-post policy for preventing an individual failure from
causing a breakdown of the whole financial system.
The Fall meeting was held at Kanagawa University on November 7 and 8.
There were 18 free topic presentations which discussed various themes, such as
management problems of financial institutions, main bank system, international
finance, monetary policy, money demand and stock market, the recent reform of thedeposit insurance system in the U.S. and so on.
The theme of the panel discussion was "EC Monetary Union and the Future of
the International Monetary System" and there were four panelists.
Tatsuro WATANABE (Ministry of Finance) reviewed recent behaviors ofvarious EC currencies and discussed two different approaches to causes of the EC
currency crisis. He also emphasized the importance of policy coordination amongindustrialized countries and stability of three currencies: dollar, mark and yen inorder to assure smooth operation of the international monetary system.
Fumiaki KIMURA (Bank of Japan) focused on German unification anddiscussed possible negative influences that the resulting belt-tightening monetaryand fiscal policies of Germany could have on the European economy. He mentionedthat German unification could be a big obstacle to the realization of the EC's politicaland economic unification.
Masao SUZAKI (Bank of Tokyo) drew a possible image of future international
44

financial markets centering on the dollar, ecu and yen. He insisted that the new
system of international financial markets would restrain the U.S. from abusing her
privilege of seignorage and contribute to reforming the current internationalmonetary system into a new stable one.
Hisaya SHIMAZAKI (Kanagawa University) stressed the idea that EC
monetary union is a means of cutting off the EC's subordination to the American
dollar. He mentioned a possible scenario that the U.S. disregard of monetary
discipline could cause EC countries to cut their trade with the rest of the world, andhighlighted the crucial role of policy coordination among 07 countries to prevent this
scenano.
1993 Meetings
The Spring meeting was held at Tokyo University on June 5 and 6. On thecelebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Society, there were three special lectures:"Missions and Responsibility of the Central Bank, Considering the Implication fromthe Present Situation" given by Mr. Toshihiko FUKUI (executive director, Bank ofJapan), "Ownership" given by Professor C. MAYER (Warwick University) and"The Current Challenge Confronting U.S. Monetary Policy" given by Professor B.
FRIEDMAN (Harvard University).
Mr. FUKUI emphasized in his lecture that the top priority of the objectives ofmonetary policy is maintaining the stability of currency value, or price stability.
Professor MAYER discussed corporate governance and incentive problems infavor of the German and Japanese type of corporate governance rather than the
Anglo-Saxon type.
Professor FRIEDMAN discussed various aspects of the recent monetary policyin the U.S., such as the conduct of monetary policy focusing on interest rates,monetary policy under the pressure of huge fiscal deficit, possible costs ofdisinflationary policy, etc.
At the free topic section, 27 papers were presented. Those papers covered
diverse themes, such as financial institutions of various countries, main bank system,
monetary policy, money demand and theory of consumer behavior, international
finance, etc.
The theme of the panel discussion at the meeting was "Japanese Economy and
Finance in the 1980s : How to Maintain and Foster the Stability of the Financial
System"皿d there were four presenters.
Yoshimasa NISHIMURA (Ministry of Finance) focused on fiscal policy andmentioned that it had severe limitations as a policy for stimulating domestic economy
or reducing trade surplus. He pointed out that those limitations were mainly the
result of fiscal reconstruction problems at that time.
Yoshio SUZUKI (Nomura Research Institute) reviewed the main characteristics
45

of the world economy in the 80s, focusing on the U.S. economy, and explained how
the bubble of the 80s had happened as a result of the policy coordination among theU.S., Germany and Japan at that time, which forced Japan to keep an easy money
policy. He mentioned that, in conducting monetary policy, the Bank of Japan had
overlooked the importance of asset price inflation at that time. He also pointed out
limitations of fiscal policy as an economic stimulus as an indirect cause of the bubble.
Ken SAITO(Fuji Research Institute) stressed that the major cause of the bubble
in the 80s was not the financial liberalization, but the easy money situation and theresulting moral hazards in the management of private banks at that time. He denied
the possibility that the recent bad loans problems of banks and nonbanks could cause
a breakdown of the whole financial system.
Kazuo UEDA (Tokyo University) summarized the monetary policy in the 80s
and referred to the responsibility of the Bank of Japan for the misconduct of themonetary policy causing the bubble of the 80s. He asserted that money supply
targeting policy could be an effective way of getting away from various politicalpressures on monetary policy.
The Fall meeting was scheduled to be held at Nagasaki University on November
13 and 14. The theme of the panel discussion was to be "Three Key Currencies andthe International Monetary System".

4.

Japanese economy and finance is now facing unprecedented problems: thebubble and its crash, the soaring yen, the financial reforms and restructurings, toname a few. We are asked to tackle these current and critical problems. How tomanage these problems could have vital influences on the future course that theJapanese economy and finance will take. Furthermore, we need to explore more
fundamental problems, for example, origins of the unique financial structure in
Japan, its advantages and disadvantages in terms of financial efficiency, income
distribution and economic growth, etc. In addition to traditional topics, such asmonetary policy and international finance, these current and fundamental problems
could be some of the major research topics in the society.
(Fumihiko HIRUMA, Waseda University)46

THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR PERSONNEL AND LABOR RESEARCH
1. Administration of the Society(1) Foundation
The Japan Society for Personnel and Labor Research was founded by Professor
Goro MORI on December 5, 1970 at Keio University, which was one of the leading
research centers on labor and personnel management besides Hitotsubashi
University and Kobe University at that time. The intention in establishing the newacademic association was to promote research on personnel problems and mutual aid
among increasing numbers of researchers engaged in personnel management andindustrial relations in the broad sense of the word. At the same time it intended tostimulate an interdisciplinary approach toward personnel problems including
business administration, labor economics, industrial relations, sociology,
psychology, labor law, human engineering and some other related sciences.
Therefore, the starting membership of the Society was around 300 covering many
disciplines and local areas.
(2) Membership
The total number of members was 706 on July 24, 1993, divided into 434
persons in business administration, 120 in labor economics and industrial relations,
49 in sociology, 44 in psychology, 32 in labor law, nine in human engineering and 18
in other related sciences.
645 members, including graduate students, belong to universities and research
institutes, and the remaining 61 members to private companies and otherorganizations. Practitioners in personnel management and industrial relations who
have been engaged in the practice of personnel management and industrial relations
over seven years can apply for membership of the Society with the recommendationof two members. Therefore, the members can discuss the same research subject
concerning personnel problems from different disciplines and from practical as wellas academic viewpoints. Governors of the Society are also elected so that it canconsider new trends of all of the disciplines concerned.
(3) Annual Congress
The annual congress of the Society is usually held in June. The host universityof the anriual congress is recommended by the Board of Governors taking into
account its location and facilities offered. Therefore, the annual congress has alreadybeen held in Sapporo, Niigata, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Kumamoto, besides the Tokyo
and Osaka districts.
The program of the annual congress is divided into two parts: one for thecommon theme which reflects the main interests of the Society at that time and is47

discussed by all members of the Society, another for voluntary presentation where
each member applies for that chance under coordination by the Board of Governors.
The common theme and the host universities where the annual congress has been
held are as follows:
1st1971 Alienation of Work and Participation in a Business Enterprise,
Rikkyo University.
2nd 1972 Recovery of Humanism in an Enterprise, Meiji University.
3rd 1973 Personnel Problems in an Innovative Period, Kobe University
4th 1974 Personnel Problems in an Enterprise under a Dynamic
Environment, Keio University.
1975 Dynamic Personnel Problems in an Enterprise, Doshisha
5th
University.
6th 1976 Objects and Methods of Personnel Problem Research in anEnterprise, Waseda University.
1977 New Perspective of Japanese Personnel Management,
7thKwansei Gakuin University.
8th 1978 Employment, Wages and Personnel Management in a Low
Economic Growth Period, Seinan Gakuin University.
1979 Japanese Practice of Industrial Relations, Aoyama Gakuin
9th
University.
10th 1980 Wages, Personnel Management and Law Concerning Postponed
Retirement, Nihon University.
11th 1981 Changes of Women's Work and Its Personnel Management
Problems, Kinki University.
12th 1982 Technological Innovation and Personnel Problems in the 1980s,
Kumamoto Shoka University.
13th 1983 Globalization and Personnel Problems: Personnel Problems in
Localization Period, Seishu College.
14th 1984 Issues of Industrial Relations and Their Response in an Innovative
Period, Asia University.
15th 1985 Essential Subjects of Personnel Management, Aichi Gakuin
University.
16th 1986 Issues of Japanese Personnel Management and its Responses
Connected with Changing Employment Structures, Senshu University.
17th 1987 Changes of Japanese Personnel Management and Globalization,
Kyoto University.
18th 1988 Improvement of Real Living Standard and Business Society inJapan, Keio University.
19th 1989 Increased Variety of Employment Form under Information
Technology and Globalization, Niigata University.
48

20th

1990

Personnel Issues In 1990's: Working Hours, Foreign Workers,
and Industrial Relations, Rikkyo University.
21st 1991
Quality of Working Life and New Types of Industrial Relations,
Doshisha University.
22nd 1992
Employment and Development of Personnel in Japan: Its Changes
and Perspectives, Waseda University.
23rd 1993
Globalization of Business Enterprise and Personnel Management
Problems, Kumamoto Shoka University.
At the annual congress, prominent foreign scholars like S. LEVIN and D. DORE, top
executives of leading companies like Kazuyuki HIRAIWA, who is a senior directorof Bridgestone Co., or chief administrative officers from the Dep叩ment of Labor
like Ginko SATO give special lectures. The members of the Society can get first­
hand information on those topics which attract their interest.

(4) Publications

Besides the proceedings of the annual congress, the Society publishes theAnnual Report of the Japan Society for Personnel and Research. It contains all of thepresentations in the common subject session and voluntary presentation session as
well as the special lecture. The Annual Report is usually edited and delivered to all of
the members of the Society without additional payment besides the membership fee.
The Society published three volumes on Japanese management history in 1988.
The purposes of the publication were:i. to clarify and put in order the research results concerning personnel management
and industrial relations in the past ten years since the foundation of
the Society.
ii. to provide popular as well as scientific knowledge on personnel and labor
problems to ordinary citizens as well as students who are interested in businessadministration.
The first volume, entitled Koyosei (Employment System), was edited by
Tsuyoshi CHUJO and Kazuo KIKUNO. The second, Nenkosei (Seniority System)
was edited by Minoru HARADA and Koji OKUBAYASHI. The third, Roshikankei(Industrial Relations) was edited by Kou TAKAHASHI, Ryuji KOMATSU andKyoichi FUTAGAMI.
Each·chapter of these books was written by leading academics in eachspecialized subject in the Society . Readers of these books can easily get not only an
overview on Japanese personnel management and industrial relations but also very
deep theoretical insight into popular subjects like lifetime employment, the seniority
wage system and enterprise unions.
(5) Local Meetings
49

