No.28
ISSN 0289 - 8721

Information Bulletin ofO

C ASSOC
MI
I

S
ION
AT

ION OF NANU

AL ECOONNI
TThe Union of National
Economic Associationsin Japan

日本経済学会連合

2008

TH
E

Editorial Committee
Teruo MORI, Waseda University
Yukiko ADACHI, Tokyo Fuji University
Nobuhide TANAKA, Gakushuin University
Tomoo MARUKAWA, University of Tokyo
Masao TSUJI, Waseda University
Hiroshi KOHARA, Takushoku University
Shinjiro HAGIWARA, Yokohana National University
Hisakazu KATO, Meiji University
Toshihiro KATO, Chuo Gakuin University
Hisahiko SAITO, Chiba University of Commerce
Directors of the Union
President
Kenichi ENATSU, Waseda University
Yasuo OKAMOTO, Bunkyo Gakuin University
Toshio KIKUCHI, Nihon University
Mitsuhiko TSURUTA, Meiji University
Yasuhiro OGURA, Toyo University
Hiroshi OTSUKI, Waseda University
Ryuhei WAKASUGI, Kyoto University
Fumihiko HIRUMA, Waseda University
Yukiko FUKAGAWA, Waseda University
Nobuhisa OBU, Wako University
Secretary General
Masataka OTA, Waseda University
AuditorTakashi HASHIMOTO, Aoyama Gakuin University
Emeritus
Takashi SHIRAISHI, Keio University
Masao Uno, Waseda University
Osamu NISHIZAWA, Waseda 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 50th
anniversary in 2000, as the sole nationwide federation of associations of scholars and experts on economics,
commerce, and business administration. In order to obtain membership an association is subject to an
examination of its academic work. As of 2008, the Union had a membership of 63 associations, as listed
on pp.79-99.
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 ofmembers to overseas conferences, (3) the holding and supporting of international conferences in Japan,(4) providing financial assistance to member associations who invite foreign scholars to Japan, 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 ona 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 the Fifth World Congressof the IEA in Tokyo from August 29 to September 3, 1978. The Union joined the International Institute of
Public Finance in holding the Institute’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 Conference on “Institutions in a New Dynamic Society”
held between 15 and 17 September 1987, and hosted the 1996 IEA Tokyo Round Table Conference
between 16 and 19 December, on the theme “The Institutional Foundation of Economic Development inEast Asia.” To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, the Union held a special lecture meeting on May 25, 2000.
Three lecturers were invited to speak on the theme, “The reforms that the 21st Century will bring to theworld economy, the Japanese economy, and Japanese management.”
The Union celebrated in 1980 the 30th anniversary of its founding by launching a variety of activities,
including the publication of The Information Bulletin. Prof. Paul Snowden of Waseda University acts aseditorial adviser.

Address : Secretariat of the Union, c/o School of Commerce, Waseda University,
Nishiwaseda 1-6-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8050, Japan.

CONTENTS
Page
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION, JAPAN.................................................1
BUSINESS MATHEMATICS, JAPAN SOCIETY OF.........................................................10
COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC STUDIES, THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR..............18
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING, THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF......................25
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION, JAPAN SOCIETY OF..........................................32
MONETARY ECONOMICS, JAPAN SOCIETY OF............................................................38
POLITICAL ECONOMY, JAPAN SOCIETY OF............................................................47
POPULATION ASSOCIATION OF JAPAN, THE....................................................60
PORT ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, JAPAN...........................................................64
SECURITIES, THE SOCIETY FOR THE ECONOMIC STUDIES OF.........................70

LIST OF MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS ..............................................................................79JAPAN SOCIETY OF BUSINESS MATHEMATHICS

1. History of the Society
The Japan Society of Business Mathematics was founded in 1959 with the aim ofpromoting research and applications of quantitative approaches in business. The Society
became a member of The Union of National Economic Associations in Japan in 1960.
The Society had annual conferences and thirty volumes of journals over its first twenty
years. Then at the twentieth conference in 1978 we changed our Society’s Japanesename from Nihon Shogyo Sugakukai to Nihon Keiei Sugakukai. Shogyo, keiei, andsugakukai mean respectively “commerce”, “management”, and “mathematics society”
in Japanese. Besides, the compound shogyo sugaku often means rather “accounting
calculation theories and techniques.” In order to widen our research field and attract
more business and research colleagues, the name was changed. Although the name waschanged, we have never changed the Society’s concept, promoting research andapplications of quantitative approaches in business, throughout our history.
The latest journal is Volume 28, No.2, which is the 66th journal since the Society
was founded. The most recent conference was held at Surugadai University on June 7th
and 8th, 2008.
2. Outline of the Society
No company manager nor public officer can successfully achieve their missions
without mathematical or quantitative techniques. Their personal experiences are also
important. However, they can fail to decide appropriately without objective views
obtained by data processing and logical interpretations. Moreover, making implicit
knowledge explicit with scientific schemes is essential to expand organisations’ abilities
and to achieve succession to following generations. Besides, the circumstances arerecently changing speedily. Therefore, the real world has a thirst for more convenient,easier, and more precise methods, which people expect researchers and academies toprovide. Our Society encourages our members to accomplish those important research
activities. Our members’ research interests are wide so that researchers can easily findtheir collaboration partners. Main research fields of our members are below.
z Investment theory and practicez Production managementz Management sciencez Operations research

10z Fuzzy theoryz Business games (serious games)z Computer simulationz Marketing sciencez Education for school children, university students, and adults
An annual conference is scheduled in early summer and a casual research meetingin autumn every year. The annual conference gathers papers from a broad range ofinterests. The research meeting usually has a particular theme and invites a limited
number of speakers. We enjoy discussion in a casual atmosphere.
The Society journal’s name is Journal of the Japan Society of Business
Mathematics; we publish it twice a year.
3. The Latest Annual Meeting
We held a special annual meeting in 2008; it was our 50th anniversary meeting. It
was held on 31 May and 1 June 2008 with two invited speakers’ lectures and elevenacademic paper presentations.
Invited speakers were Professor Mamoru OHBAYASHI (School of Commerce,
Senshu University) and Professor Tadashi FUJITA (Chairperson of Reischauer Graduate
School Exploratory Committee, former Professor at International Christian University
and Tokyo International University).
Professor OHBAYASHI presented many court cases in which mathematical analyses
and data were improperly used and stressed the importance of education of mathematics
for business people.
Professor FUJITA talked about the past and future of this Society. He pointed outthat Japanese people now need logical and mathematical thinking more than ever inorder to communicate or negotiate with each other and make decisions in highly
complex situations. He indicated the obligation of this Society to educate people in all
business areas.
Academic paper presentations were collected from a wide area: calculation
algorithms for manufacturing, operations research education using multimedia,
econometrics, financial engineering, AHP, business datum analyses, and fuzzy theory.
Each paper had 40 minutes for presentation and 20 minutes for discussion. Participants
were about 50 people.

11

At the business meeting, The Society Award 2008 was given to Professor Eiichiro
TAKAHAGI (School of Commerce, Senshu University), praising his high quality researchon fuzzy theory and its applications.
4. The Society’s Projects
Every student even in undergraduate school needs mathematical and logicalthinking skills as an individual adult person. However, lack of a fundamental
mathematical background hinders undergraduate education progress in Japan. The
Society has organised two funded research projects to improve the situation.
The first project was “A Study for Formulating Business Mathematics andMethods of Developing Common Teaching Materials” in 1999 – 2001.
The second project was “A Study for Developing New Business Mathematics andTeaching Methods for Undergraduate Education, especially Social Sciences” in 2001 –2003.
Both projects received a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research and continued for
two years each. Our Society is planning a new project to study and to develop
mathematical undergraduate education further.
5. Journal Articles
We publish an academic research journal, Journal of the Japan Society of Business
Mathematics, twice a year. Here is a list of recent papers. The words in the titles are asin the original.
Vol. 28, No.1 (2007)
Authors: Mitsuru KATOH, Musashi Institute of Technology
Satoshi KISHINO, Musashi Institute of Technology
Title: A New Technique for Calculation: Projection Method
Type: Survey article
Pp.: 1 – 20.
Authors: Kazuhiro TAKEYASU, Osaka Prefecture University
Yasuo ISHII, Hankyu Corporation
Title: Simplified Machine Diagnosis Techniques Utilizing System Parameter Distanceof AR Model
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 21 – 34

12

Authors: Kazuhiro TAKEYASU, Osaka Prefecture University
Yasuo ISHII, Hankyu Corporation
Title: Revised Residual-Based Approach Using Simplified Calculation Method
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 35 – 43.
Authors: Jing-Hui DONG, Toyo University
Yoshio IIHARA
Title: Technology Improvements, Regulations, and Optimal Timing of New Technology
Adoption
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 45 – 56.
Volume: Vol. 28, No.2 (2007)
Authors: Yoshimasa OKU, Ryutsu Keizai University
Masakazu MAEZURU, Osaka University of Economics and Law
Title: Market Segmentation Formed by Heaviness Coefficients of INDSCAL
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 61 – 72.
Authors: Hiroyuki WAKINAGA, Nanzan University
Katsushige SAWAKI, Nanzan University
Title: An Optimal Ordering Policy for Seasonal Products with Discount Sales
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 73 – 82.
Author: Isao USUI, Yokohama National University
Title: A Problem with Applying AHP to Portfolio Management
Type: Suggestion
Pp.: 83 – 92.
Author: Akira UCHINO, Senshu University
Title: A Basic Discussion on High School Mathematics—Course Guidelines of
Education Ministry and Textbooks
Type: Note13

Pp.: 93 – 102.
Vol. 27, No. 1 (2005)
Author: Toshiki SHIMODA, Gakushuin University
Title: A Diffusion Model for ETC in the Expressway and Toll Road Business
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 1 – 16.
Authors: Jing-Hui DONG, Toyo University
Yoshio IIHARA
Title: The Pricing of Israeli Call Option
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 17 – 28.
Author: Yoshitoku FUKUNAGA, Nakamura Gakuen University
Title: Transformation of Management Issues of Business Ventures Directing toward
Diversification in Different Growth Phase
Type: Academic Article
Pp.: 29 – 39.
Author: Yoshimasa OKU, Ryutsu Keizai University
Takenori MOTOMURA, Kawamura Gakuen Woman’s University
Kaduo HIRAKI
Title: Prediction of Response Variable Values by Means of Regression Trees and its
Potentiality
Type: Note
Pp.: 41 – 49.
Vol. 27, No. 2 (2006)
Author: Yoshio IIHARA
Title: Meaning of Final Yield on Bonds
Type: Proposal
Pp.: 55 – 58.
Authors: Yoshimasa OKU, Ryutsu Keizai University
Masakazu MAEZURU, Osaka Keizaihouka University

14

Title: Usual Application of INDSCAL and its Effective Use in Data Mining
Type: Survey article
Pp.: 59 – 70.
Author: Yukari SHIROTA, Gakushuin University
Title: Efficient Method for Generation of Web-Based Courseware for Mathematics
Type: Note
Pp.: 71 – 81.
Author: Yoichiro NISHIMURA, Kanagawa University
Title: Unused Patents Open to Technology Market and Complementary Assets: New
Evidence from the Japanese Patent Level Data
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 83 – 99.
Authors: Jing-Hui DON, Toyo University
Yoshio IIHARA
Title: Project Valuation under Competitive Entry
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 101 – 111.
Author: Takashi IWAMOTO, Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd.
Title: Plant and Equipment Investment Evaluation with Real Option
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 113 – 125.
Vol. 26, No. 1 (2004)
Author: Yoichiro NISHIMURA, Hitotsubashi University
Title: The Allocation of Control Rights on Innovations for the R&D Activity: An
Extension of Aghion and Tirole Model
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 1 – 15.
Authors: Tetsuma FURIHATA, Tokyo University of Science
Nobuhide TANAKA, Gakushuin University
Akira UCHINO, Senshu University

15

Title: Hierarchical Destination Choice and Retail Agglomeration: A Simulation
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 17 – 34
Author: Yutaka TAKAHASHI, Senshu University
Title: A Study of the System Dynamics Modelling and Code Producing Using UML
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 35 – 46.
Authors: Yoshio IIHARA
Jinghui DONG, Toyo University
Title: Valuation of Corporate Social Responsibility
Type: Note
Pp.: 47 – 56.
Vol. 26, No. 2 (2004)
Authors: Yumi ASAHI, Tokyo University of Science
Takashi NAMATAME, Senshu University
Title: Relation Analysis between Rand Data and Preference of Human Relationship ―Analysis of Nordlie’s Data
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 61 – 75.
Author: Yukari SHIROTA, Gakushuin University
Title: Evaluation of Automatically Generated Web-Based Courseware for Mathematics
by a Questionnaire to Students
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 77 – 89.
Author: Yoshimasa OKU, Ryutsu Keizai University
Title: Application of Conjoint Analysis to Marketing of Overseas Travels and its Data
Collection Method
Type: Academic article
Pp.: 91 – 104.
Authors: P. D. NIMAL, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Shiga University

16

Jinghui DON, Toyo University
Minoru YOSHIDA, Shiga University
Yoshio IIHARA
Title: An Efficient Algorithm for Binominal Option Pricing
Type: Survey article
Pp.: 105 – 116(Yutaka TAKAHASHI, Senshu University)

17

THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC STUDIES
Brief history of the JACES
The predecessor of the Japan Association for Comparative Economic Studies(JACES), “the Socialist Economy Study Group,” was established in November 1963 asa subdivision of the Japan Society of Political Economy. The “Group” was renamed“The Society of Socialist Economy” in November 1966. After the dissolution of theformer Soviet Union and the collapse of the socialist bloc, the Society was renamed“The Japan Association for Comparative Economic Studies” in May 1993. Accordingly,
the mission of the association changed from the study of socialist economies to thestudy of economic systems. JACES had a membership of 100 in 1970, 200 in 1980,
and currently 290.
During the early days of JACES, when it was named the Socialist Economy Study
Group, the studies conducted by its members centered around theoretical issues ofsocialist economies. The theme of the first conference of the “Group” held in 1963 wasUnderstanding of the Law of Socialist Economics. JACES, however, was eager tograsp the realities of the socialist economies from its early stage. The theme of theseventh annual conference held in 1967 was Distribution According to Labor andMaterial Incentives. JACES has also been quick to pick up the new issues related toeconomic reform of the socialist economies. The theme of the 22nd annual conference
held in 1984 was Small Production and Business Units in Socialist Economies. The
dissolution of the former Soviet Union and the collapse of socialist regimes in Central
and Eastern Europe posed new challenges to the scholars of socialist economies.
JACES quickly responded to this challenge. The theme of the 32nd annual conference
held in 1993 was The Collapse of Socialism in Soviet Union and Eastern Europe ― Its
Roots, Current Situation, and Prospects. Since being renamed JACES, the Association
has redefined its scope of study and added new fields of study to its mission, which isreflected in the theme of the 45th annual conference, Various Types of Market
Economy ― Developing Economies and Transitional Economies.
Recent Conferences (2003-2007)
Since 2002, JACES holds conferences twice a year. A two-day conference is heldin June and a one-day conference is held in late October or early November. The venue
and the main topics discussed at the conferences during the past five years are as18

follows.
The 43rd Annual Conference was held at the University of Tokyo during June
6th-7th, 2003. The main session was entitled Transitional Economies from a Historical
Perspective, which invited three historians specializing in Russia, China, and Hungary.
Other sessions included “Small Business in the Transition Period,” “Social Security
System in Transitional Economies,” “The Global Environmental Problem andEconomic System,” “Regional Development and Regional Linkages in Transitional
Economies,” “Creating a Northeastern Asian Economic Region,” and “Comparative
Quantitative Economic Analysis of Environmental Problems,” each having three
speakers.
The Second Autumn Conference was held at Osaka City University on Novemberst

1 , 2003, with five speakers. One of the presentations was entitled “An Accounting
Approach to the Russian Economy.”
The 44th Annual Conference was held at Osaka University of Economics during
June 4th-5th, 2004. The sessions included “Eastern Enlargement of the European
Union”, “The Current Situation of the North Korean Economy”, “The Reform,
Development, and Environment of Central Asia”, “The Current Status of theNortheastern Asian Region”, each having two or three speakers.
The Third Autumn Conference was held at Chuo University on November 27th,
2004. There were sixteen presentations at the conference, including “Hungary’s
Transformation and its Labor Market.”
The 45th Annual Conference was held at J.F. Oberlin University during June
4th-5th, 2005. Its main theme was Various Types of Market Economy ― Developing
Economies and Transitional Economies, which gathered twelve presentations focusing
on the issues of economic development in Russia, Belarus, Hungary, Romania, Egypt,
China, Laos, Thailand, and Brazil.
The Fourth Autumn Conference was held at Meiji University on October 29th,
2005. There were twelve presentations, including “Identifying the Structural Changesof China’s Spatial Production Linkages Using a Qualitative Input-Output Analysis.”
The 46th Annual Conference was held at Hitotsubashi University during June
10th-11th, 2006. The main theme was New Horizons of Comparative Economic Studies― Theoretical and Empirical Studies, which gathered three presentations regarding themethod of comparative economic system research, and two presentations regarding theregional disparities of China and Russia.

19

The Fifth Autumn Conference was held at Kobe University on October 28th, 2006.
There were ten presentations, including “Regional Migration in Russia.”
The 47th Annual Conference was held at University of Toyama during June 2nd-3rd,
2007. The main session was entitled Development and Environment in East Asia,
which had three presentations. A special session entitled “Rethinking the 90th
Anniversary of the Russian Revolution ― in Retrospect of the Forty Years of JACES”
was organized, which invited six senior scholars who actively participated in theactivities of JACES during its early days.
The Sixth Autumn Conference was held at Hosei University on October 27th,
2007. The main session was entitled Has the Transition to Market Economy Ended?
which had three speakers focusing on Russia, China, and Romania, respectively. Also
worth noting is that a joint research workshop with the European Association ofComparative Economic Studies (EACES) entitled “Exploring Russian Corporations:
New Empirical Evidence of Firm Organization and Corporate Governance” wasorganized, with two speakers from Russia and one from Japan.
The summary statistics of the themes presented in eleven conferences held during
2003-2008, excluding the special lectures made by guest speakers, presented in Table 1,
reveal the distribution of discipline and regional specialization of JACES members.
Table 1 Summary Statistics of the Themes of the Presentations in JACES Conferences during 2003-2008
Subtotal
Agriculture
Management
Industry
Social Welfare
Politics
Macroeconomy
History
Labor
Foreign Direct
Investment
Environment
EnergySociety, Population
Trade
TheoryTransition, ReformEnterprise
Economic
Development,
Regional Economy
Finance
Russia and former SSR
China
Central and Eastern Europe
North Korea
Central Asia
VietnamMongolia
India
Other regions, Not Specified
Subtotal

655

5 10 29 3 2
2 2 2 1
2 2
2
2
1

5
21

1 1 5 11 3
1 7
18 18 15 14 12 10 9 9

20

4 6 5
2 2 1
3 1
1 1
1
1 1

2 3 3 2 3
3 1 551 1 1
1 230
4 2 1 1 2 3
29
1
7
5
2
4
1
2
1
1
1 1
1
37
7 7 6 6 5 5 4 3 1