The three districts of Kanto, Chubu and Kansai provide two or three local
meetings per year outside the annual congress. The Representative Governor of each
district arranges the local meeting. It stimulates exchange of opinions and mutual aid
in academic research among the local members and between researchers andpractitioners. It also helps to establish friendly relationships among members of theSociety.
(6) Award for Young Researchers
The Society annually gives an award to the two or three excellent researchers in
the past two years whose papers were published in the Annual Report of the Society.
An Award Committee composed of nine members who were recommended by the
Board of Governors examines the papers written by members who were under forty­
five years old at the time of their presentation at the annual congress. This award
system contributes a lot to the motivation of young researchers to improve the qualityof their papers, although the financial aspect of the award is not sufficient for startinga research project.
2. Some Characteristics of Recent Research Trends
Alienation of work was an important research subject in the latter half of the
1960s in Japan when companies could expand rapidly with the introduction of newtechnology. Many researchers in different disciplines tried to find out effective
devices to overcome the side-effects of technological development of mass
production and to democratize industrial relations, which had brought severe
struggles between labor and capital just after the Second World War. Job redesign,
small group activities and workers'participation in management decision-making
through labor-management consultation were advocated by researchers based on
experience in Western countries. An interdisciplinary approach to solve theproblems of alienated work was necessary, and effective from a practical viewpoint.
With the fundamental change of economic growth from rapid and quantitative
expansion to low and qualitative expansion after the two oil-shocks, the researchinterests of the Society turned to the changing aspects of traditional Japanesemanagement. The question whether or how much traditional practices of Japanesemanagement such as life-time employment, seniority wage system and enterprise
union would be modified under new economic and social conditions was one of themain arguments among researchers and practitioners. Some researchers insisted on
the collapse of the traditional practices of the traditional system. Some others, on theother hand, moderately emphasized that those traditional practices would bemaintained although personnel managers often desired changes. This kind ofarguments will be discussed again and again according to the changing environmentof industry and society.
50

Among the driving forces for modifying personnel management in 1980s were
the increasing number of part-time workers who were mainly female, the increased
proportion of aged workers in the labor market as well as employees, new ideas ofwork among young people, the increasing number of engineers and technicians
accompanied by rapid technological development, and globalization of Japanesecompanies which brought many Japanese businessmen to foreign countries and at thesame time many foreign workers wanting to work in Japan. These factors in the labormarket pushed forward fundamental reforms of personnel management andindustrial relations to the increased varieties of employment besides life-time
employment and to the increased weight of ability-based wages in the wage structure
and a decreased ratio of organized labor.
In the latter half of the 1980s, in the process of globalization of Japanesecompanies, some criticism against Japanese style of management by foreign people
gave a strong impulse to re-examine the behavior of Japanese management as well as
workers. At the same time, workers themselves could not really feel that they wereso rich as they might seem to be in a super-power in the world economy. Researchersof the Society also tried to analyze the main reasons why Japanese workers cannot
enjoy a real affluent life, living in cramped housing and working long hours, against
the statistical fact that the gross national product per capita in Japan was third in theworld in 1990. Therefore, one of the research subjects of the Society was what is areally rich life at this stage of social development and what kind of working life
should be established in the economically developed countries. The common themeof the Society has moved in accordance with the development of the Japanese
economic world.
Looking at the recent trends of research activities and presentation of papers at
the annual congress, four characteristics should be pointed out to explain the Society.

(1) Analysis of new trends of personnel management
The main research subjects of the Society are workers for business enterprises,
personnel management and industrial relations at enterprise level, although there aredifferent approaches to them. Therefore, the main concern of the members of theSociety concentrates on new trends or new plans of progressive business enterprises
as well as theoretical analysis of each plan or practice of personnel management.
"A Sympton of New Employment Behavior at the Big Companies" presented by
Toshiyuki"SHIGESATO at the 22nd Congress, for example analyzed the increasing
number of mid-career recruitments by big companies based on empirical data by arecruiting company. He concluded that mid-career recruitment, which was
exceptional in life-time employment, has become effective for both companies andworkers in the sense that high perfomance workers can get a higher salary andposition in a new company.
51

"New Development of Personnel Management Plans in Big JapaneseCompanies" presented by Soichiro HONDA at the 22nd Congress, also explained
new trends of recruitment, maintenance, development and utilization of personnel
based on various empirical research done by other organizations. He clarified thatmanagement policy, participation of workers in management, and positive
investment in new business as well as each plan of personnel management
contributed to the recruitment and maintenance of personnel in big companies.
"Globalization and Japanese Style of Management" by Kenji OKUDA at the23rd Congress, accessed theoretically the way of thinking concerning workers in thetheories of management in "Scientific Management" and Japanese philosophy in the
1600s. He insisted that a dichotomy in the way of thinking cannot be effectively
applied to man-to-man relations in industrial society, and that the concept ofcomplementarity advocated by Shoeki ANDO in feudal Japan should be used forindustrial relations at this moment. He emphasized the importance of the oriental
way of thinking to solve the problems of modem industrial relations.
These papers indicated that one of the main subjects of the Society is theories
and practices of personnel management and industrial relations, whether it is basedon empirical analysis or conceptual analysis.
(2) Assessment of social problems from the viewpoint of workers or society as awhole
It might seem quite natural that the standpoint of the Society resembles that ofpersonnel managers of big companies. However, in practice, many members of theSociety have a well-balanced view toward personnel problems within businessenterprises, because members apply an interdisciplinary approach to them and easily
understand the opinions of workers or social interests as academics.
"The Sunny-Side and Shadow of'Humanization of Work'" presented by Kazuo
KIKUNO at the 21st Congress focused on the shadow aspects of QWL. He
addressed karoshi and techno-stress under the bright life of affluence or humanistic
personnel management advocated by companies. He emphasized the importance of
dealing with workers as independent persons or human beings instead of manpower
which produces profit for companies.
"Fair Evaluation of Work Quality and Equal Treatment in Employment:International Trends on Equal Pay Work of Equal Value between Men and Women"
by Aiko KIMURA for focused on difficult questions on equal remuneration for men
and women workers for work of equal value based on the idea of Agreement 100 by
the International Labor Organization. She mentioned the Pay Equity Act (1987) in
Canada as a good example to promote an equal employment policy in Japan from theviewpoint of comparative law analysis. She also proposed many suggestions fromthe experience of Ontario, Canada.
52

The foreign workers'problem, which has attracted the concern not only of theJapanese Government but also of Asian countries, was examined by Yasuo
KUWAHARA in the paper "Foreign Workers and the Japanese Response" at the20th Congress. He assessed many aspects of the problems of foreign workers likevisas and unlawful employment, international labor mobility, demand and supply ofworkforce in Asian countries, and the foreign trainee system in Japan. He concluded
that we needed an integrated policy toward foreign workers and that the policy
depended in the final analysis on the image we have concerning our future society.
(3) Realistic discussion based on empirical research
The Society acknowledged from the beginning of its foundation the importanceof first-hand material for the realistic analysis of personnel problems, although welearn many conceptual frameworks from Western countries. Many young
researchers of the Society use the questionnaire method, case study or interviews topresent their view or framework℃ omparative Analysis of the Wage System between Japan and Korea:
Focusing on Wage System and Wage Structure" by Takashi SAGO at the 23rd
Congress, for example, provided case studies of the wage system at Hokou Steel Co.
and a chemical company in Korea, and Shin-Nittetsu and Toyo Inki in Japan. He
found out a lot of common aspects in the wage system between Japan and Korea,
rather than many differences. The analysis of this kind of first-hand material takes a
lot of time and energy for researchers. Nevertheless, young researchers try to do
empirical research on new trends of personnel problems.
"Advantages and Disadvantages of the Japanese Style of Human Resources
Management in Foreign Countries: Some Lessons from a Case Study of JapaneseManagement after the Acquisition of a U.S. Company by the Japanese" by Hideo
ISHIDA at the 23rd Congress also presents an example of good empirical research on
personnel problems. He examined ten cases of U.S. management after acquisition to
identify the possibility and limitation of global human resources management inJapanese companies. He found out that the Japanese style of management could be
effectively applied to blue-collar workers rather than white-collar employees at
upper levels of the management hierarchy. He emphasized the importance ofdeveloping new top management who can effectively lead a Japanese company
merged with a foreign company so that they can prove the international validity of
the Japane·se style of management.
"Workers'Life and Their Idea of Work in the Japanese Retail Industry" by
Yoshiki KURATA also analyzed the real situation of QWL in the distribution
industry on the base of questionnaire research concerning working conditions ofworkers in the distribution and service industry supported by Zensen-Domei (TheJapanese Federation of Textile, Garment, Chemical, Mercantile, Food and Allied53

Industries Workers'Unions). Based on this empirical research, he stressed thefindings that improvement of working conditions of part—time workers is hardly
comparable with those of regular workers, although seven trade unions themselves
recognized the contribution of part—time workers to the QWL of regular workers. Hispresentation on QWL in the distribution industry based on 1831 respondents in 15
companies in 1990 was very persuasive.
(4) Intens1ve mteractlon between academics and practitioners.
Among members of the Society are trade union leaders, executives of tradeassociations and researchers in public organizations. Therefore, academic
researchers can easily communicate and discuss matters with actual practitioners inpersonnel problems. "Demand of Recruitment and Employee-Maintenance Policy of
Big Companies" by Tateo NARUSE of Nihon-Keieisha-Dantai-Renmei (Japan
Federation of Employers'Associations) at the 22nd Congress addressed the highdemand for labour from 1988 to 1991 and the feeling by top management of a labour
shortage in near future. He warned of the inflated demand for labour in the banking,insurance and distribution industries and proposed utilizing effectively the present
workforce instead of employing more workers. His warning was proved to be reallyforesighted in the employment adjustment two years later.
Masanobu FUKUTANI of the Japan Productivity Center also made an intensive
questionnaire survey of research and development engineers in Japan, the U.K.,
Germany and the U.S. from 1988 to 1990, and proposed some suggestions in his
paper℃areers of Research and Development Engineers and Their Development" at
the 22nd Congress. He analyzed samples of 1774 engineers, successful conditions
for research and development, dissatisfaction of engineers, development of theircareers, improvement of their careers and methods to develop their abilities.
He found out that in Japan many engineers thought themselves unable to work at
the competitive front and development after the first half of their forties in contrast to
the U.K., Germany and U.S., where it is only after their fifties. He also pointed outthat in Japan as well as in the U.S. many engineers wanted to keep their jobs as
specialists until forty, but in the U .K. and Germany they want to be managers inresearch and development. Then, he recommended for the better treatment ofengineers in Japan the introduction of a performance-based remuneration system
instead of seniority wages, establishment of various career paths for engineers andstimulating devices of self-education and spontaneous development.
Naoto OHMI ofZensen-Domei also explained some cases of industrial relations
practices in the textile industry in his paper "Restructuring of an Industry and
Maintenance of Manpower Within It" at the 22nd Congress. He focused on the
responses of management and trade unions toward the restructuring of the textile
industry in the 1980s and their attitudes to maintaining manpower within that54

industry, referring to a case of a plant close-down by a chemical fiber manufacturing
company and a case of business transformation from textiles to building materials
within a textile company.
In the first case, the trade union accepted a close-down of a plant to rebuild a
new plant in another prefecture under the condition that as many workers as possibleof the closed plant should be transferred to the new plant and that the company should
provide additional retirement allowances to retiring workers and other employment
to workers who could not move to another prefecture. In the second case, the tradeunion also agreed in pre-negotiation consultation with the management to thebusiness transformation under the condition of a full guarantee of employment to theformer employees.
Based on these case studies, he drew the conclusion that Japanese trade unions
responded flexibly to the rationalization caused by industrial restructuring and thatsuccessful restructuring depended on the guarantee of employment to workers
affected. Trade unions supported a policy of developing multi-skilled workers tomaintain their employment and many devices were agreed at joint consultation to
attract and maintain workers within that industry.
These presentation by practitioners in industrial relations as well as a guest
speech at each annual congress of the Society stimulate effective exchange of
opinion between academic and industrial spheres and keep the discussion among themembers very realistic as well as practical. This discussion among members who
have been trained in different disciplines has promoted the interdisciplinary approachto personnel problems which was one of the targets of the Society.
(Koji OKUBAYASHI, Kobe University)