The 48th Annual Conference (2008)
To show the recent interests of JACES members, the details of the most recent
annual conference are described here. The conference was held at Takasaki City
University of Economics during May 31st-June 1st, 2008. The main sessions included“Various Approaches to Comparative Study of Systems” and “Growth and
Employment.”
In the former session, Yasuhiro MATSUI, a historian from Kyushu University,presented “Stalinism as a Viewpoint of Comparative Study.” MATSUI shed light onurban dwellers’ communities organized in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. He
stressed the existence of citizens’ autonomous organizations even under Stalinism,
which is usually characterized as a totalitarian regime with a strong state and atomized
individuals. He was followed by Tadayuki HAYASHI, a political scientist from Hokkaido
University, who presented “A Comparative Study of Political Party Systems in Central
and Eastern Europe.” HAYASHI analyzed the party systems of Poland, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary since the 1990s, and categorized them according toSartoli’s classification. He then moved on to categorizing the characters of politicalparties in Central and Eastern Europe using the dichotomy of protectionism vs.
economic liberalism, and secular-universalism vs. conservative-nationalism. Noriko
IGARASHI, a sociologist from Tenri University, presented “Will Housewives Become a
Popular Way of Living for Women in Former Soviet Socialist Republics?” Shereviewed the history of division of labor between sexes in Russia, Georgia, Uzbekistan,
and Tatarstan. Based on questionnaire surveys in these countries, she reported that in
Russia, men wished their spouses to be housewives, but they might not necessarily
have the economic condition to let their spouses be housewives. Akira UEGAKI, an
economist from Seinan Gakuin University, presented “the Meaning of Comparison.”He argued that, unlike the other fields of social science, “comparison” had notnecessarily been regarded as a fruitful method of research in economics. However,
UEGAKI, citing Shigekatsu YAMAGUCHI — a Marxian economist — , stresses thatcomparison can be a fruitful way in studying transitional economies, because real-life
economy is not a pure market economy as described in economics textbooks. He
argues that politics, the endowment of resources, international economic relationships,
and international political and military systems influence the trajectory of real-life
economy, but these factors cannot be explained by economics. Therefore, comparison
and typology are more promising methods in analyzing transitional economies than21

pure economics.
In another session entitled “Growth and Employment,” Tsuyoshi ISHIKAWA(Shimane University) presented “Russia’s Labor Statistics.” Through a careful study ofstatistics, ISHIKAWA stressed the importance of the machinery sector in explaining thechange of the employment structure in Russia. He was followed by Tomoo MARUKAWA(University of Tokyo), who presented “Regional Disparities of Unemployment and the‘Turning Point’ in the Chinese Economy.” He showed a big regional disparity in theunemployment rate in China, ranging from more than 40 percent in some mining cities
to less than three percent in most of the rural areas and some coastal cities. He thenmoved on to examining the recent arguments by some Chinese scholars that the supply
of abundant cheap labor from rural areas which once seemed inexhaustible was coming
to an end. On the basis of a rural household survey in Sichuan, he showed that there
still remained plenty of surplus labor in rural areas. However, MARUKAWA argued,
peasants seemed to remain in agriculture in order to retain their quasi-ownership ofland. Takahiro SATO (Kobe University) presented “The Effect of Policy Change on
Manufacturing Employment in India.” SATO pointed out that along with the steady
growth of the Indian economy, “de-industrialization” of employment was under way.
He suspected that the Industrial Dispute Act, which restricts layoffs by large
enterprises, has induced Indian enterprises to adopt capital intensive technologies andlimited the growth of industrial employment. He examined this hypothesis by ananalysis of panel data of State-level statistics.
Besides these two sessions, there were seven presentations: Daisuke FUJII (Kobe
University) presented “County-level finance in China and its relationship witheconomic development.” Using county-level data from Sichuan Province, he examined
whether the expansion of the county budget or public investment accelerated thegrowth of regional GDP. Taro IKEDA (Kobe University) presented “An analysis of
Russian monetary policy from the viewpoint of interest rates.” He examined the rule ofRussian interest rate policy. Hideo KOIDE (Seinan Gakuin University) presented “Waste
disposal policy and some estimations on social costs.” He introduced some estimations
on the social costs of waste disposal conducted in Europe, and discussed the optimum
charge policy towards waste disposal. Hiroichi IEMOTO (Nagoya Gakuin University)presented “The realities of Poland’s labor market after entering the European Union.”
He discussed the rise of emigrant labor from Poland to other EU member states after
Poland’s joining the EU and its impact on the domestic economy. Takeshi YANAGIHARA

22

(Kyoto University) presented “Cooperation in pension reform in EU and Hungary’s
pension reform.” He examined the influence of the “open method of coordination” of
the EU to Hungary’s pension reform. Akio MORI (Tamagawa University) presented“The transition to market economy in Ukraine and the ‘Orange Revolution’ ― Theoligarchy’s rule of the state.” He argued that privatization of state-owned enterprises in
Ukraine resulted in rampant asset stripping. Oligarchy’s rule of the state hadstrengthened through such stripping. After the “Orange Revolution,” the new
government declared its intention to rectify the unfair privatization conducted in thepast, but this attempt may be undermined by the oligarchs. Masakazu IMAI (Takasaki
City University of Economics) presented “Considering Russian International
Business.” He pointed out the expansion of Russian multinational enterprises, andargued that these enterprises should be analyzed more from the viewpoint ofinternational business studies.
The Japanese Journal of Comparative Economics
JACES publishes The Japanese Journal of Comparative Economics twice a year,
which was renamed from the former Bulletin of the Japanese Association for
Comparative Economic Studies. The articles and research notes contained in the
Journal are reviewed by two anonymous referees. The first volume of the Journal was
published after the first conference of “the Socialist Economy Study Group” in 1963.
Since the first issue until recently, the Journal’s main purpose was to publish the papers
presented at the annual conference. Since 2001, the Journal accepts submissions fromall members, not only those who made presentations at the conference, and all
submissions are subject to the examination by anonymous referees.
The most recent issue is volume 45, number 1, published in January 2008, whichcontains the following articles:“Meaning and Context of the East German ‘Central Decision’ in April 1988:
Development of the East German Movement for Emigration and the Response to it by
the State and Church,” by Kunihiko AOKI (Tohoku University). This article investigates
the relationship between the “Central Decision” made by East German authorities in
April 1988 and the political situation since January.
“Inflation Convergence in Central and Eastern Europe towards a Eurozone: A Panel
Data Unit Root Analysis,” by Takeshi INOUE (Institute of Developing Economies). This
paper is an empirical analysis of whether the inflation rate of Central and Eastern23

European countries has converged towards the level of Germany from 1995 to 2000
and/or to the Eurozone from 2001 to 2006.
“The Problem of External Imbalance and Flow of Funds in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” by
Yosuke TSUCHIDA. This research note points out that the external imbalance of Bosnia
and its economic growth driven by consumption are supported by consumer credit
from foreign banks.
Some simple statistics of the articles and research notes published in the past eight
issues of the Journal may roughly reveal the research interests of our members:
13 articles were on the politics, inflation, monetary economy, foreign direct investment,banking, economic system, pension reform, and law in Central and Eastern Europe.
10 articles were on poverty issues, economic history, foreign trade, foreign direct
investment, energy, economic reform, labor law, banking, and population in Russia andformer Soviet Socialist Republics.
Four articles were on the economic system of North Korea.
Two articles were on private enterprises and state owned enterprises in China.
One article was on the manufacturing industry in Vietnam.
One article was on the regional disparity in Mongolia.
Three articles were on the theory of the role of government and environmental issues.
(Tomoo MARUKAWA, University of Tokyo)

24

THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING (JAMA)
The Japanese Association of Management Accounting (JAMA), founded in 1991, isthe premier academic organization devoted to the study and promotion of knowledge
about management accounting. The Association is a voluntary organization ofindividuals interested in management accounting research and education. The
approximately 800 of JAMA’s members are categorized as follows:(a) Full Member(1) Persons engaged in research and education of management accounting or a related
field in a university, junior college, or a vocational school,(2) Specialists, such as a certified public accountant and a licensed tax accountant, and(3) Individuals with business management experience in a company.
(b) Student Member
Graduate students with a major in management accounting or a related fieldcurrently enrolled in accredited institutions.
(c) Supporting Member
Individuals or corporations in agreement with the purpose of the Association who
wish to support the Association.
As the academic organization of management accounting, JAMA, through its
Executive Committee, is well positioned to provide a unique set of services to its
members and to promote the vitality, visibility, and diversity of the discipline. Working
at the national and international levels, the Association aims to articulate policy, andimplement programs likely to have the broadest possible impact for management
accounting now and in the future.
JAMA publishes an international journal as a supplement to the Journal ofManagement Accounting. It contains research papers that address significant issues in
the field of accounting and management. To provide a balanced presentation of articles,
the journal solicits contributions from the fields of financial accounting and reporting,management accounting, auditing, taxation, management information systems, financial
management and interdisciplinary studies. Research papers should be theoretical based
and/or empirical based. Interdisciplinary studies and/or comparative studies of practices
among countries are encouraged.
The idea of publishing a supplement as an international journal of management
accounting in Japan was the brainchild of the third president Takao TANAKA. He held
research seminars at Aoyama Gakuin University and encouraged speakers to author
their papers in English. In November 2004 he organized the International Forum of25

Accounting at Aoyama Gakuin University, and welcomed Professor James A. OHLSON
of Arizona State University as the main speaker. Professor OHLSON’s invited article forthe first supplement issue is based on his presentation at that Forum. In it he introduces
his novel concept of mathematical models for valuing equities and it was indeed anhonor to be able to publish it in this first issue.
The third president Takao TANAKA’s idea for an international journal was adopted by
the fourth president Masayasu TANAKA and the directors of the board in April 2005. The
five other articles in this issue were selected through the same double-blind refereesystem used by The Journal of Management Accounting, Japan. Masao TSUJI,
Editor-in-Chief, wrote in its editorial as follows:“I am confident that all the articles in this issue conform to the primary goal of
widely disseminating leading-edge research on accounting and promoting
communication among researchers both inside and outside Japan.
The Supplement series, of which this is the first, will be open to researchers in allareas of accounting with contributions encompassing theory, empirics and experiments.
My principal goal as Editor-in-Chief will be to offer articles of high quality for aprofessional audience. I hope that articles of the Supplement series will not only open
new horizons and bring new insights but also deepen our understanding of the field of
accounting. Everyone connected with publication of the series is committed tomaintaining the highest standards of excellence. “The authors and their research papers of the first supplement issue weresummarized as follows:
1. “Accounting Based Valuation Formulae” by James A. OHLSON (W. P. Carey Schoolof Business, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ)
Equity valuation is a topic of great interest in practice and academia. The broad
issue concerns the forecasting of future expected “payoffs” which are then converted tosome intrinsic equity value via use of some discount-factor. In this context the word“forecasting” refers to a complex set of skills which are difficult to describe and evenharder to teach, when implemented in a superior fashion. Academics have much more to
say about how one identifies the appropriate “payoffs” and how these are fed into
valuation formulae. Students typically encounter 3 approaches to valuation: The
discounting of, (i) dividends, (ii) cash flows and, (iii) residual earnings.
Practitioners of equity valuation, often to the chagrin of academics, tend to rely onnone of the above class-room techniques. As a core organizing principle they tend to
focus instead on forward earnings and the growth in the subsequent expected earnings,
i.e., the greater the growth, the great the price to forward earnings ratio. Exactly how