55

THE POPULATION ASSOCIATION OF JAPANThe Population Association of Japan was established in 1948, after the Second
World War. In March, 1949 it held its first conference of research reports; by 1993,
it had held these research conferences 45 times. Since 1968, conferences have been
held alternately in the Tokyo area and at a university elsewhere in Japan. The site forthe 1993 conference was Tohoku Fukushi (Welfare) University in Sendai; in 1994 itwill be at Meikai University in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture. At present, there are 367
ordinary members.
The Association's Rules state the major purpose of the Population Associationof Japan is to carry out scientific investigations of population trends, including
sudden changes and forecasts for the future (Rules Article 3).
The Association's scientific research is not carried out under the direct influenceof any specific population policy. This is in contrast with the way in which one
population theory was enforced by the authorities during the war. When the
Population Association of Japan conference was established, socially there weremany difficult real problems with the Japanese population.
Postwar, because of the baby boom and the influx of soldiers and citizens
returning from overseas, there was a sharp rise in Japan's population. Food andclothing, and other fundamentals for survival, remained at a very low level ofavailability.
The provisions of the Eugenic Protection Act were revised in 1949 to permit
abortion for economic reasons. The effect of the Act, originally intended to provide
protection for mothers, was a great increase in the number of abortions over 1948.
In 1950s, after the baby boom, the rate of population increase fell, and so did thenumber of abortions. The mortality rate also slowed at the same time, as
improvements in health care were progressively introduced. Japan made ademographic transition from a nation of high birth and death rates to one in which
both rates remained low. With the recovery of industry, large urban reconstruction
induced a strong population outflow from rural areas. This trend of urban over­
population and rural depopulation continued in the high-growth 1960s.
Under such fast and various population changes, the Association has been very
active in analyzing demographically the drastic alterations in the actual situation of
the population. Another task has been assessing the socio-economic effects of thechanges. The results of all these studies are announced at the annual conference,
which covers a wide range of topics in the social and natural sciences, demonstrating
the many-sided character of population studies.
Every annual conference includes a General Session, at which members are free
to report on any topic on which they have been doing research. In recent years there
have been as many as 35 such presentations at one conference. In addition, there is a56

Symposium, and two Special Sessions on pre-arranged themes. These are important
events at which all members can be present. From the 67 themes so far adopted for
our Symposia and Special Sessions, insight can be gained on the Associations
general interests and study trends.
Here is a brief review of those themes, in order of frequency.
(1) Aging, longevity, mortality and life tables: 11 times since 1987
(2) Fertility, induced abortion, stationary population and the female estate: 10
times(3) Regional Population, population concentration in urban areas, rural
underpopulation: 10 times
These top three themes are the most fundamental and comprehensive for
examining population trends and their socio-economic effects in Japan. Other
important themes follow:(4) Malthus, population theory, population policy, population issues, economic
development and rural population: eight times since 1987
(5) Historical population: six times(6) The family: four times(7) The labor force, unemployment, wages and foreign workers: four times(8) Analytical methods and population statistics, four times(9) Asia and China, three times(10) Resources and environment, twice
All of these themes are not only important individual distinct themes; they are
all mutually significant in any approach to understanding the Japanese population
situation overall, providing the necessary means to consider the major axes ofregional population, fertility and the aging population.
Next we present a detailed break-down of the themes taken up at the Symposia
and Special Sessions at the latest seven annual conferences. Each theme iscoordinated by the conference's organizer, and involves a chairman and about threereporters or discussants.
1. Symposium
1987: Population and Natural Resources in the Future(1) "Food Problems in the Development of Mankind," Yasuhiro YUIZE, Chiba
University.
(2) "Energy and Population," Taketoshi UDAGAWA, National Grassland
Rese紅ch Institute.
(3) "Water Resources vs Human Population," Ken-ichiro MORITAKI, Okayama
University.
1988: Declining Fertility in Advanced Countries(1) "Japan," Makoto ATOH, Institute of Population Problems.
(2) "Western Europe," Minoru OKADA, Chuo University.
57

(3) "North America, Australia and New Zealand," Shigemi KONO, Institute ofPopulation Problems.
(4) "Soviet Union and Eastern Europe," Toshio IRITANI, Tokai University.
1989: The Japanese Family in the Twenty-first Century(1)℃hanges in Family Patterns," Makoto ATOH, Institute of Population
Problems.
(2) "Regional Differences in Family Structure," Hiroaki SHIMIZU, Institute ofPopulation Problems.
(3) "Japanese Family Changes from an International Comparative Point of View,"
Yoshihiro TSUBOUCHI, Kyoto University.
1990: Fertility Transition in Asia
(1) "The Case of the NIES," Noriko TSUYA, Nihon University.
(2) "China's Case," Yasuko HAYASE, Institute of Developing Economies.
(3) "Demographic Transition in ASEAN," Shin-ichi TAKAHASHI, Kobe
University.
(4) "The Case of South Asia," Yuiko NISHIKAWA, Shokei Women's JuniorCollege.
1991: A Longevity-Society and Quality of Life
(1) "Japanese Bed-free Life Expectancy," Atsuaki GUNJI, The University ofTokyo(2) "The Lifestyle of Older People and Quality of Life," Haruo SAGAZA, Waseda
University(3) "Quality of Life in Aged Society," Takehiko HOBO, Shimane University.
1992: On Fertility Decline and Its Prospect for Japan(1) ℃hanging Women's Status and Fertility Decline in Japan," Noriko TSUYA,
Nihon University.
(2) "Socio-economic Consequences of Declining Fertility," Hiroshi OHBUCHI,
Chuo University.
(3) "Policy Response to Fertility Decline," Makoto ATOH, Institute of Population
Problems.
1993: Aging of Population and Welfare(1) "Aging of Population and Changing of Family," Hiroyuki KANEKIYO, Meiji, : University.
(2) "The Existing Circumstances and Perspective of Manpower in Welfare,"Taeko OSAKA, Sendai Christian Child-rearing Center.
(3) ;'Economy and Welfare-the Experience and Instruction of the Swedish-,"Naomi MARUO, Keio University.
2. Special Sessions
1987: [A] Evaluation of Population Statistics in Japan(1) "Evaluation of Population Statistics," Hiroshi MATSUI, Statistics Bureau.
58(2) "Accuracy and Completeness of the Census and Vital Statistics of Post-war
Japan," Tatsuya ITOH, Institute of Population Problems.
(3) "Statistical Environment and Evaluation of Population Statistics," Shigeru
YAMADA, Kokushikan University.
[B] The Status of Women and their Demographic Behavior(1) "Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage, and Women's Consciousness," Yoshihiro
TSUBOUCHI, Kyoto University.
(2) "Women's Status and Its Relationships with Family Planning, Abortion, andFertility Decision-Making Processes," Naohiro OGAWA, Nihon University
Population Research Institute.
(3) "How has the Labor Force Participation of Married Women Changed?" EikoNAKANO, Institute of Population Problems.
1988: [A] Is the Age of High-Level Unemployment Coming?
(1) "Development of Theories on Unemployment," Yoshio YOSHIDA, Asahi
University.
(2) "What Does the Unemployment Rate Measure?: Comparison between U.S.
and Japan," Yasunobu TOMOTA, Osaka Prefectural University.
(3) "Unemployment in Japan: Recent Experiences, Interpretation, andPerspectives," Asao MIZUNO, Chuo University.
[B] Regional Policy and Population Distribution(1) "Comprehensive National Development Plans and Population Distribution in
Japan," Hiroshi KAWABE, Nihon University.
(2) "Hypothetical Development of Population Distribution in Japan," Atsushi
OTOMO, Utsunomiya University.
(3) "Population Distribution and Regional Policy in the Metropolitan Area,"Moriyuki OHE, Shimizu Corporation.
(4) "Present Status of Remote Depopulated Rural Communities," Yuichi
MINAKAWA, Chiba University.
1989: [A] Population and Population Theories in Eighteenth Century Europe(1) "Sussmilch's Thoughts on Population," Kenji UTSUMI, Fukushima
Prefectural Aizu Junior College.
(2) "Demographic Background of the Eighteenth Century," Tsuyoshi HARA,
Josai University.
(3) "Sussmilch's Divine Order and Its Ideological Background," Minoru OKADA,
Chuo University.
[B] Frontiers in Studies on Mortality and Morbidity(1) "Methodological Issues in the Analyses of Health and Mortality Survey
Statistics," Kyo HANADA, Institute of Population Problems and Seiichi
INAGAKI, Ministry of Health and Welfare.
(2) "Effect of Fertility on Prevalence of Diabetes," Motofumi MASAKI, Showa
59

University.
(3) "Parameterized Model Schedule of Mortality for Japan: All and SelectedCauses of Death," Zenji NANJO, Tohoku Gakuin University, Takao
SHIGEMATSU, Fukuoka University and Kazuhiko YOSHINAGA, Fukuoka
University.
1990: [A] The Demographic Pattern in Late Tokugawa Japan(1) "Mortality Patterns before the Transition: The Japanese Experience," Osamu
SAITO, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
(2) "Regulative Factor of the Birth Rate in Tokugawa Japan," Akira
MATSUURA, Kobe University.
(3) "Rice Price Fluctuation and Fertility in Late Tokugawa Period," Kiyoshi
HAMANO, Keio Girls'High School.
[B] Issues on the Labor Force from Abroad in Japan(1) "The Present Situation of Overseas Laborers," Kiyoshi HIROSHIMA, Instituteof Population Problems.
(2) "The Future Labor Market and Overseas Labor Force," Yoshio HIGUCHI,
Keio University.
(3) "The Balance of Introducing Overseas Laborers: Lessons from the Experienceof Western Countries," Yoshio YOSHIDA, Asahi University.
1991: [A] Population Change and Regional Characteristics in a Depopulated Society(1) "Falling Population and Aging in the San-in District," Mitsuko FUJIOKA,
Shimane University.
(2)℃hanges in Household Composition and Structure: A Comparative Study of
Izumo and Iwami in Shimane Prefecture," Hiroaki SHIMIZU, Institute ofPopulation Problems.
(3) "Dynamics of Population and Transition of Household Composition in Small
Rural Communities-A Comparative Study of Village Population in Iwami,
Gokasho and Mamurogawa," Keiichiro MATSUSHITA, Ryukoku University.
[B] Aspects of Behavioral Changes in the Youth Population, and their Relation to the
Recent Fertility Decline(1) "Labor Supply Behavior and Work Attitude of the Youth," Tomoko
FURUGORI, Meikai University.
(2) "Sexual Behavior of Youths," Kenji HAYASHI, Institute of Public Health.
(3) "Living Arrangements of Youth," Tatsuya ITOU, Institute of Population
Problems.
1992: [A] How Many More Years Will Life Expectancy for Japanese Males andFemales Be Extended in the Future?
(1) "Future Life Expectancy and Causes of Death in Japan," Shigesato
TAKAHASHI, Institute of Population Problems.
(2) "From the Point of View of Health Statistics," Tetsuo FUKAWA, National
60

Institute of Public Health.
(3) "From an Epidemiological Point of View," Takao SHIGEMATSU, Fukuoka
University and Zenji NANJO,Tohoku Gakuin University.
[BJ 1990 Population Census of Japan in the Search for New Population Trends(1) "Japan's Population Trend in the 1990 Census: Movements in Age, Marital
Status, Educational Attainments and Household Formation," Yoshikazu
WATANABE, Institute of Population Problems.
(2) "Trend of Labor Force and Change of Employment Status," Minezo FUJITA,
Dept. of Population Census, Statistics Bureau, Management and Doordination
Agency.
(3) "Internal Migration and Change of Population Distribution by Area,"Moriyuki OHE, Institute of Population Problems and Hiromichi SAKAI,
Seisen Jogakuin Junior College.
1993: [A] Population and a Socio-Economic History of the Tokugawa Period(1) "On the Mutual Relation of Fertility, Breastfeeding and Infant Mortality in a
Japanese Farm Village," Ken-ichi TOMOBE, Tokuyama University.
(2) "Rice Price Fluctuation and Birth Rate in the Late Term of the Tokugawa
Period," Kiyoshi HAMANO, Keio Girls' High School.
(3)℃hanges in the Households of a Farm Village in the Tohoku Area, 17601870," Futoshi KINOSHITA, Konan Women's Junior College.
[B] Fertility of Population in Developing Countries(1) "Fertility of the Asian Population," Shinji ANZO, Meiji University.
(2) "Fertility of the Latin American Population," Hiromichi SAKAI, Seisen
Jogakuin Junior College.
(3) "Fertility of the African Population," Hiroshi KOJIMA, Institute of Population
Problems.
In this way, widely diverse themes have been selected for the conferences, andhave been correlated in our considerations of population changes. One of those
themes, fertility, has become important for demographers. Japan's total fertility rateis still falling: 1.57 and 1.53 in 1989 and 1990 respectively, in 1992 it had fallen to
1.50. This low figure will significantly affect society's approaches to care of theaged, female social advance, educational provision, age of marriage, size of families,
the labor supply and so on. The nation will suffer environmental problems from ruraldepopulation and a general lack of consicousness of such matters. It has become
essential to devise future plans for next century to correct the imbalances of the endof the twentieth century.
Coordination of discussions on population forecasts for Europe, North America
and other parts of the world is also an urgent and expanding theme. The
Association's bulletin, the Journal of Population Studies, published annually since1978, has produced a considerable store of articles and study notes already, but there61

is now so much material that even doubling its frequency might not suffice.
The Population Association of Japan welcomes scholars who have an interest in
any aspect of this interdisciplinary field.
(Yoshikuni ISHI, Josai University)

62THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF PUBLIC UTILITY ECONOMICS
1. Outline of the Society
The Japan Society of Public Utility Economics was founded in 1949. The aim of
the Society is to foster studies and conduct investigations on public utilities frompolitical, economic and technical standpoints, and to improve the general conceptionof public service, so as to induce a healthy development and thus contribute to publicwelfare.
The Society has steadily conducted its activities for 44 years since its
foundation. The main activities of the Society are to publish the Joumal of Public
Utility Economics three times a year, to hold an annual national conference, and tohave several regional academic meetings.
The Society is made up of over 400 regular members and about 80 institutional
members under a president and two vice presidents (both with a tenure of two years),with a board of managing directors, a board of trustees, and a secretary-general tomanage the affairs of the Society.
The Society has three regional sections. The Kanto and Kansai Sections were
established in 1975. The Hokkaido-Tohoku Section was born in 1992. The Kanto
Section has approximately 300 regular members and 50 institutional members, theKansai Section has about 100 regular and institutional members, while the
Hokkaido-Tohoku Section has about 30 members.
The Society has an award system under which it annually grants Academic
Awards and Incentive Awards to excellent books written by relatively young
members. Two Academic Awards and eight Incentive Awards have been conferredsince the system started in 1988.
2. Annual National Conference
The annual national conference has been held every spring since 1950. At eachconference a specific unified theme is focused on. The unified themes, the main
reports under the theme and the universities where annual national conferences havebeen held during last decade are as follows.
34th, 1984: Present Situation and Problems of Public Utilities, Meiji University
Ryohei KAKUMOTO: "The Problems and Future View of Japanese National
Railways"
Koichiro HAYASHI: "The Birth of Information and Communication Industry"
Hiroshi SASAKI: "Present Situation and Problems of Public Utility
Ratemaking"Koyo TERAO: "Recent Problems of Public Corporations in Japan"
Haruo ISHII: "Present Situation and Problems of Management Diversificationin Private Railway Industry"63

Hiroshi OKADA: "Present Situation and Problems of Truck Transport"
Hiromi KURAMITSU: "Management Diversification of Osaka Gas Company"
35th, 1985: Technological Progress and Public Utilities, Otaru College ofCommerce
Ichiro MATASHIRO: "Technology Innovation of Gas Supply Related to the
LPG Pipeline Industry"
Shigehiko NAOE: "Reorganization of Telecommunication Industry and its
Influence towards Rate Structure"
Hitoshi ITO: "Technology Innovation and System Operation of an ElectricCompany"
36th, 1986: Market Structure and Management Strategy of Public Utilities, Dokkyo
University
Kenneth S. COURTIS: "Between Rationality of Economy and Logic ofPolitics"
Eijiro NAWATA: "Features of Public Utility Regulation"
Naoto KANO: "Telecommunication Industry Under Deregulation"
Jun-ichiro FUJIWARA: "Monopoly and Competition in the Electric Power
Industry"
Hiroshi OKADA: "Railway Market Structure and Management Strategy"
Yukio HARADA: ℃orporate Diversification Strategy and Its Performance"
Kiyotake INABA: "Outline of JNR Reform and Problems To Be Solved"
Ichiro MATASHIRO: ℃hange of the Market Structure and Management
Strategy in the Gas Industry"
37th, 1987: Public Utilities in the Information Age, Kansai University
Masaru MIYAJIMA and Nobuo OKUZAWA: "The Verification on the Natural
Monopoly of the Telecommunication Industry"
Masaaki IMURA: "Diversification of the Electric Power Industry in the UnitedStates"Masanao TANASE: "Significance and Application of the Information Business
Map"
Masanao HAMAI: "The Railway Industry in the Information Age"
Ichiro MATASHIRO: "The Energy Service Industry in the Information Age"
38th, 1988: Public Utilities in the Internationalization Age, Tokyo Institute ofTechnology
Shigeru TAKEDA: "Deregulation Policy of the Natural Gas Industry in the
United States"
Chosei KABIRA: "International Cooperation in Broadcasting"
Ling LI: "Econometric Study of the Economic Role of Telecommunications in
China"
Jun-ichiro FUJIWARA: "A Comparative Study of Japanese and American Law

64

on Cogeneration"
Etsuo ISHIGAMI: "Industrialization and Public Enterprises in India"
Sang D. LEE: "A Study on the Korean Administrative Computer Network
System"39th, 1989: Regulation and Competition in Public Utilities, Senshu University
Shusaku YAMAYA: "Deregulation of the Electric Power Industry"
Shigeru TAKEDA: "Structure and Development of Deregulation in the Gas
Industry"
Daiichi ITO: "Public-service Broadcasting under Technology Innovation"
Masatoshi KAGAWA: "Actual Situation and Problems in Deregulation Policy
over the Transport Service Industry"
Hirotaka YAMAUCHI: "A Comment on the Relationship Between Airline
Deregulation Policy and Economic Theory"
Tadashi SANAKA: "A Scrutiny into Privatization in the U.K."
40th, 1990: Public Utilities in the 1990's, Fukuoka University
Hiroshi ASANO: "The Development of Telecommunications Technology andComparative Electricity Rates"
Yoshihiko NISHINO: "Price Structure in a Competitive Electricity Industry"Ali M. EL-AGRAA: "The Implications of the EC's Internal Market for SomeEC Public Utilities"
Takashi IMAHASHI: "Private Railways Diversification"
41st, 1991: Public Utilities and Global Environmental Problems, Keio University
Tadashi OTA: "Externalities and Rate Regulation in Municipal Enterprises"
Masayuki YAJIMA: ℃02 Problems and Supply and Demand of Energy"
Y oshihiro NITTA: ℃oping with the Global Environmental Problems in Public
Utility Industries"
Takeshi IMAI: ℃oping with the Global Environmental Problems in the Kansai
Electric Power Company"
42nd, 1992: Borderless Phenomena and Public Utilities, Yokohama National
University
Natalia GAJL: "Privatization of State-owned Enterprises"
Jungo KIMURA: "Economic Consideration Between Existing and New
Telecommunications Carriers in Japan"
Shigeru TAKEDA: ℃ollapse of International Boundaries in the European Gas
Industry
43rd, 1993: Social Contribution and the Role of Public Utilities, Otemon Gakuin
University
Tomoyuki TANABE: "International Contribution by the Electric Power Industry
through Debt Conversion Program"
Most papers presented at each annual national conference have been published65

in the Journal of Public Utility Economics.
The 44th annual national conference is scheduled to be held at Hitotsubashi
University in Tokyo on June 3-4, 1994 under the unified theme, Public Utility
Regulatory Policy and Transparency.
3. Recent Trends in Study
The study of public utility economics in Japan has entered into a most interesting
phase. Recent trends in the study could be followed through a survey of the fields ofpublic utility issues in the monographs published during the last five years.
One of the important fields of study is deregulation. Regulation has
conventionally been defended as a remedy for market failure. However, recently it
has been observed that regulation often leads to government failure. Therefore, anactive role for the government was viewed with deep suspicion. The necessity ofderegulation policy has been widely recognized almost all over the world.
Public utilities have traditionally retained a mandate to provide a reliable service
to customers in exchange for a virtual monopoly to operate in designated service
territories. The desirability of continuing that mandate is dying a quick death, asutilities face entering the fast-paced arena of competition. Almost all services
provided by energy, telephone and transportation public utilities today are and will
be affected by competition. Long-distance carriers in the telephone industry havebeen facing fierce competition. In the electric, gas and transportation utility
industries the arguments about market-based pricing, open access to transmission
systems, relaxation of the market entry restraint, and so on are going to drive change.
In this situation, major concerns are whether the deregulation policy of public
utilities could enhance competition and thereby improve market performance, how
the framework for fair competition should be secured in the deregulated markets, andwhat is the dominant firm's role in offering the services. In this field of study, several
outstanding works have been produced by members of the Society. Among them, theSociety ed., Regulation and Competition in Contemporary Public Utility Industries,
Denryoku-Shinpo Publishing, 1989, deserves special attention. This is a compilationof papers and comments presented at the 39th annual national conference celebrating
the Society's 40th anniversary. In the book, an examination of the theory ofcontestable market, economic welfare analysis of utility behavior, and deregulation
policy in such industries as electricity, gas, telecommunication, broadcasting, surface
transportation, and airlines are dealt with.
The second work to be noted is Shusaku YAMAYA ed., Contemporary
Regulatory Policy, Zeimu Keiri Kyokai, 1991. This is a collaborative study bymembers of the Kanto Section, celebrating its 15th anniversary. A major problem of
traditional cost-based regulation is its failure adequately to incite cost-minimizationand new product development. Therefore, contributors to the work examine the66possibility of incentive regulation (yardstick regulation, price-cap regulation, etc.) as
an alternative. The result of the study is that regulatory policy should be moremarket-oriented, reflecting the efficacy of market process and securing the conditionof fair competition.
The third work to mention in this field is Masu UEKUSA, Economics ofPublic
Regulation, Chikuma Publishing, 1991. This book argues such fundamental issues
on government regulation as regulatory system, utility ratemaking theory, incentive
regulation, conditions of fair competition in the deregulated market and public
enterprise system within an orthodox microeconomics framework.
Finally, Eijiro NAWATA, Regulatory Policy on Public Utility Industries,
Chikura Publishing, 1990, argues some public utility regulation issues, including
recent interesting topics.
The second field of study to be mentioned here is privatization. Privatization
generally means the formation of a privately-owned company by the sale ofgovernment-held shares to private shareholders. The underlying idea is to improveindustry performance by increasing the role of market forces. Privatization policies
are currently in progress the world over-in Japan, North America, Europe, andnumerous developing and newly industrialized countries. A wide range ofpreviously government-owned industries, including telephones, electric power, gas,
water, and transportation, have been privatized.
Though a number of policy objectives have been set forth in connection with theprivatization programs, the most popular perception for the privatization is thatpublic management will not do better in terms of economic efficiency than private
management. In fact the privatization programs in many countries have primarily
been motivated by dissatisfaction with the economic performance of publicly owned
firms.
As a popular case, let us pick Japan's former largest state-owned enterprise,Japanese National Railways. The JNR recorded staggering loses between 1964 and1986. Despite five separate attempts at full-scale reform, performance continuously
deteriorated. Over this period the company received a large sum of subsidies and ran
its long-term debt up to 11 percent of GNP. Past reforms had foundered, largely
because management and labor had few incentives to cut costs, raise productivity,and maximize profits.
In 1987 the JNR was reorganized into seven smaller joint stock companies-six
regional passenger lines and one nationwide freight line. Deep cuts were made in thelabor force. Legal restrictions that prevented the JNR from diversifying into otherbusinesses were lifted, and Diet approval for the new joint stock companies' budgets
was no longer required.
The changes produced significant performance gains. After the privatization,for example, the volume of passenger transport increased steadily; operating costs for67