26such a relation actually reflects a valuation formula is more of a mystery, but it can be
developed.
This paper shows, using a relatively little known but simple technique, how one
unifies various equity valuation models. The framework reconciles the cash flows andresidual income approaches to the more fundamental dividends approach. Moreover, wedevelop a formula that determines value on the basis of, (i) next-year expected eps /or“forward eps ,” (ii) short-term growth - year 2 vs. next-year - in eps , (iii) long-term
growth in eps and finally, (iv) the discount factor which relates directly tocost-of-capital. We argue that the last formula is useful as it connects with analysts’
concepts of how to value equities.
2. “A New Evaluation Method of Interaction Effects Using Compound Added
Functions and the Analysis on its Relationship to the Attributes of Potential Customers”
by Masao OKUHARA, Masayasu TANAKA, and Hiroo HIROSE (Faculty of Management of
Administration and Information, Tokyo University of Science, Suwa)
This study pays attention to the added functions, especially compounded addedfunctions, utilized often as differentiating strategies against competing products and has
proposed a new evaluating method clarifying its usefulness. That is, referring to themethod of evaluating the positive interaction effects, as clarified in the preceding study,
the way of considering negative interaction effects has been clarified, and these havebeen unified into three indices: the monetary amounts of interaction effects, theinteraction effect ratio, and the recognition rate of the interaction effects. These weremade to be helpful in setting a strategic sales price or structuring the added functions
during the initial stage of new product development by utilizing them to fit the purpose.
The main points are the following three:First is to calculate and utilize the monetary amount of the interaction effects bycompounding the added functions. This makes it possible to grasp monetarily theinteraction effects incorporated into the product in mind by compounding the addedfunctions, so if we segment the targeted potential customers, then this can be utilized to
set the sales prices of the added functions, the structuring of the added functions, or thesetting of the target cost which are acceptable to them.
Secondly, by calculating the ratio of the monetary amount of the interaction effects,
the ratio, not the monetary amounts of the interaction effects, can be measured for thesegmented potential customer groups (target). If these ratios can be known, they will
become useful information in additional strategies for added functions or the setting of
the sales prices, etc.
Finally, it becomes possible to predict the amount of interaction effects so that the27

target becomes clear, and they can be utilized in setting the sales prices and the target
costs during the making of the product concept.
3. “Integrated Management Control System for Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprises” by Toyohiko HACHIYA and Pablo Gonzalo RAMIREZ (Department ofIndustrial Engineering and Management, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo)
The objective of developing the integrated system is to provide Small andMedium-Sized Enterprises a resource to address its lack of information for
decision-making purposes in order to evaluate the performance regarding its productportfolio. The election of three management tools relies on its potential to address the
profitability analysis when considering a multiple product and limited resource
environment. In this regard, scenario analysis confirms that the integrated management
system delivers insights about the mix that leads to the maximum EVA possible,
according to the trade-off among firms’ resources deployed and their constraints. The
integration of TOC into the management control system helps firms to focus on theirshort-term regarding cash generation and liquidity. In the middle-long run, ABC and
EVA integration helps managers to identify areas where improvements are workable.
ABC-EVA provides managers with insights into their costs and capital charges per
product by the identification of idle or shortage capacity which shows areas where
inefficient resources could be cut or reorganized. Identification of resources consumed
at product levels provides managers with real information regarding trade off amongassets, expenses and profitability of individual products. The limitation of the present
work is related with the difficulty of applying the management control system freely to
all SMEs. Because there is a gap into the nature of every enterprise, it is necessary toadapt the proposed tool and tailor it to each firm’s behavior.
Additionally the model does not incorporate non-financial strategic control
measures (lead-time, quality, and customer satisfaction) that are critical to a firm’s
success.
4. “Effects of Advertising and R&D on the Intangible Assets for Japanese
Manufacturing Firms: A Panel Data Analysis” by Isamu OGATA and Yoshihiko TSUKADA(Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University, Miyagi)
This paper analyzes the effects of advertising and R&D expenditures on the values ofintangible assets for the Japanese manufacturing firms listed on the first and second
sections of the Tokyo Stock Exchange market for 12 years during the periods of 1990
and 2001. The 382 firms were chosen by reasonable criteria stated in section 3. The data
set comprises a panel structure with cross-section as well as time series properties.
The empirical results reveal two findings. (i) For the top 25% of the 382 firms

28examined in this paper, the advertising and R&D expenditures significantly increase thevalue of intangible assets, but for the other 75% neither the advertising nor R&D
expenditure increases the value of intangible assets. This result suggests that it is not awise strategy to impose an identical relationship among all firms, and we need toclassify the firms into subgroups by some criteria when we analyze the intangible assetsof the Japanese firms. (ii) The error terms of the model exhibit strong autocorrelations.
The conventional use of the OLS method for estimating the model is not justified for theaccounting data we investigated; instead we should use an appropriate method of thefeasible generalized least squares (FGLS).
The idea of classification of firms into subgroups is found in some literature foranalyzing American firms. ABOODY and LEV (2000) and CHAN, LAKONISHOK and
SOUGIANNIS (2001) classified firms by the amount of R&D expenditures, for example.
Our result indicates that the classification of firms is meaningful for studying Japanesefirms. FUJITA (2001) proposed a cost approach for initially measuring the home-grownbrands of firms. The result of this paper provides her claim not only an empiricalsupport but also a caution against the application of a uniform rule to all firms. The
other criteria proposed by this paper for classifying firms are worth investigation as
future research.
We focus our attention only on the current effects of AD and RD on IA in this paper,and will leave the extension of the model to analyze the effects of lagged variables ofAD and RD for future research. Since we do not take account of the values ofoff-balance-sheet asset and liability, care should be taken in generalizing the results ofthis paper.
We propose a rather sophisticated statistical method to empirical study in the fieldof accounting. To our knowledge, there has never been previous analysis applying thegeneralized least squares method to the time series data. We believe that this method ispotentially applicable to many problems in the field of accounting discipline.
5. “Shareholder Activism with Weak Corporate Governance: Social Pressure, Private
Cost and Organized Crime” by Gilles HILARY and Tomoki OSHIKA (Department of
Accounting, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and School ofCommerce, Waseda University, Tokyo)
Prior research on whether shareholder activists can force managers to improvetheir behavior provides mixed results. In Japan, however, alternative channels for
improvement are not as effective as they are in the U.S. Thus, challenging themanagement during annual meetings may be the only option for disgruntled
shareholders in Japan to exert pressure. Hence, this provides a more powerful setting to29

study this question. Yet, the situation is complicated by the existence of corporate
racketeers who disrupt these events to blackmail managers. Anecdotal evidence andresults from surveys suggest that this form of corporate racketeering is prevalent inJapan. In response, the authorities have taken various measures to reduce the importanceof annual meetings to minimize the influence of organized crime. Yet, this policy comesat the expense of legitimate shareholder activism.
Empirical results indicate meetings following a “spike” become more active. In
addition, the synchronicity of the firm with the rest of the exchange declines, suggesting
more firm-specific information is incorporated. Contrary to most results obtained in the
U.S., the ROA improves, in part because of the disposal of non-performing assets.
Finally, the percentage of shares held by foreign investors increases, while thepercentage held by financial institutions decreases. These results are robust to control
for endogeneity. Overall, these results suggest that shareholder activists are able tocapitalize on the embarrassment caused by long meetings to improve governance. The
fact that prior literature found mixed results on the ability of activists to play asignificant role may be due to the difficulty to identify their marginal effect in a setting
where investors have numerous avenues of recourse against managers.
At the same time, Japanese managers appear to be strategically using the threat oforganized crime as a way to reduce legitimate outside pressure. Firms having their
meetings on the national meeting day are less likely to be targeted by activists. They
also under-perform in terms of profitability and governance. Not surprisingly, they havemore financial institutions among their shareholders but fewer foreign shareholders.
These results suggest that the policy of protecting managers against shareholder
activists should not be supported by the authorities.
6. “Operating Performance of Japanese Firms with Large Cash Holdings during the
Bubble Economy” by Chien-min Kevin PAN (Graduate School of Commerce, Waseda
University, Tokyo)
This paper investigates how Japanese firms operate with a high/low cash holding
position. The purpose of this study is to find out if large cash holdings cause
performance to deteriorate. The paper compares the operating performance associatedwith high-cash firms (firms that persistently hold the ratio of cash to total assets inexcess of .25 at the end of each of the years 1986-1990) and low-cash firms (firms thatpersistently hold the ratio of cash to total assets less than .15 at the end of each of theyears 1986-1990) across the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The paper finds that operating performance of the high-cash firms is significantly
greater than firms that maintained low cash holdings in the late 1980s. High-cash firms

30are associated with less debt, but more payouts and investments expenditures. In themeantime, this research finds little evidence that suggests ownership structure might beaffecting the operating performance. Proxies for insider influences and outsider
presences are all found unrelated to firms’ performance, which implies the fact thatinterests of the director’s ownership were unrelated to Japanese firms’ operating
performance.
The paper finds the cash-holding determinants that comprise high/low-cash
holding firms are different. High-cash firms are not surrounded with lenient investing
opportunities; therefore, other than acquiring some fixed assets the high-cash firms
simply keep the money within the firms. On the other hand, without lenient growth
opportunities low-cash firms borrow a lot from the banks, over-invest in acquiring fixed
assets and play money games in the capital market.
One major finding of this paper is that the excess cash of high-cash firms is foundnegatively correlated to the operating performance while the excess cash of low cash
firms is found positively correlated to the operating performance. This suggests thatlarge cash holdings might hinder performance of those firms that have had a lot of cashin hand already. On the other hand, operating performance of the low-cash firms might
be improved by holding more cash. The evidences presented in this study are howeverinconsistent with MIKKELSON and PARTCH (2003), where they find no relation at all
between firms’ excess cash holdings and the operating performance. This inconsistency
may be due to the different governing system between two countries.
This paper provides a valuable exercise of examining persistent large cash holdings inJapan. Future research could explore cash holdings, financial leverage, equity payout,
and firms’ performance to find out in general if cash holdings boost performance orhinder performance.
(Masao TSUJI, Waseda University)