passenger rail fell considerably; revenues per employee rose significantly. Whereas
the JNR had raised its fares almost every year, the joint stock companies have notraised their fares since they began operating in 1987. In the JNR case, privatization
clearly unleashed competitive pressures that helped improve the efficiency andquality of service.
What kinds of problems will be encountered in the process of privatization?
What will be the lessons to Japan from the experience of privatization in othercountries? A number of works by members of the Society such as Taiwa
NAKAMURA, Modem Public Enterprises in the U.K., Hakuto Publishing, 1991;
Satoru MATSUBARA, Privatization and Deregulation, Nihon Hyoron Publishing,
1991; Shozo AKAZAWA, Economic Policy and Public Enterprises, Zeimu Keiri
Kyokai, 1992; Hiromi TAMAMURA, ed., International Comparison ofPrivatization, Yachiyo Publishing, 1993; Munenori NOMURA, Privatization Policy
and Market Economy, Zeimu Keiri Kyokai, 1993, discuss the issues on privatization
policy.
The third important field of study developed recently is ratemaking issues.
Traditional utility regulation is concerned with setting rates that just recover the costof providing the service. But according to the most basic principle of public utility
economics, desirable prices are as close as possible to marginal costs of production.
Marginal cost is the additional expenditure·required to serve a small increase indemand. Economic principles dictate that the rate each customer should pay should
be closely related to the marginal cost of serving that customer.
Many factors complicate the calculation of marginal cost and its use as a benchmark for rate design. Marginal cost varies over time as utilities respond to changing
demand by altering the mix of production facilities. Marginal cost is also very
sensitive to changes in the price of fuel or other factors of production. The effort formaking rates track marginal cost has been made in various public utility industries.
YAMAYA ed., Public Utility Rates in Japan, Denryoku Shinpo Publishing, 1992, isthe first work to examine comprehensively traditional average cost and innovative
marginal cost ratemaking in such various industries as electricity, gas, water supply,
telecommunication, broadcasting, postal service, railways, buses, taxis, trucking,airlines, and highways from the standpoints of policy science and economic theory.
On the other hand, from the citizen's point of view, Jitsuo KUMANO, Electric
Ratemaking and Customers: A Search for Fairness in Authoritarian Society, Chuo
Keizai Publishing, 1992, criticizes the existing practice of government regulation onelectric ratemaking.
The fourth noteworthy field of study is management diversification. Generally,a firm with a single product line faces many risks. A decline in demand for the firm's
product, an increase in cost, or the emergence of strong competition can affect the
profitability and survival of the nondiversified firm. By contrast, a diversified firm68can better weather adversity affecting one or a few of its products if the remainder
sell well. In addition, diversified utilities will enjoy benefits relating to synergistic
effects. The firm can exploit underused resources or take advantage ofcomplementary relationships by diversifying.
Diversification has become an important management strategy for modem
public utilities. It has been expected that diversification activities would contributemuch towards improvement of the entire business of public utilities. Utility
managers must ensure that diversified activities will not place a drain on utility
management. The choice of which business to diversify into will be an important
decision.
On the other hand, it will be necessary to relax the restrictions of diversificationon the utilities. However, a regulator must protect the ratepayers from reverses oradverse effects of the diversification, if unreasonable risk from diversified activities
would be passed on to them. It also has to have the ability to detect various types ofcross-subsidies as the consequences of diversification for utility service. It isnecessary to ensure that common costs and transfer prices are properly set for theutility and diversified activities. Hiroshi SASAKI, ed., Diversification Strategy of
Public Utilities, Hakuto Publishing, 1988, dealt with the issues.
The fifth category to be mentioned is an academic, sober field of study. Minoru
SUGAYA, Telecommunication Policy in the U.S.A., Nihon Hyoron Publishing,
1989; Jun-ichiro FUTIWARA, Development ofRegulation on the American ElectricIndustry in the 19th Century, Keio Tsushin, 1989, earned an Academic Award fromthe Society. A series of works presented before the national conferences by members
from Tokyo Institute of Technology were published as Masaru MIYATIMA ed.,Analysis of Telecommunication Policy, 1993. In the field of transportation, Eiji
SHIOMI ed., Transportation Industry, Hakuto Publishing, 1990; Yataro FUill andUshio CHUJO eds., Transportation Policy of the Present Age, University of Tokyo
Press, 1992, addressed the economics of regulation and the case for deregulation.
Those industries have experienced such a surprisingly common set of problems as inother public utility industries.
Other themes expected to appear in the near future will include demand-side
management in energy and water utilities, economic analysis of bottleneck facilities,
evaluation of asymmetric regulation, economic role of the so-called "third sector"
enterprises, theoretical development of utility accounting and finance, productivity
or efficiency analysis of public utilities, comparative study of public enterprises
between Japan and other countries, and so on. It is to be expected that members of
the Society will contribute much in those various study fields.
(Shusaku YAMAYA, Toyo University)69

THE JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCEASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL
I. History and Outline of the Association
The Regional Science Association (RSA) was established in 1954 by Dr. Walter
ISARD, and the Japan Section was founded on June 19, 1962 at Kanda Gakushi
Kaikan. The RSA was reorganized in 1991 and renamed the Regional Science
Association International (RSAI). It consists of three super-regional organizations,to one of which, the Pacific Regional Science Conference Organization (PRSCO),
the Japan Section belongs.
The RSAI aims at deriving policies to solve regional problems
interdisciplinarily by applying economics, engineering, geography, sociology, etc.
Our objects of research are of a wide variety: (1) Theory of location, (2) urban
economics, (3) regional economics, (4) regional econometrics, (5) regional
allocation of resources, (6) location and land use, (7) transportation andtelecommunication, (8) environment, etc.
At its origination, regional science seemed to be influenced by the classicallocation theory. Consequently, regional science has succeeded in dealing with
regional and urban problems in the spatial and dynamic context. Since the Japan
Section of the Regional Science Association (JRSAI) was originated just in the
period when the Japanese economy was developing rapidly, regional science was
evaluated as an efficient tool for evaluation and feasibility study of (large-scale)regional and urban development projects, which in effect brought about the rapid
development of the JRSAI.
In 1993, the JRSAI has about 550 individual members and 35 supporting
institutional members under a president and three vice presidents (both a tenure of
two years), with a board of councillors and an editorial board. Takao FUKUCHI(Kyoto University) is the current president.
II. Publication
JRSAI has published, on an annual basis, 23 volumes of Studies in Regional
Science (Chiikigaku Kenkyu). Since 1990, Chiikigaku Kenkyu has changed toStudies in Regional Science No. 1, and Studies in Regional Science No. 2 has been
newly published. No. 1 is mainly based on papers selected through a strict refereesystem from those read at annual conferences, and contains the proceedings of the
JRSAI. No. 2 is edited in English and selects only highly advanced papers from70

among those submitted. The editor of No. 2 is Yoshio KIMURA (Chukyo
University). Vol. 20 and 21, No.2
For No.I, Vol. 21, (1991) was edited by Etsuo YAMAMURA (Hokkaido
University) and Vol. 22, by Hirotada KOHNO (University of Tsukuba). Both havebeen issued already. Vol. 23 is edited by Katsuyuki KURASHIMO (Senshu
University), and was to be issued in Autumn, 1993.
III. Annual Conferences
1. The 28th Annual Conference
The 28th Annual Conference of the JRSAI was held at University of Tsukuba
from October 26 to 27, 1991 chaired by Hirotada KOHNO (University of Tsukuba).
The common themes for the Conference were: Environmental Problems;
Immigration; Regional Planning; Area Marketing; Location Theory; Transportation;
Local Public Goods; Input-Output Analysis; Information-Oriented Society; andRegional Differentials. Thirty-seven papers were read under the themes, including
two foreign invited papers. As an aggressive attempt for the Conference, two
discussants were assigned to each report to improve the quality further. Constructive
discussions between the reporter and two discussants were greatly appreciated.
The following are brief summaries of papers which were accepted in Studies inRegional Science (Chiikigaku Kenkyu) Vol. 22, No. 1: Makoto YAMAGUCHI(Edogawa University), Yasumasa KOIE (LITEC, Ltd.) and Takashi ISHIKAWA(LITEC, Ltd.) in "An Econometric Analysis of the Impact of Change in Environment
by Automobile Traffic on Regional Economy" built a macroeconomic model tomeasure the economic impacts of anti-air pollution policies on the Tokyo
Metropolitan Area.
Kaoru ITO (City of Nagoya) in "Inter-Metropolitan Migration and Regional
Economic Differentials in Postwar Japan" deduced the properties of migration
between metropolises and analyzed the relation between net migration and regional
economic differentials.
Sachihiko HARASHINA (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Hideharu MORISHITA(National Land Agency), Takehiko MURAYAMA (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
and Tomonori TSUTSUI (Tokyo Institute of Technology) in "A Basic Study on
Accessibility Indicators to the Natural Environment in a Wider Urban Area-A Trialof Developing the Indicators Using Air Distance at Utsunomiya City, Japan" foundout determinant factors in the residents'evaluation of accessibility to naturalenvironment and estimated the accessibilities in a wider urban area.
Yoshiro RIGANO and Hiroyuki SHIBUSAWA (Toyohashi Institute of Technology)
in "A General Equilibrium Analysis of the Congestion Tax in a Closed City with71