31

JAPAN SOCIETY OF MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION
1. Organization and Brief History
The Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution (JSMD) is an organization ofscholars and researchers in the field of marketing and distribution. It was founded in
1951 and, since then, has been leading research activities in this field for over 50 years
in Japan. Its members, numbering over 1,000 in 2006, belong to universities andresearch institutions and are active in their research activities. JSMD consists of five
regional divisions, Hokkaido, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, and Kyushu Regional Divisions,established to stimulate and coordinate member activities at the regional level. All
JSMD members belong to a division of their own choice. Each division holds four tonine divisional research meetings a year, and JSMD itself holds an annual national
conference. JSMD also publish the conference proceedings as well as the refereed
journal, Ryutsu Kenkyu (Journal of Marketing and Distribution). Throughmonthly/seasonal divisional research meetings, the annual national conference, or
proceedings and the journal, members actively interact among themselves beyond theirdifferences in specialties and age groups.
JSMD is headed by a president (Hideo HARADA of Ryutsu Keizai University,
2006-present) and supported by two vice-presidents and the board of directors
representing each regional division. The Head Quarters, which consists of the president,
vice-presidents, and the board of directors, operates JSMD. It also has several standing
committees such as the Journal Committee, International Exchange Committee, SocietyAwards Committee, and Information Provider Committee. Additionally, each regional
division of JSMD is independently operated by its own executive board, which consistsof the chief director, directors, and managers. However, the highest legislative organ is
the General Meetings, which are held at the annual national conferences and open to allmembers. The democratic atmosphere facilitates the members’ academic activities in
JSMD.
2. Research Activities
Research interests of the most JSMD members are in the field of marketing, which
has been originally imported from US schools of business since the Second World War,
and/or distribution, which has a relatively long history with various business customs inJapanese distribution systems. However, in tradition, marketing and distribution
research has been characterized by its interdisciplinary approach. It has been related toeconomics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and so on. Moreover, recent complex

32phenomena in the marketing and distribution scene increasingly need the cooperation ofother various disciplines. For attaining these tasks, JSMD has not narrowly defined thefield of its members’ academic activities, and has been promoting research interactions
with researchers from other academic societies and disciplines. In particular, theInternational Exchange Committee actively promotes global activities with other
scholastic associations over the world. Examples of its activities include joint marketing
seminars with the Korea Marketing Association and international conferences with theWorld Geographic Association held in Tokyo and Osaka.
As mentioned above, JSMD itself has held an annual national conference every
year. Typically JSMD members in a certain university organize a conference committee
to prepare the on-campus conference held in their university. During the period of
2004-2008, universities in eastern and western regions have become host universities
alternately. Wherever the conference is held, a lot of JSMD members and non-members
come to join the conference as presenters and chairs as well as general members of theaudience.
JSMD has been publishing its refereed journal, Ryutsu Kenkyu (Journal ofMarketing and Distribution) since March 1998. It is published three times a year topromote research activities of members. Under the area editors, all submitted papers arereviewed by at least two reviewers, and several papers are qualified as accepted papers
to be published. The journal is recognized as the most authoritative journal in the
research field of marketing and distribution in Japan. Copies of this journal are owned
by most libraries in Japanese universities, and the impact rates of the published papers
in that journal are very high.
JSMD presents awards for outstanding books and papers every year at the general
meeting held at the annual national conference. There are the Excellent Award, theEncouragement Award, and the Best Paper Award. It also provides research grants foryoung researchers. A plan has been initiated to promote an innovative research byinterregional division members. After submission of their research themes to the JSMD
committee, commended research programs can obtain subsidies for holding a
symposium.
3. Annual National Conferences (2004-2009)(1) 2004 Annual Conference
The 54th JSMD Annual National Conference was held at Keio University (Tokyo)
on 28-30 May, 2004. Its unified theme was Theories and Methodologies inMarketing/Distribution Research.

33

In the preliminary session, after a speech made by JSMD president, Takemasa
ISHIHARA (Osaka City University), Shoken MAWATARI (Miyagi University) made apresentation titled “Scientific and Pragmatic Aspects in Economic Sciences: A ScientificApproach” as a keynote speech, which was followed by a special panel discussion titled“Dialogs with Related Sciences: Theories and Methodologies in Management Sciences”
by scholars from five academies of related sciences, Yasuhiko KOBAYASHI (Aoyama
Gakuin University) from the Japan Academy of Advertising, Akinobu SAKASHITA (Kobe
University) from the Japan Society of Business Administration, Masao NAKANISHI(Kwansei Gakuin University) from the Japan Institute of Marketing Science, Shoji
YAMAMOTO (Kwansei Gakuin University) from the Japan Association for Consumer
Studies, and JSMD president, Takemasa ISHIHARA (Osaka City University), with
Kazuyoshi HOTTA (Keio University) as the chair. After the preliminary session, 31
presenters or groups of presenters made presentations in nine tracks such as“Distribution,” “Marketing,” and “Consumer Behavior.”
During the conference, the Excellence Award was presented to Lin HUANG (Kobe
University) for his book titled Theory of the New Market Strategies: Global Networkand Marketing Innovation. Also, the Encouragement Award was presented to Hiroshi
EGIRI(Marketing Science Institute) for his book titled Study of the Return Policy ofJapanese Department Stores.
(2) 2005 Annual National Conference
The 55th JSMD Annual National Conference was held at Momoyama Gakuin
University (Osaka) on 27-29 May, 2005. Its unified theme was Culture, Art, andMarketing/Distribution Research.
In the preliminary session, after a speech made by JSMD president, Junzo ISHII(Kobe University), a special symposium titled “Cultures and Arts in ‘Kamigata’ and‘Osaka’ Brand” was held with Yoshitane HORII (Osaka 21st Century Association),
Atsuro KAWAUCHI (Editor of Kansai Bungaku), Motonori UMEZAWA (Kanze-school
nogaku shitekata), Ken-ichiro YOKOYAMA (Hyatt Regency Osaka), and Yoshihiro
TAJIMA (Gakushuin University) as special presenters, and Keisuke SUYAMA as the chairof the panel discussion. Another symposium titled “Culture, Art, andMarketing/Distribution Research” was held, in which Ryu-ichiro MATSUBARA(University of Tokyo) made a presentation titled “Consumer Society Changing into theArt” as a keynote speech, which was followed by a panel discussion titled “Art Meets
Marketing: What Does Art Give to Marketing? What Does Marketing Give to Art?”
with Yukihiro AOKI (Gakushuin University), Yuichi KISHIMOTO (Momoyama Gakuin

34

University), Yoshihiro SHIMIZU (Tamagawa University), Ryu-ichiro MATSUBARA(University of Tokyo), and Yoshio MIYAMA (Keio University) as panelists, and Mitsuo
WADA (Keio University) as the chair. After the preliminary sessions, 34 presenters orgroups of presenters made presentations in ten tracks such as “Culture, Art, andConsumer Studies,” “Fashion Mechanism,” and “Cultural Factors in ProductDevelopment.”
During the conference, the Encouragement Award was presented to Akira SHIMIZU(Meiji Gakuin University) for his book titled Retail Strategies From the Consumer
Points of View. Also, the Best Paper Award was presented to Woonho KIM (Yamanashi
Gakuin University) for his paper titled “A Research on Distribution Channel Shortening
Resulting from Large-scale Wholesalers Strategic Behaviour.”(3) 2006 Annual Conference
The 56th JSMD Annual National Conference was held at Yokohama National
University (Yokohama) on 2-4 June, 2006. Its unified theme was Consumer Behavior
and Marketing/Distribution Research.
In the preliminary session, after a speech made by JSMD president, Junzo ISHII(Kobe University), keynote speeches were made with Keisuke SUYAMA (Kansai
University) as the chair. The first presenter, Masanori TAMURA (Osaka Sangyo
University) made a presentation titled “Marketing Point of View in Consumer Studies:
What is Consumer Studies in Marketing Research?” The second presenter, Naoto ONZO
(Waseda University) made a presentation titled “The Impacts of Mobile Technologies
on Consumer Behavior and Marketing/Distribution.” The third presenter, Akira SHIMIZU(Meiji Gakuin University) made a presentation titled “Consumer Decision-making
Process and Marketing Strategies.” And the fourth presenter, Yukihiro AOKI (Gakushuin
University) made a presentation titled “Reconstruction of the Analytic Framework for
Consumer Behavior: Toward the Extension of the Depth and Width of the Framework.”
A panel discussion titled “Extending the Relationships between Consumer andMarketing/Distribution Studies” was also made by Yukihiro AOKI (Gakushuin
University), Takemasa ISHIHARA (Kwansei Gakuin University), Naoto ONZO (Waseda
University), Akira SHIMIZU (Meiji Gakuin University), and Chieko MINAMI (Kobe
University) with Kyoichi IKEO (Keio University) as a coordinator. After the preliminary
sessions, 27 presenters or groups of presenters made presentations in seven tracks suchas “How far are consumer studies developed?” and “Non-price Promotion for Higher
Brand Value,” and “New Movements in Distribution.”
During the conference, the Excellence Award was presented to Tomoko KAWAKAMI

35

(Kansai University) for her book titled Customer Oriented New Product Development:Interface between Marketing and Technology. Also, the Encouragement Awards were
presented to Miyuri SHIRAI (Yokohama National University) and Takashi NIIKURA(Kwansei Gakuin University) for their books titled Mechanism of Consumer Judgmentof Price: Roles of Internal Reference Price and Consumers’ Cognitive World: A Brand
Marketing Perspective, respectively. And the Best Paper Award was presented to
Tsutomu SUNAGA (Waseda University) for his paper titled “Consumers Create
Information by Themselves: Formation of Beliefs about Missing Attributes throughInference.”(4) 2007 Annual Conference
The 57th JSMD Annual National Conference was held at Konan University (Kobe)on 25-27 May, 2007. Its unified theme was Marketing/Distribution Research and Neo
Market Fundamentalism.
In the preliminary session, after a speech made by JSMD president, Hideo HARADA(University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences), keynote speeches were made with
Yoshihiro NAKATA (Konan University) as an introductory speaker, and Tatsuhiko NARIU(Kyoto University) as the chair. The first presenter, Masahisa FUJITA (Kyoto University)
made a presentation titled “Regional Reconstruction and Cluster Strategy in the IT
Evolution Era: From the View Point of Regional Economics.” The second presenter,
Kiyohiko NISHIMURA (Secretariat of the Policy Board, Bank of Japan) made apresentation titled “Financial Reform and Distribution.” The third presenter, Tsutomu
OKUDA (CEO, Daimaru, a department store group) made a presentation titled“Department Stores and Town Management.” After the preliminary sessions, 29
presenters or groups of presenters made presentations in ten tracks such as “Brand
Network: A Holistic Approach,” “Movements of Regional Commerce and Distribution
Policies,” and “Information and Distribution Channels.”
During the conference, the Encouragement Award was presented to Tsukasa KATO
(Osaka City University) for his book titled Dynamics of Japanese Distribution System.
And the Best Paper Award was presented to Yukihiko KUBOTA (Chukyo University) for
his paper titled “A Multidimensional Commitment Model for Relationship Marketing.”(5) 2008 Annual Conference
The 58th JSMD Annual National Conference was held at Hosei University (Tokyo)
on 30 May-1 June, 2008. Its unified theme was Searching for Future Directions ofMarketing/Distribution Research.