Home and Office Work Labor Markets" solved their model numerically and showedthat the city considered was more suburbanized at a laissez-faire equilibrium than at
the optimum and that congestion tax made the city less suburbanized.
Mitsuru OTA (Hokkaido University) and Masahisa FUJITA (University ofPennsylvania) in℃ ommunication Technologies and Spatial Configurations ofIntrafirm Units and Residential Units" considered the possible impacts oftelecommunications technologies on the spatial organization of office activities inmetropolitan areas within the context. of a non-monocentric urban land use model.
Masae TAKEBAYASHI (National Land Agency) and Dai NAKAGAWA (Kyoto
University) in "Plan-Making Process with Strategic Choice Approach" aimed at
introducing the approach into the decision making process of regional planning.
Kazuhisa TAKEMURA (University of Tsukuba) in "An Analysis of Shopping
Choice Behavior using a Fuzzy Multiattribute Attitude Model―A Proposal of a New
Psychological Method for Area Marketing" applied the fuzzy theory to traditional
multiattribute attitude models to explain consumers'shopping behavior andpreferences.
Shogo KAWAKAMI (Nagoya University), Osarnu HORIOKA(Nagoya University)
and Atushi TAKADA (Housing and Urban Development Corporation) in"Evaluation of Mass Transit Network Improvement Strategy and Pricing Policies"
examined the effect of mass transit network improvement and showed that a distancefare system was preferred to a flat fare system.
Naojiro AOSHIMA, Tomohiko ISOBE and Keiko TAKAHASHI (Gunma
University) in "Travel Behavior Analysis of the Licensed and the Unlicensed by Life
Cycle Stages in Households" clarified that life cycle stages in households wereeffective for exlaining travel behavior.
Shuetsu TAKAHASHI (Tohoku Gakuin University) in "Regional Market Integration
and Fiscal-Monetary Policy Effects" showed that it would depend on flexibility of
exchange rate system whether an adoption of a single currency strengthened or
weakened the effect of fiscal expansion on regions.
Masashi HASEGAWA (Yokohama City University) in "On the Statistical Propertiesof the RAS method for Measurement Error" examined the estimation of an input­
output table by the RAS method and showed how the shape of distribution for eachestimated element was skewed.
Shigeaki MORI (EX Corporation) in "The Appreciation of Regional Ability toCompete with Other Regions with Indicators Based on a Social-Welfare-Function
Approach and Interregional Input-Output Table" evaluated the ability of endlesscompetition games among regions by ranking them with indicators based on a social
welfare function.
Isaac F. MENSA BONSU, Seiichi KAGAYA and Etsuo YAMAMURA (Hokkaido
University) in "Application of Fuzzy Linear Optimization Techniques to the Rural
72

Roads Investment Resource Allocation Problem in the Offinso District of Ghana"
explored the use of the model for the allocation of financial resources for rural roads
improvement in the cases where the objective function was fuzzy.
Toru WAKO (Tohoku Gakuin University) in "Effects of Alternative Types ofCompetitive Location on Rent Profiles and Aggregate Rent" showed that greater
capital accumulation might be achieved under centralized rather than decentralized
employment and that rent profiles could be viewed as outcomes of alternative spatialcompetitive forces.
Choon Sei LEE (Soonchunhyang University) in "Some Aspect of Price
Discrimination Under Vertical Integration" demonstrated how integration of a firmwith spatially dispersed monopolists could lead to Pareto improvement.
Hitoshi MITOMO (Senshu University) in "On the Equilibrium Sets of Subscribers toa Telecommunications Service" gave a rigorous definition on equilibrium user sets oftelecom service and examined the existence and stability of them.
Etsuo YAMAMURA (Hokkaido University) in "The Regional Growth Model for theControl of Regional Income Disparities: A Survey in Japan" gave a comprehensive
survey on regional income disparity models, not only from academic motivation but
also from the need for sound policy formation.
Tetsuo KANESAWA (Rissho University) in "Measuring the Economic Benefits of a
Large-scale Forestry Road Improvement Project" measured the reduction in
travelling costs and time saving of vehicles that would be produced by a large-scale
forestry road improvement project.
The symposium on the "The Impacts and Economic Effectiveness of theKitakanto (North-Kanto) Expressway on the National and Regional Development
Plan" was held on the second day of the Conference. Four reports were read, after
which we had a panel discussion. First, Hirotada KOHNO (University of Tsukuba)
proposed the necessity of the Kitakanto Expressway and a strategy for regional
development depending on the Expressway. Koshiro GODA (Ministry ofInternational Trade and Industry) gave their vision on redressing the centralization
and redeveloping rural industries. Yoshiyuki ENAMI (Ministry of Construction)
talked on the outline of the road network plan in the Kanto district and its effect on
the regional economy. Koji KAWASAKI (lbaraki Prefecture) explained their long­run development plan concerning the Expressway.
The fruitful and constructive discussions between the above four reporters andthe six panelists, Peter NIJKAMP (Free University, the Netherlands), Geoffrey J.D.
HEWINGS (University of Illinois, USA), Etsuo YAMAMURA (Hokkaido
University), Naojiro AOSHIMA (Gunma University), Takao FUKUCHI (Kyoto
University) and Fumio TAKEDA (Teikyo Institute of Technology) were greatly
appreciated by all participants.
2. The 29th Annual Conference
73The 29th Annual Conference of the JRSAI was held at Senshu University inTokyo from October 24 to 25, 1992. Professor Katsuyuki KURASHIMO was theconference chair. Four concurrent sessions and one symposium were held. The two
discussants system was adopted also at this Conference. The seven common themes
for the Conference were: Urban Redevelopment and Decentralization; Regional
Planning; The Rent Problem; Regional Analysis; Environmental Problems;
Transportation and Telecommunication; Contemporary Issues in Regional Science.
Forty-two papers were read under the themes.
Among the reports, the following papers will appear in Studies in Regional
Science (Chiikigaku Kenkyu), vol. 23, No. 1:
Noboru HIDANO (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Shigeru INABA(lnstitute for
Posts and Telecommunications), Shun-ichi SASAKI (Tokyo Institute ofTechnology) and Satoshi ADACHI (Institute for Posts and Telecommunications) in"Modelling Communication Mode Choice in Business Offices" focused on the
personal relationship to identify the communication mode choice of office workers.
Takaaki OKUDA and Yoshitsugu HAYASHI (Nagoya University) in"Reconsideration of Regional Input-Output Analysis in terms of Probability Theory"reconsidered regional I-0 analysis as a general equilibrium analysis in which
uncertainty was taken into account based on the random utility theory.
Mihoko SHIMAMOTO (Keio University) in "Japanese Domestic Forestry andGlobal Environment: An Essay on the System of the Parity Wage Rate of Forestry"
proposed a policy on Japanese forestry conservation from the point of view of global
environment protection.
Takeshi OOUCHI and Yoshiro RIGANO (Toyohashi University of Technology) in"The Impact of the Property Tax on the Land Reservation Behavior of theLandowner in a Monopolistic Land Market under Uncertainty" presented a model forthe dynamic optimization behavior of landowner in a monopolistic land market
under uncertainty and analyzed the impact of land property tax on the reservation
behavior with numerical simulation.
Kiyoko HAGIHARA (Tokyo Metropolitan University) in "Financial Aspects of Uni­
Polarization" showed a simple model for explaining the mechanism of migration
between rural and urban areas and suggested that, in addition to intergovernmental
grants, congestion tax and grants on agglomeration economies should be introduced.
Yozo ITO (Senshu University) in "Game Theoretic Approach to an Interregional
Competition Model" constructed a game-theoretic model in which interactions
among local governments, firms and consumers were introduced, and showed how toevaluate outcomes of local governments'decisions.
Takeshi YAMAZAKI (Institute for Posts and Telecommunications), Takuo
IMAGAWA (Ministry of Posts and Telecommuncations) and Hitoshi MITOMO(Senshu University) in "Telephone Communications Structure in Japan" applied74

geographical analyses such as Q-analysis, cluster analysis and gravity analysis to thetelephone traffic data between local areas to derive some regional characteristics ofcommunications structure in Japan. Then communications demand function was
estimated.
Yasuhiro SAKAI and Keisuke SASAKI (University of Tsukuba) in "Demand
Uncertainty and Distribution Systems" concluded that an economy with distribution
channel was socially more desirable than the one without whenever demand
uncertainty was present and the distributor had a significant advantage over the
producer in collecting information, and the distributor wished to share theinformation with the producer if he exhibited strong risk aversion.
Youngha KIM (Dankook University) in "On the Necessity of the Construction of ager-Model Town in Mongolia" proposed that the construction of towns with
Mongolian traditional housing called ger was of use for regional settlement ofnomads.
Isao ORISHIMO (Teikyo Institute of Technology) in "Regional Development andRegional Culture" pointed out that the development of a region meant an entity ofboth cultural and economic development from the long-term viewpoint.
Shuetsu TAKAHASHI (Tohoku Gakuin University) in "The Structure ofInterregional Trade Balance and Regional Economy" proposed a simple method torealize the charecteristic of regional economy in terms of domestic import and export
which were the largest components of the gross domestic expenditure.
Khosrow MOVAHED, Seiichi KAGAYA and Etsuo YAMAMURA (Hokkaido
University) in "Analysis of Fundamental Public Services Priorities in.. the Corbal
Region, Iran, Using the Oval Model" found an analytic approach of preference
analysis for regional services, referring to the Corbal Region in Iran.
Hiroyuki SHIBUSAWA and Yoshiro HIGANO (Toyohashi Institute of Technology)
in "Land Assignment for Transportation in the Information-Oriented Society:
Laissez-Faire vs. Optimum " compared a city in a laissez-faire equilibrium with cities
in optimum equilibria which were maintained by levying a full congestion tax, byproviding a full congestion subsidy or by employing a convex combination of them.
Makoto YAMAGUCHI (Edogawa University), Yasumasa KOIE (LITEC, Ltd.) and
Takashi ISHIKAWA (LITEC, Ltd.) in "A New Method of Regional Decomposition-Twelve-Districts Model of Tokyo Metropolis" was an extension of their Tokyo
Metropolitan Area econometric model to a regionally decomposed one.
Hiroyuki KOIDE (Kyushu International University) in "On the Optimal Spatial
Distribution of Differentiated Local Public Goods" examined optimal provision of
local public goods whose benefits exhibit distance-decay nature within theframework of standard urban economics.
A symposium on the Evaluation of Regional Development Planning was held in
the afternoon on October 25. Three reports were read, after which there was a panel
75

discussion. The first reporter, Katsuyuki KURASHIMO (Senshu University),
explained that regional development plans had never been evaluated or criticized andthat this was the reason why we held the symposium on the subject. The second
reporter, Fumio TAKEDA (Teikyo Institute of Technology), introduced postwar
transportation policies in Japan and pointed out the fact that vehicle tax collected in
metropolitan areas was invested in rural road construction, which in effect impeded
the development of an efficient road network in metropolitan areas. Thirdly, Etsuo
YAMAMURA (Hokkaido University) criticized policies for the conservation ofrural industries. He emphasized that rural areas must also be planned from the moreinternational viewpoint. The panel discussion between the above three reporters andfour panelists, Yoshio KIMURA (Chukyo University), Koichi BABA (Niigata
University), Hirohide KINAMI (Chiiki Shinko Seibi Kodan) and Takashi SUZUKI(Kinki University) was quite active and fruitful, which was greatly appreciated by theaudience.
3. The 30th and 31st Annual Conferences
The 30th Annual Conference of JRSAI was to be held at Aoyama Gakuin
University on October 16-17, 1993. The Conference chair was to be Hisao
NISHIOKA (Aoyama Gakuin University). A symposium in honor of Dr. Yasuhiko
OISHI was to be held at the Conference.
The 31st Conference, chaired by Makoto NOBUKUNI, will be held in Niigata
in the middle of October, 1994.

IV. International Conferences
The 12th Pacific Regional Science Conference organized by the Australia and
New Zealand Section of the RSAI was held in Cairns, Australia from July 7 to 12,
1991.
The 2nd Summer Institute of PRSCO was held July 19-24, 1992 in Taipei,
Taiwan. The Institute focused on a range of topics of interest to regional scientists,
including regional development, environmental protection and resource
management, transportation, location theory and spatial competition.
The 13th Pacific Regional Science Conference was organized by the Canadian
Regional Science Association and held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada from
July 10 to 14, 1993. The Conference chair was John M. MUNRO (Simon Frazer
University, Canada). Many participants from Pacific Rim Countries enjoyed fruitfuland constructive discussions. Some 150 papers were read. More than twenty
Japanese members joined the Conference. They were active enough to present
papers and to act as discussants or session chairs.
76

The 14th Conference will be held in Taipei, Taiwan in July, 1995.
Finally, it should be announced that the 5th RSAI World Congress will be heldin Tokyo in May, 1996; the JRSAI is responsible for organization of the Congress.
The World Congress is held every four years, the last one having been held in Palmade Mallorca, Spain in 1992.

V. Awards
The annual JRSAI Awards were established in 1992 in commemoration of ourthirtieth anniversary. The First Distinguished Service A ward was presented to
Yasuhiko OISHI (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University) and Isao ORISHIMO(Teikyo Institute of Technology). The First Best Article Award went to Takao
FUKUCHI (Kyoto University), Yoshio KIMURA (Chukyo University) and Hirotada
KOHNO (University of Tsukuba). The First Promotion Award was presented to
Hitoshi MITOMO (Senshu University).
(Hitoshi MITOMO, Senshu University)77List of Member Associations
1993

THE JAPAN ACCOUNTING ASSOCIATION
日本会計研究学会·Established: 1937
·Number of Members: 1,671·President: Tetsuya MORITA (Nihon University)·Publication: Monthly bulletin, Kaikei (Accounting)·Liaison Office of the Japan Accounting Association
c/o Moriyama Co., Hayashi Building,
1-10, Nishiki-cho, Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Yamanashi Gakuin University on June 2-4, 1994.

THE AGRARIAN HISTORY SOCIETY
土地制度史学会·Established: 1948
·Number of Members: 1,005·Representative Director: Kanji ISHII (The University of Tokyo)·Publication: Tochi Seido Shigaku (The Journal of Agrarian History)一quarterly·The Agrarian History Society
c/o Institute of Social science, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at The University of Nagoya on October 22-23, 1994
with some topics of Contemporary Economy as the main theme.

THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS SOCIETY OF JAPAN(Formerly: THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY OF JAPAN)
日本農業経済学会·Established: 1924
·Number of Members: honorary 29, regular 1,119, associate (students) 101,
cooperative 23·Chairman: Toshio KUROYANAGI (Hokkaido University)·Publication: Bulletin of the Society, Nogyokeizai Kenkyu (Journal ofRural Economics)
一
quarterly·The Agricultural Economics Society of Japan
c/o Business Center for Academic Societies of Japan,
5-16-9, Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at University of Tsukuba on April 1-2, 1994 with thesymposium "Long Term Projection of Japanese Agriculture."79

JAPAN SOCIETY FOR APPLIED MANAGEMENT (JSAM)

実践経営学会·Established: 1967
·Number of Members: 710·President: Takatsugu NATO (Tokyo International University)·Publication: The Practice ofManagement (No. 1-27),"Newsletter" twice a year
·Japan Society for Applied Management (JSAM)
c/o Professor Toshimasa YOKOZAWA
Faculty of Business Administration, Asia University,
5-24-10, Musashisakai, Musashino-shi, Tokyo 180, JapanThe next general meetings will be held at Chukyo University in May and Tokyo International
University in fall, 1994.

THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR ASIAN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC STUDIES

アジア政経学会·Established: 1953
·Number of Members: 830·President: Toshio WATANABE (Tokyo University oflndustry)·Publication: Asia Studieぷ—quarterly·The Japan Association for Asian Political and Economic Studies
c/o Professor Tomoyuki KOJIMA
Department of Policy Management, Keio University5322, Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held in November, 1994.

JAPAN AU回TING ASSOCIATION

日本監査研究学会·Established: 1978
·Number of Members: 423·President: Masaatsu TAKADA (Kobe University)·Publication: Monograph, Research Series--once a year
Modem Auditing-semi-annual journal·Japan Auditing Association
c/o Faculty of Business Administration, Kobe University,
2-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Doshisha University on July 2-3, 1994 with thesymposium "The Auditor's Consideration of an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going
Concern."

80

JAPAN SOCIETY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

日本経営学会·Established: 1926
·Number of Members: 1,996·President: Moriyuki TAJIMA (Hitotsubashi University)·Publication: Keieigaku Ronshu--once a year
·Japan Society of Business Administration
c/o The Institute of Business Research, Hitotsubashi University,
2-1, Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo 186, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Yamanashi Gakuin University in the fall of 1994.

JAPAN BUSINESS ENGLISH ASSOCIATION (JBEA)

日本商業英語学会·Established: 1934
·Number of Members: honorary 1, regular 229, supporting 6: total 236·President: Etsuo SHIMIZU (Kansai University of Foreign Studies)·Publication: Nihon Shogyo Eigo Gakkai Kenkyu Nenpo (JBEA Annual Studies)一once a year
·Japan Business English Association
c/o Professor Etsuo SHIMIZU
Department of Foreign Languages, Kansai University of Foreign Studies,
16-1, Kitakatahoko, Hirakata, Osaka 573, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Waseda University on October 1-2, 1994.

BUSINESS HISTORY SOCIETY OF JAPAN

経営史学会·Established: 1964
·Number of Members: personal 770, institutional 47·President: Hidemasa MORIKAWA (Keio University)·Publication: Japan Business Histoり1Review-—quarterly
Japanese Yearbook for Business History-annually·Business History Society of Japan
c/o Professor Hiroaki YAMAZAKI
Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Waseda University on November 12-13, 1994.

81

JAPAN SOCIETY OF BUSINESS MATHEMATICS

日本経営数学会·Established: 1959
·Number of Members: 134·President: Yoshio IIHARA (Nanzan University)·Publication: Annual Report ofJapan Society of Business Mathematics·Japan Society of Business Mathematics
c/o Professor Yoshio IIHARA, Nanzan University
18, Yamazato-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Aichi Gakuin University on June 11-12, 1994.

JAPAN SOCIETY OF MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION

日本商業学会·Established: 1951
·Number of Members: honorary 3, ordinary 749, supporting companies 9·President: Yoshihiro TAJIMA (Gakushuin University)·Publication: Journal ofJapan Society ofMarketing and Distributio�annually·Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution
Kenkyu-to Building, Meiji University,
1-1, Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Senshu University in May, 1994.

JAPAN SOCIETY FOR COMMODITY SCIENCE

日本商品学会·Established: 1935
·Number of Members: regular 265 including 9 foreigners, supporting 3·Chairman: Ryojiro IWAKI (Chiba University of Commerce)·Publication: Quarterly bulletin, Shohin Kenkyu (Studies on Commodities)·Japan Society for Commodity Sciencec/o Hitotsubashi University,
2-1, Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo 186, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Nihon University on May 21-22, 1994 with thesymposium "The Originality and the Social Meaning of Commodity Science."82

THE ASSOCIATION FOR COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC STUDIES(Formerly: THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY IN SOCIALIST ECONOMIES)
比較経済体制学会·Established: 1967
·Number of Members: 224·Chief Representative: Sei FUJITA (Osaka University of Economics and Law)
·Publication: Bulletin of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies -annually·The Association for Comparative Economic Studies
c/o Professor Riichi TABATA
Osaka City University,
Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Gifu University of Economics on May 19-21, 1994.

JAPAN ACADEMY FOR CONSUMPTION ECONOMY
日本消費経済学会·Established: 1971
·Number of Members: 411·Chief Representative: Shigeru NISHIMURA (Takushoku University)·Publication: Annals of the Japan Academy for Consumption Economy·Japan Academy for Consumption Economy
c/o Faculty of Commerce, Takushoku University
3-4-14, Kohinata-cho, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Kagawa Junior College on June 2-4, 1994 under thetheme "The New Development of Consumption Economy: oriented from the viewpoint of aconsumer.

THE SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY
経済社会学会·Established: 1966
·Number of Members: 310·President: Yoichi UTSUMI (Osaka Gakuin University)·Publication: The Annals of the Society of Economic Sociology·The Society of Economic Sociology
c/o Professor Masaki ADACHI
Faculty of Economics, Kobe University,
2-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Keio University on September 17-18, 1994.

83

THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

経済学史学会·Established: 1950
·Number of Members: 819·President: Takumi TSUDA (Toyama Kokusai University)·Publication: The Annual Bulletin of the Society for the History of Economic Thought
The History of Economic Thought Society Newsletter·The Society for the History of Economic Thought
c/o Professor Tamotsu NISHIZAWA
The Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University,
2-1, Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo 186, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Musashi University in autumn 1994.

THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMICS AND ECONOMETRICS

理論・計量経済学会·Established: 1947
·Number of Members: 2,140·President: Yasuo UEKAWA (Nagasaki Prefectural University)·Publication: The Economic Studies Quarterly·The Japan Association of Economics and Econometrics
c/o The Institute of Statistical Research,
1-18-16, Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Nanzan University on September 23-24, 1994.

THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHERS

経済地理学会·Established: 1954
·Number of Members: 733, patronage members: 10·President: Motosuke ISHII (Meiji University)·Publication: Keizai Chirigaku Nenpo (Annals of the Japan Association ofEconomic
Geographers) 一 quarterly·The Japan Association of Economic Geographers
c/o Division of Economic Geography,
Faculty of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, East Bldg.,
2-1, Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo 186, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Hannan University on May 28-29, 1994 with thesymposium "The Dynamic Structure of Japanese Regional Economy in the 1990s."

84JAPAN ECONOMIC POLICY ASSOCIATION

日本経済政策学会·Established: 1940
·Number of Members: individuals 1,247, institutional 4·President: Taketoshi NOJIRI (Osaka Gakuin University)·Publication: Nippon Keizai Seisaku Gakkai Nenpo (The Annals of the Japan Economic
Policy Association)-annually·Japan Economic Policy Association
c/o Department of Economics, Kobe University,
2-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Aichi Gakuin University on May 28-29, 1994 withthe symposium "A New Socio-economic System of Japan: Rebuilding of the Paradigm."

JAPAN FINANCE ASSOCIATION

日本経営財務研究学会·Established: 1977
·Number of Members: 455·President: Rinya SHIBAKAWA (Hitotsubashi University)·Publication: The Annual Report of the Japan Finance Association-annually·Japan Finance Association
c/o Faculty of Business Administration, Kobe University,
2-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Hitotsubashi University on October 8-9, 1994

JAPAN ACADEMY FOR FOREIGN TRADE (JAFT)

日本貿易学会·Established: 1960
·Number of Members: 370·President: Ryohei ASAOKA (Waseda University)·Publication: The Annual Bulletin of the Japan Academy for Foreign Trade IA汀News、 一twice yearly·Japan Academy for Foreign Trade
c/o Professor Ryohei ASAOKA
School of Commerce, Waseda University,
1-6-1, Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-50, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Kanagawa University on May 21-22, 1994 with thesymposium "The New Development in Japanese Trade."