36

In the preliminary session, after a speech made by JSMD president, Hideo HARADA(University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences), keynote speeches were made. The
first presenter, Tsuyoshi NUMAGAMI (Hitotsubashi University) made a presentation titled“Development of Empirical Management Sciences in Terms of the Theory of Action.”
The second presenter, Kei KURIKI (Kobe University) made a presentation titled
Booting-up ‘Customers’ in a Process: Changing the Assumptions of Market in
Theories.” The third presenter, Ikuo TAKAHASHI (Keio University) made a presentation
titled “Present and Future in Marketing Research.” A panel discussion was also made up
by Tsukasa KATO (Osaka City University) as well as the three presenters mentioned
above with Junzo ISHII (University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences) as the chair.
After the preliminary sessions, 30 presenters or groups of presenters made presentations
in nine tracks such as “Searching for the Future Directions of Marketing Research,”“Searching for the Future Directions of Distribution Research,” and “Searching for the
Future Directions of Relationship Marketing Research.”
During the conference, the Excellence Awards were presented to Toshiyuki YAHAGI(Hosei University) and Yasushi NAKANO (Osaka University of Commerce) for theirbooks titled Retail Globalization Process: Theories and Cases and Development of Big
Food Retailing in America, respectively. Also, the Best Paper Award was presented to
Akio TORII (Yokohama National University) and Tatsuhiko NARIU (Kyoto University)
for their co-authored paper titled “Information, Wholesale, and Distribution Channel”.
(6) 2009 Annual Conference
The 59th JSMD Annual National Conference will be held at Kansai University(Osaka) on 29-31 May, 2009 under the unified theme, Network Innovation.
(Akinori ONO, Keio University)

37

JAPAN SOCIETY OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
1. Outline of JSME
Since its foundation in l943, the Japan Society of Monetary Economics (JSME) has
been pursuing its mission to contribute to the progress of economic development
through academic research in a variety of fields related with monetary economics andfinance．
(1) Major Activities
The society has four major activities to facilitate members’ research．
First, we have general Annual Meetings twice a year. The spring Annual Meeting isheld in the Kanto region, and the fall Annual Meeting is held in other areas. In addition
to the bi-annual general Annual Meetings, the society has five Study Groups which meetin five regions, i.e., Hokkaido Area, Kanto Area, Chubu Area, Kansai Area andNishi-Nihon (Kyushu, Chugoku and Shikoku) Area, and three special Study Groups, i.e.,
Monetary History, International Monetary Economics and Central Banking, each ofwhich are held twice or three times a year.
Second, the society publishes an academic journal, the Review of Monetary and
Financial Studies (Kinyu Keizai Kenkyu), twice a year. Each volume of the journal
consists of several articles, which are approved by referees appointed by the editorial
board, book reviews as well as a summary of the Special Lectures, the Presidential
Address and the Panel of the latest general Annual Meeting. The submission of articles
had been open to non-members since l998．
Third, due to the recent progress in information and communication technology,
the Homepage Committee of JSME has been actively promoting the use of the Society’s
web site in both Japanese and English. As a result, the JSME website has been
increasingly used not only by JSME members but also by non-members who areinterested in JSME activities.
Fourth, in response to the recent globalization of the financial markets andinternational linkage of monetary policies，the Society has been promoting international
activities such as opening of English pages on its website and holding English
presentations and sessions at Annual Meetings.
(2) President and Members of the Society
Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi University) succeeded Jun’ichi SENDA (Chukyo
University) as President of the Society in March 2004 and has been promoting the38

Society’s activities. Since March 2008, the current President of the Society is Yoshiro
TSUTSUI (Osaka University).
The membership has been increasing, and covers a wide range of academicians andpractitioners who are interested in monetary and financial economics. In particular, thenumber of graduate student members has been increasing in recent years. Currently, thesociety has 1,290 individual members, seven supporting institutions, and 11 special
institutional members as of March 2008．
2．Annual Meetings
We have a two-day general meeting twice a year. Each meeting includes apresidential address and ends with a common panel discussion. The topics chosen as acommon theme for panel discussion at each meeting are undoubtedly important issuesof the Japanese economy at each point of time.
(1) Common Themes
The common themes of the last five years are as follows:
Fall, 2003: The Financial Revitalization Program in Japan
Spring, 2004: Perspectives of Market-Based Indirect FinanceFall, 2004: Diversity vs. Universality of Regional Finance ― Toward a New
Model of Regional FinanceSpring, 2005: Some Issues concerning New BIS Regulations
Fall, 2005: A System of Public Finance for a New Era
Spring, 2006: M & A and Enterprise Value
Fall, 2006: A New Stage for Regional FinanceSpring, 2007: Retrospection of Quantitative Easing Policy
Fall, 2007: Market-Based Indirect Finance and the Evolution of Financial Systems
Spring, 2008: Financial Innovation−New Developments of Settlement Systems(2) Sessions and Panel Discussions of Meetings (from fall 2003 to spring 2008)2003 Meetings
The fall meeting was held at Shiga University on October 25 and 26. There were
57 presentations on a variety of issues (corporate finance, financial institutions, theoryof money and credit, international finance, financial problems, monetary policy,
regional finance, financial history, financial market, etc.) and three panel sessions on“Central Banks and Stability of Financial Systems”, “Corporate Management in theHigh Risk Environment” and “The Asian Bond Market”. The theme of the common
39panel discussion was “The Financial Revitalization Program in Japan”, where Akiyoshi
HORIUCHI (Chuo University), Jun’ichi NAITO (Ministry of Finance), Michio AYUSE(Bank of Japan) and Kazuhito IKEO (Keio University) presented their views on thissubject. Kazuo UEDA (Member of the Policy Board, Bank of Japan) gave a special
lecture on “The Role of Capital for Central Banks.” Jun’ichi SENDA (Chukyo
University) gave a presidential address entitled “Shareholders’ Behavior and Corporate
Governance: How to View Recent Trends?”
2004 Meetings
The spring meeting was held at Kanagawa University on May 15 and 16. There
were 43 presentations on a variety of issues (bank management, theory of money andcredit, corporate finance，money and banking in selected countries, financial institutions,international finance, life insurance, securities market, monetary policy, financial history,financial market and structure, etc.) and two panel sessions on “Recent Monetary Policy
and Market Functions” and “Issues related to RMB”. The theme of the common panel
discussion was “Perspective of Market-Based Indirect Finance”, where Yasuyuki
FUCHITA (Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research), Mahito UCHIDA (Bank ofJapan) and Tsutomu MURAMOTO (Seijo University) presented their views on this subject.
Miyako SUDA (Member of the Policy Board, Bank of Japan) gave a special lectureon“Monetary Policy and Central Bank Talk.”
The fall meeting was held at Aichi University on September 11 and 12. There
were 44 presentations on a variety of issues (financial markets，international finance,money and banking in selected countries, monetary policy, financial institutions, bankmanagement, public finance, theory of money and credit, finance, corporate finance,etc.) and three panel sessions on “Monetary Policy in the Enlarged EU”, “Privatizationof the Postal Saving and Fiscal Investment and Loan Program” and “U.S. Current
Account Deficit and Stability of the International Monetary System”. The theme of thecommon panel discussion was “Diversity vs. Universality of Regional
Finance―Toward a New Model of Regional Finance”, where Osamu KAMOIKE (Tohoku
University), Jun’ichi NAITO (Tokai Local Finance Bureau), Yoshiro TSUTSUI (Osaka
University) and Shigeru UCHIDA (Nagasaki University) presented their views on thissubject. Ryuji ARAKI (Executive Vice President, Toyota Motor Corporation) gave a
special lecture on “Financial Strategy of Toyota”. Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi
University) gave a presidential address entitled “What is Bank Solvency?”

40

2005 Meetings
The spring meeting was held at Nihon University on May 28 and 29. There were
35 presentations on a variety of issues (theory of money and credit, financial institutions,monetary policy, corporate finance, money and banking in selected countries,
international finance, regional finance, bank management, etc.) and two panel sessions
on “Current State of Financial Literacy concerning the Central Bank, Financial System
and Monetary Policy” and “A Preferable Asian Monetary System”. The theme of thecommon panel discussion was “Some Issues concerning the New BIS Regulation”,
where Shunsuke SHIRAKAWA (Financial Services Agency), Takashi OYAMA (Bank ofJapan), Kazuhito IKEO (Keio University) and Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi
University) presented their views on this subject. Kazumasa IWATA (Deputy Governor,
Bank of Japan) gave a special lecture on “Monetary Policy and Banking Behavior after
25 years”. Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi University) gave a presidential address on“Zero Interest Rate and Solvency of Japan”.
The fall meeting was held at Osaka University on October 8 and 9. There were 36
presentations on a variety of issues (monetary policy, international monetary andfinancial system, finance, money and banking in selected countries, corporate finance,
recent financial issues, financial history, empirical studies on international finance,
financial history of the pre-war and the post-war periods, etc.) and 2 panel sessions on“Exit Strategy from Quantitative Monetary Easing Policy of the Bank of Japan” and “A
New Stage for Multinational Banking”. The theme of the common panel discussion was“Systems of Public Finance for a New Era”, where Yuri OKINA (The Japan ResearchInstitute), Mitsuhiro FUKAO (Keio University/Japan Center for Economic Research),
Naoyuki YOSHINO (Keio University), and Hiroshi NAKAHARA (Ministry of Finance)
presented their views on this subject. Masaru YOSHITOMI (Research Institute of
Economy, Trade and Industry) gave a special lecture on “The New Global Imbalances
and RMB”. Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi University) gave a presidential address on“Real Estate Prices and the Financial Market”.
2006 Meetings
The spring meeting was held at Waseda University on April 29 and 30. There
were 31 presentations on a variety of issues (monetary policy, financial history andfinancial law, international monetary and financial system, corporate finance, financial
institutions, financial issues in Asia, regional finance, finance, management of financial
institutions, empirical studies on international finance, etc.) and three panel sessions on“European Monetary Integration and New Member States”, “Retrospection of Monetary41

Policy after Financial Crisis” and “Function of Desirable Regional Finance from
Customers’ Viewpoint and Response by Regional Banks ”. The theme of the common
panel discussion was “M & A and Enterprise Value”，where Yasuhiro ARIKAWA (Waseda
University), Hideaki MIYAJIMA (Waseda University), Noriyuki YANAGAWA (The
University of Tokyo), Tatsuo UEMURA (Waseda University), and Tsutomu FUJITA (Nikko
Citigroup) presented their views on this subject. Hirofumi GOMI (Commissioner,
Financial Services Agency) gave a special lecture on “The Current State and Future
Agenda of Financial Administration”. Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi University) gavea presidential address on “The End of Inflation.”
The fall meeting was held at Otaru University of Commerce on September 9 and10. There were 36 presentations on a variety of issues (international finance, financial
history, financial institutions, money and banking in selected countries, corporate
finance, finance, money and credit in China, monetary policy, regional finance, etc.) andtwo panel sessions on “Social Cost of Japanese Financial System Stabilization” and“Restructuring and Future Tasks of the IMF”. The theme of the common panel
discussion was “New Stage of Regional Finance”，where Ryuji KONISHI (Kyushu
University) ， Hideto TAGO (ABeam Consulting), Nobuyoshi YAMORI (Nagoya
University) and Yoshiyuki YAMAGUCHI (Rikkyo University) presented their views on
this subject. Yoshimasa NISHIMURA (Waseda University) gave a special lecture on“Hovering Policies of Disposing Bankruptcy after the Burst of the Bubble Economy”.
Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi University) gave a presidential address on “Financial
Market in Japan; Transformation and Future Tasks”.
2007 Meetings
The spring meeting was held at Reitaku University on May 12 and 13. There were
36 presentations on a variety of issues (financial institutions, money and banking inselected countries, monetary policy, international finance, financial history, finance,
corporate finance, financial markets, public finance, financial history, financial law,regional finance, etc.) and two panel sessions on “Financial Markets in East Asia” and“10 Years since the Enactment of the new Bank of Japan Law”. The theme of thecommon panel discussion was “Retrospection of Quantitative Easing Policy”, where
Masaaki SHIRAKAWA (Kyoto University), Ryuzo MIYAO (Kobe University) and Hiroshi
YOSHIKAWA (The University of Tokyo) presented their views on this subject. Toshiro
MUTO (Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan) gave a special lecture on “Policy
Decision-making by Committee of the Central Banks”. Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi
University) gave a presidential address on “Milton Friedman’s Achievements and some42

Implications for Japan”.
The fall meeting was held at Doshisha University on September 8 and 9. There
were 59 presentations on a variety of issues (monetary policy, finance, financial system,
international finance, financial institutions, financial markets, regional finance,
macro-finance, corporate finance, theory of money and credit, behavioral finance,money and banking in selected countries, banking theory, Keynes in the present age,funds in contemporary capitalism, etc.) and three panel sessions on “International
Banking and Asia”, “Monetary Policy in Japan, the U.S. and the Euro Area” and “10Years after the Asian Currency Crisis”. The theme of the common panel discussion was“Market-Based Indirect Finance and the Evolution of Financial System”, where Hajime
TAKATA (Mizuho Securities), Kazuhisa KOASHI (The Sumitomo Trust & Banking),
Yoshiaki SHIKANO (Doshisha University) and Akiyoshi HORIUCHI (Chuo University)presented their views on this subject. Hiroshi YOSHIKAWA (The University of Tokyo)
gave a special lecture on “Deflation and Financial Reconstructing”. Yoshinori SHIMIZU(Hitotsubashi University) gave a presidential address on “International Competitivenessof the Japanese Financial Industry”.
2008 Meetings
The spring meeting was held at Seijo University on May 17 and 18. There were
40 presentations on a variety of issues (indirect finance, verification of bank lending,corporate finance and stock market, financial crisis and Asia, finance in the US,
securitization, international finance, finance in households, issues at present, finance insmall business, verification in financial market, finance in Asia, monetary policy, timeseries analysis, etc.) and three panel sessions on “Subprime Problems and Central
Banks”, “Development of Subprime Loan Issues” and “Reinvigorating the JSME and its
Field of Monetary Economics”. The theme of the common panel discussion was“Financial Innovation ― Revelation of a New Settlement System”, where Hiroshi
SHIMADA (Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ), Masashi NAKAJIMA (Reitaku University),
Hisashi OHGAKI (Ritsumeikan University) and Yoshinori KOMIYA (Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry) presented their views on this subject. Takafumi SATO
(Commissioner, Financial Services Agency) gave a special lecture on “Progress in the
FSA’s Efforts Toward Better Regulation”. Yoshinori SHIMIZU (Hitotsubashi University)
gave a keynote address on “Globalization and Financial Regulation”．
(3) Meetings from Fall 2008 Onwards
Presently, Annual Meetings are scheduled as follows:432008 Fall Meeting: Hiroshima University, October 12 and 13
2009 Spring Meeting: The University of Tokyo
Fall Meeting: Kagawa University
2010 Spring Meeting: Chuo University
Fall Meeting: Kobe University
2011 Spring Meeting: Meiji University
Fall Meeting: Kinki University
3．Perspectives of JSME
(1) Current State of the Society’s Reforms
Yoshiro TSUTSUI, who became the President of JSME in May 2008, expresses hisview of the current state of JSME and of its future orientation in his inaugural greetingas follows:
Under the previous President SHIMIZU’s leadership, JSME advanced considerably.
The current direction of JSME could be summarized as follows:a. Revitalization of Annual Meetings: Since the Annual Meeting at Seijo University
in May 2008, the function of the Program Committee has been strengthened. Thereis a plan to implement the measures aiming to strengthen the program committee
further following the Annual Meeting which is to be held at the University ofTokyo in the spring of 2009. Consequently, it is expected that Annual Meetings
will become even more competitive and will be managed with greater efficiency.
Through the discussion within the Program Committee, JSME aims to improve theoverall level of papers presented at Annual Meetings and to solve various problems
concerning the management of Annual Meetings.
b. Regular Publication of the Society’s Journal the Review of Monetary and
Financial Studies: Publishing the Journal twice a year was an urgent task which
has been fulfilled thanks to the efforts by Yuzo HONDA, the chief
member-of-editorial-board. He enabled the bi-annual publication of the Journal in
March and October 2007, followed by the April 2008 issue.
c. Internationalization and Opening: In the previous fiscal year, English pages wereadded to the JSME website and in this way it became possible to inform the worldabout our activities. Moreover, presentations and sessions in English were held at
Annual Meetings.
d. Financial Improvements: Special Institutional Membership was newly launched
and a more active use of the website enabled a cost reduction for printing andmailing, etc.
44(2) Report by the “JSME Reinvigoration Working Group” and JSME
Reinvigoration Panela. Report by the “JSME Reinvigoration Working Group”
During his term in office, Yoshinori SHIMIZU, the previous JSME President,
inquired about the JSME Reinvigoration to the newly organized JSME Reinvigoration
Working Group. The Working Group’s final Report was presented to the President on
25 April 2007.
The Report describes the current state of JSME as follows:(a) Until now, JSME had focused on money and banking, but recently this field has
been relatively diminishing, while the field of finance has become increasingly
important(b) It is important to attract research-oriented young academicians via the
Revitalization of the Society.
(c) Issues such as (a) and (b) should be shared by all JSME members for thepresent.
The Report shows the following two alternative Stances concerning the future
direction of JSME Reinvigoration:
Stance A: continue gradual and appropriate improvements of the present issues
Stance B: expand JSME activities to the field of finance and seek to be “a pureacademic society” from a long-term perspective.
b. JSME Reinvigoration Panel
Subsequently, a JSME Reinvigoration Panel was held during the Annual Meetingat Seijo University in May 2008. At the Panel, two former Presidents (Toshiya HANAWA,
Jun’ichi SENDA) and two Executive Directors (Tsutomu MURAMOTO, Yoshiro TSUTSUI)
stated their views as Panelists under the coordination of Hisashi HARUI (Kwansei
Gakuin University), followed by active discussion.
(3) Future Orientation by the President
In his inaugural greeting President TSUTSUI states: “I would like to advance firmly
the reforms which President SHIMIZU has pursued. At the same time I intend to keep awarm atmosphere of our Society.”He also states that while keeping the direction shown by the Report of the JSME
Reinvigoration Working Group, issues such as introduction of Society’s Prize(categorized as “Stance A”) are to be discussed. In addition, various issues of Stance B,
such as liaison with other societies engaged in finance, financial improvements, use of45

the JSME website as a means of interactive communication among members, etc., are to
be considered.
(Kenji IWATA, Kyushu University）

46

JAPAN SOCIETY OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
1. Outline of the Society
The Society was founded in 1959. Its purpose has been promotion of academic
research on the basic theories together with concrete analyses in the area of political
economy, by facilitating cooperation and communication among its members.
The membership is about a thousand. Activities of the Society are steered by aboard of representatives, who are selected by members’ vote in every third year. The
present chief representative of the board is Kazuo SHIBAGAKI (University of Tokyo,
emeritus).
The Society has worked to pursue its purpose mainly in three forms of activities.
Firstly, it holds academic meetings among members. An annual conference is held
regularly once a year. Usually the conference consists of parallel sessions, a plenary
session, a members’ general meeting, and a social party. It serves as a great opportunity
for members to meet and communicate with each other on a national scale. In addition
to the annual conference, meetings are also held based on the local organizations.
Secondly, the Society published The Bulletin of the Japan Society of Political
Economy annually from 1961 to 2003, and also publishes a newsletter, The News of theJapan Society of Political Economy once a year. However, the Society transformed The
Bulletin into a quarterly journal and launched The Political Economy Quarterly in 2004.
The Political Economy Quarterly contains several papers and surveys, which aresubmitted by members and others and selected by the editorial board after referees’
judgment. The editorial board is organized by the board of representatives and appoints
suitable referees from members of the Society for submitted papers. The Political
Economy Quarterly also annually contains the presentations and a summary of
discussions in the plenary session of the annual conference. The News contains notices
from the board of representatives, reports of local meetings, and other news about theSociety.
Thirdly, the Society strives to broaden international academic cooperation with
political economists in the world. As Marxian and other political economists have beenreactivated more and more in both Western and Asian countries in the last four decades,
our Society has increasingly accepted guests and visitors from abroad to the annual
conferences. The international exchange committee of the board of representatives has
thus become busy setting up sessions in English mainly for such guests and visitors at
the annual conferences, and encouraging our members to visit conferences abroad incooperation with similar academic associations overseas.