85

THE JAPANESE SOCIETY OF INSURANCE SCIENCE
日本保険学会·Established: 1940
·Number of Members: honorary 6 including two foreigners, ordinary 1,113
including 27 foreigners, supporting organizations 64·Chairman: Tatsunori SUZUKI (Waseda University)·Publication: Journal of Insurance Science (Hoken-gaku Zasshり一quarterly·The Japanese Society oflnsurance Science
c/o The Life Insurance Association of Japan
3-4-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Senshu University on October 9-10, 1994

JAPANESE ASSOCIATION FOR INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STUDIES
国際会計研究学会·Established: 1984
·Number of Members: 439·President: Kiyoshi OGAWA (Waseda University)·Publication: Kokusai Kaikei Kenkyu Gakkai Nenpo (Annual Report of Japanese Association
for International Accounting Studies)·Japanese Association for International Accounting Studies
c/o Professor Kiyoshi OGAWA
School of Commerce, Waseda University,
1-6-1, Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-50, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Kwansei Gakuin University on September 23-24,
1994 with the symposium "Education of International Accounting."

THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
国際経済学会·Established: 1950
·Number of Members: individuals 1,141, corporate 19·President: Kiyoshi IKEMOTO (Kobe University)·Publication: Kokusai-Keizai (International Economy)-annually·The Japan Society oflntemational Economics
c/o Professor Kazuhiro IGAWA
Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University
2-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Niigata University on October 15-16, 1994:
definite topics to be discussed are not yet decided.

86

JAPAN LOGISTICS SOCIETY
日本物流学会·Established: 1983
·Number of Members: Individual 287, corporate 18·President: Masao UNO (Josai Kokusai University)·Publication: Journal of the Japan Logistics Society·Japan Logistics Society
c/o Professor Osamu NISHIZAWA
School of Commerce, Waseda University,
1-6-1, Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-50, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Hannan

1994.

NIPPON ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
日本経営教育学会·Established: 1979
·Number of Members: individual 781, corporate 20·Representative Manager: Masao OSUGA (University of Electro Communications)·Publication: Annals of the Nippon Academy of Management Education, published by theadministrative office of the academy·Nippon Academy of Management Education
c/o Yamashiro Keiei Kenkyujo
4-8-4, lidabashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Senshu University in June, 1994.

THE ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY
経営哲学学会·Established: 1984
·Number of Members: 293·Representative Manager: Mamoru SANO (Aichi Gakuin University)·Publication: Keiei Tetsugaku Ronshu (The Annual Report of the Academy of Management
Philosophy)·The Academy of Management Philosophy
c/o Keie血nri Jisshu-shitsu, Aichi Gakuin University,
12, Araike, Iwasaki, Nisshin-cho, Aichi 470-01, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Meiji Gakuin University in September, 1994.

87

THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
金融学会·Established: 1943
·Number of Members: 961·President: Toshiya HANAWA (Hitotsubashi University)·Publication: Bulletin of the Japan Society ofMonetary Economics-biannually·The Japan Society of Monetary Economics
c/o Toyo Keizai Shinpo-sha
1-2-1, Hongoku-cho, Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Seijo University in June, 1994.

THE ACADEMIC ASSOCIATION FOR ORGANIZATIONAL SCIENCE
組織学会·Established: 1959
·Number of Members: individual 1,233, company 27·President: Koichi SHIMOKAWA (Hosei University)·Publication: Organizational Science一quarterly·The Academic Association for Organizational Science
c/o Keiei Kenkyujo,
1-36, Kanda Jinbo-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, JapanThe next meeting will be held at Aomori Public College on June 25-26, 1994.

JAPAN SOCIETY FOR PERSONNEL AND LABOR RESEARCH
日本労務学会·Established: 1970
·Number of Members: 708·Representative Director: Minoru HARADA (Kyushu International University)·Publication: Annual Report ofJapan Society for Personnel and Labor Research·Japan Society for Personnel and Labor Research
c/o Professor Minoru HARADA
Faculty of Law and Economics, Kyushu International University,
5-9-1, Edamitsu, Yahatahigashi-ku, Kitakyushu 805, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Nihon University in June, 1994 with the unified
theme "Human Renaissance: Searching for Humanization of Work and Life."

88

JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR PLANNING ADMINISTRATION

日本計画行政学会·Established: 1977
·Number of Members: 1,297·President: Hiroshi KATO (Keio University)·Publication: Planning Administration--quarterly·Japan Association for Planning Administration
c/o The Institute of Statistical Research,
1-8-16, Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held in Osaka on October 28-29, 1994 with the symposium"Environment, culture and urban function opened to the world in a bay coastal region. - What
the city should do now."

JAPAN SOCIETY OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

経済理論学会·Established: 1959
·Number of Members: 1,047·Chief Representative: Mitsuhiko TSURUTA (Chuo University)·Publication: The Annual Bulletin of the Society ofPolitical Economy-annually·Japan Society of Political Economy
c/o Professor Mitsuhiko TSURUTA, Chuo University
742, Higashinakano, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-03, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Ritsumeikan University on October 15-16, 1994.

THE POPULATION ASSOCIATION OF JAPAN

日本人口学会·Established: 1947
·Number of Members: 370, honorary 5, special 3·President: Hidehiko RAMA (Seijo University)·Publication: Jinkogaku Kenkyu (The Journal ofPopulation Studies)·Population Association of Japan
c/o Institute of Population Problems,
Ministry of Health and Welfare,
1-2-2, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Meikai University on June 3- 4, 1994 with thesymposium "Is it possible to control the global population under 10 billion?"

89

JAPAN PORT ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION
日本港湾経済学会·Established: 1962
·Number of Members: 350·Representative Manager: Toshiro KITAMI (Aoyama Gakuin University)·Publication: Kowan Keizai Kenkyu (The Annual Report of the Japan Port Economics
Association)·Japan Port Economics Association
c/o Yokohama Yamashita-Futo, Kowan Keizai Center
279-1, Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held in Nagasaki on October 20-22, 1994 with thesymposium "Asia Economic Developments and the Roles of Port and Harbors."

THE JAPAN INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC FINANCE(Formerly: JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF FISCAL SCIENCE)
日本財政学会·Established: 1940 '·Number of Members: 640·President: Hidehiro ICHIKAWA (Chuo University)·Publication: Annual Report of the Japan Institute ofPublic Finance·The Japan Institute of Public Financec/o The Institute of Statistical Research,
1-18-16, Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Daito Bunk.a University in fall, 1994.

THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF PUBLIC UTILITY ECONOMICS
公益事業学会·Established: 1949
·Number of Members: regular members 387, corporation members 75·President: Kunio OSHIMA (Surugadai University)·Publication: Journal ofPublic Utility Economics·Koeki Jigyo Gakkai (The Japan Society of Public Utility Economics)
c/o Info Com Research,
1-12-31, Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Hitotsubashi University on June 3-4, 1994.

90

THE JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL

日本地域学会·Established: 1962
·Number of Members: 582·President: Takao FUKUCHI (Kyoto University)·Publications: Studies in Regional Science (Chiikigaku Kenkyu)一the Journal ofthe Japan
Section of RSAI Vol. 22, No. 1 (in Japanese) & No. 2 (in English)一annually·The Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International
c/o Professor Hirotada KOHNO
Institute of Socio-Economic Planning, Tsukuba University,
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Aoyama Gakuin University on October 16-17, 1994.

JAPAN RISK MANAGEMENT SOCIETY

日本リスクマネジメント学会·Established: 1978
·Number of Members: individual 451, supporting 37·Representative Management: Toshiaki KAMEi (Kansai University)·Publication: !ARMS Report (Risk and Insurance Management)·Japan Risk Management Society
c/o Professor Toshiaki KAMEi
School of Commerce, Kansai University,
35-3-3, Yamate-cho, Suita-shi, Osaka 565, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Shimonoseki City College on September 25-26,1994.

THE SOCIETY FOR THE ECONOMIC STUDIES OF SECU印TIES

証券経済学会·Established: 1966
·Number of Members: 480·President: Hiroo HAMADA (Osaka City University)·Publication: Annals of the Society for the Economic Studies of Securitie ぷ-annually·Society for the Economic Studies of Securities
c/o Japan Securities Research Institute,Tokyo Shoken Kaikan,
1-5-8, Nihonbashi, Kayaba-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Soka University on June 11-12, 1994.

91

THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL POLICY

社会政策学会·Established: 1950
·Number of Members: 860·Representative Manager: Yuji KATO (Senshu University)·Publication: Shakai-Seisaku Gakkai Nenpo (Annal of the Society for the Study of Social
Policy)·Society for the Study of Social Policy
c/o Professor Yuji KATO
Faculty of Economics, Senshu University,
2-1-1, Higashimita, Tama-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 214, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Saitama University on May 28-29, 1994 with thesymposium "White Collar and Labour Problems."

SOCIO-ECONOMIC HISTORY SOCIETY

社会経済史学会·Established: 1930
·Number of Members: 1,182·Representative Diたctor: Akira HAYAMI (International Research Center for Japanese Studies)·Publication: Shakai Keizai Shigaku (Socio-Economic History)-bimonthly·Shakai Keizaishi Gakkai (Socio-Economic History Society)c/o Professor Hiroshi KITO
Sophia University,
7, Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Kobe University on May 28-29, 1994.

JAPAN STATISTICAL SOCIETY

日本統計学会·Established: 1931
·Number of Members: 1,321·President: Minoru SHIOTANI (Meisei University)·Publication: Journal of the Japan Statistical Society-biannually·Japan Statistical Society
c/o The Institute of Statistical Mathematics,
4-6-7, Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106, JapanThe next annual meeting will be hosted by The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Tokyo,
and held on July 23-26, 1994.

92

JAPAN SOCIETY OF TRANSPORTATION ECONOMICS

日本交通学会·Established: 1941
·Number of Members: 366 regular including 8 advisory (individual) and 43 special(corporations)·President: Yukihide OKANO (Soka University)·Publication: Kotsugaku Kenkyu (Annual Report of Transportation Economics)·Japan Society of Transportation Economics (Nihon Kotsu Gakkai)
c/o Unyu-Chosa-Kyoku,
7-1-1, Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Rissho University in November, 1994.

NIPPON URBAN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

日本地方自治研究学会·Established: 1984
·Number of Members: individual 264, group 6·Representative Manager: Hiroshi YOSHIDA (University of Marketing and Distribution
Science)·Publication: Journal of Urban Management Research (Annals of Nippon Urban Management
Research Association)·Nippon Urban Management Research Association
7-2, Minami-Ogimachi, Kita-ku, Osaka 530, JapanThe next annual meeting will be held at Akita University of Economics and Law in early
September, 1994.

93

New Membership 1993
ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIALIST ENTERPRISE

社会主義経営学会·ESTABLISHED: 5 APRIL, 1976
·OBJECTIVE:
The comprehensive study of socialist enterprise·NUMBER OF MEMBERS:
individual 258·REPRESENTATIVE:
Kyoichi FUTAGAMI (Waseda University)·ANNUAL MEETINGS:
Nationwide meeting once a year (The next annual meeting will be held at
Rikkyo University on March 19-20, 1994.)·PUBLICATION:
The A皿als of the Association for the Study of Socialist Enterprise·ADDRESS:ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIALIST ENTERPRISE
c/o Professor Kyoichi FUTAGAMI
School of Commerce, Waseda University,
1-6-1, Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-50, Japan

94

This Information Bulletin is designed to serve as an introduction of the academic activities ofmember associations of the Union to economic societies throughout the world. Copies will
be distributed by the secretariat of the Union to libraries and institutions in other countries
whose names have been given by member associations of the Union.