47

2. Our Main Research Concerns
Our original research concerns consist mainly in basic theories and analyses ofcapitalist economies with their historical contradictory characters. Historicaldevelopment and functions of socio-economic institutions, systems and structures
including the roles of States to form capitalist economies in our age, as well as various
models and experiments of socialist economies which intend to overcome the historicallimitations of capitalism are more or less common to research concerns among membersof our Society. Such research concerns are largely based on inquiry into the economic
law of motion of capitalist economy by Karl MARX, and linked with the growth of
Marxian and other political economy in the world.
What to learn from, while clarifying limitations of achievements in a-historicalmainstream neo-classical economics in a broad sense, including Keynesian andpost-Keynesian economics among others, also forms an important aspect of ourresearch concerns in cooperation with reviving political economy in the Westerncountries. The historical meaning of the recent economic situations with changes in
economic policies, and increasing problems in the economic life of working people in
the world and especially in Japan are necessarily central to our research interest in theseregards.
The following list of the main themes of the plenary sessions in our annual
conferences in the last ten years exemplifies these research concerns in our Society: The
Financial Crisis of Contemporary Capitalism (1998); The Crisis of Capitalism in the 90s
and the Theory of Depression (1999); The Political Economy of Globalization (2000);
What was the “Prosperity” of the U.S. Economy in the 1990s? (2001); What to Think
about Japanese Capitalism in Confusion (2002); Political Economy Now – a Marxian
Reappraisal (2003); Contemporary Market Economy and Political Economy (2004);
Neo-liberalism and the Crisis of Contemporary Society (2005); Transfiguration andPathology of Contemporary Corporate Capital (2006); How Do We See a Society with
Increasing Inequality? (2007); and the Sub-prime Shock and the Future of Global
Capitalism (2008).
3. Reports on Annual Conferences of the Society from 2003 to 2007
Summary reports on annual conferences of the Japan Society of Political Economy
from 2003 to 2007 are collected below, by highlighting the plenary sessions. Reports onannual conferences of our Society from 1999 to 2002 are in Volume 23 of theInternational Bulletin of the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan (2003).

48

The 51st annual conference of the Japan Society of Political Economy was held at
Musashi University in Tokyo on October 18 and 19, 2003.
There were 13 parallel sessions with 42 speakers. The topics of sessions were
“Reappraisal of Marxian Political Economy”, Theory of Value”, “Money and Capital”,“Alternative Systems”, “Industrialization and De-industrialization”, “Value and Maney”,“US Global Strategy and Globalization”, “Formalizing Marxian Economics”,“Post-Keynesian Economics”, “Monetary Policy”, “Gender”, “Corporate Russia”, and“Political Economy Now”.
There was a special plenary session for an invited foreign speaker, Enfu CHENG(Shanghai Finance and Economics University, China), chaired by Hiroshi OHNISHI(Kyoto University). CHENG made a presentation on “Beyond Marxian Economics andWestern Economics – The Advancement of Political Economy in China” This
presentation was published as a guest article in The Political Economy Quarterly, Vol.41,
No.1, 2004.
There was another plenary session under the title “Political Economy Now – A
Marxian Reappraisal”, which was ordinary and for members of the Society, chaired by
Tsutomu NISHINO (Kochi University) and Takeshi NAKATANI (Kobe University). Threepanelists read papers in this session. Satoshi MATSUI (Ritsumeikan University) spoke on“Political Economy and Normative Theory: Toward the Economics of Creation”,
Michiaki OBATA (University of Tokyo) spoke on “Principles of Political Economy under
Globalization” and Ken KURUMA (Rikkyo University) spoke on “Will Capitalism
Survive?”
MATSUI stated as follows: (1) Normative theory is very crucial for the developmentof political economy. However, it has been promoted by liberalism, and socialist
normative theory has been inactive. I examine the orientation of this theory incomparison with unilateralism, libertarianism, egalitarian liberalism, communitarianism,
ecology, and feminism. (2) Historical materialism was the foundation of Marxian
economics, therefore the traditional Marxism tended to make little of normative theory.
(3) I explain the relationship between historical materialism and the normative values
central to socialism such as freedom, equality, and community. (4) Traditional Marxism
has devoted itself to criticizing the capitalist economy and the economics that supports
it. The new political economy should not only criticize them, but also positively create avision of alternative societies that can realize the socialist idea. OBATA stated like this:(1) I would like to set out the methodological foundation to analyze the contemporary
capitalism from the point of Marxian economics. (2) The main argument starts off withthe dissociation between Marx’s economics and its development in the twentieth century,49

which reveals the merit of Marxian economics. (3) The characteristic of today’s
capitalism is reexamined, which shows us a distinct stage in capitalist development of
globalism from that of imperialism. Thus we are able to develop the transfiguration
approach that makes it possible to theorize the multi-phases of capitalism. KURUMA
stated like this: (1) Capitalism at the close of the 20th century: Since the 1980s all theworld has been undergoing the predominance of neo-liberalism. With the rise of
neo-liberalism toward the end of last century such phenomena were seen as Casino
Capitalism, increase in socio-economic instability, expansion of income differentials,
and enhancement of oligopoly. (2) Features of the 21st century: Problems andProspects: Gaps between the logic of private firms and that of human society have been
rapidly widening. There are more and more bankruptcies, jobless people, instability of
employment, crises of social security systems, growing gaps between rich and poor, andserious global environmental problems. For a system of the sort, plans should be madebased on the reason of humans and the control of societies.
Then two discussants gave comments and raised questions on the presentations of
the panelists.
Takahisa UEMURA (Yamaguchi University) asked questions as follows: (1) Is it
possible to understand the political economy based on the normative theory, because theformer is historical and concrete but the latter is too abstract? (2) How to understand themarket and non-market? (3) Is it possible to understand that the present world is
controlled by globalization, which is different from imperialism? (4) What are thealternative courses to globalization in order to escape from the present serious
situations? Masakazu KITANO (Kobe University of Commerce) asked questions andcommented as follows: (1) How does KURUMA see the limits of present regulation andthe crisis? (2) Marxism has classified the structure of society into economy, politics,
basic society, consciousness, and etc. Why does OBATA divide the society into market
and non-market? (3) It is needed to reevaluate the consciousness and reorganize thewhole system because the role of consciousness and the freedom of behavior areimportant in reformation of labor, life, and society.
After the panelists answered these questions and comments, general discussion was
opened up for the floor. There were over 25 questions and comments from the floor. The
potentiality of Marxian economics, its original merits, and its weak points and its
subjects were discussed on the floor.
The 52nd annual conference of the Japan Political Economy was held at Osaka
University of Economics in Osaka on October 23 and 24, 2004.

50

There were 16 parallel sessions with 52 speakers. The topics of sessions were“Contemporary Market Economy and Political Economy”, “Globalization”, “Marx’s
Capital”, “Theory of Finance”, “Labor and Regulation”, “Imperialism”, “Power andMarxian Political Economy”, “Methodology”, “Gender”, “MEGA”, “Accumulation andReproduction”, and “Globalization and Fundamentalism”.
There was a special plenary session for an invited foreign speaker, Saskia SASSEN(The Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago) chaired by
Testuji KAWAMURA (Musashi University). SASSEN made a presentation on “Globalization
or Denationalization: Comparing Research Strategies”. This presentation was published
as a guest article in The Political Economy Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 1, 2005.
There was another ordinary plenary session for members of the Society under thetitle “Contemporary Market Economy and Political Economy”, chaired by Kenichi
HAGA (Niigata University) and Shuichi KAKUTA (Ritsumeikan University). Threepanelists presented papers in the session: Hiroshi OHNISHI (Kyoto University) on“Market and Capitalism: A New Marxist Understanding”, Yoshikazu SATO (Hosei
University) on “The Compatibility of Equality with Efficiency: Markets in the
Perspective on Political Economy”, and Kohji MORIOKA (Kansai University) on “TheTransformation of Employment Relations under Contemporary Capitalism and Market
Individualism”.
OHNISHI stated as follows: (1) Capitalism is a society in which we use machines.
Here, quality and quantity of products are determined not by workers’ skill but bymachines, and workers become unskilled and just affixes. (2) We needed capitalism
after the industrial revolution because machines became the most important factor of
production. This understanding is so materialistic and historical that it has to be
regarded as a part of Marxist theory. (3) Our problem is if the market is needed for thiscapitalism. Yes, because the market sometimes enforces workers to work hard to avoid
their companies’ bankruptcy. However, Stalin and Mao realized a rapid capital
accumulation without using a market system, and we call it a capitalist system. In thissense, the market is not needed for the definition of capitalism and private ownership is
not also needed for this by the same reason. (4) We explain the way of avoiding“over-production” and terminating class division not through government intervention
but through stock market. This approach is new and not accepted by the orthodox
Marxism. However, it is the same as Marx’s way in its nature. SATO presented asfollows: (1) I discuss a theoretically fundamental question: what should be the role ofthe market? The market can be considered a multi-dimensional (economic, political,
cultural, ethical and so on) entity. I focus on the compatibility of equity with efficiency.

51

(2) I examine the critique of neo-classical economics and the positive role of the market
provided by Bowles and Gintis from the perspective of creating an “egalitarian market
economy”. (3) I argue that so-called efficiency realized through the market undermines
feelings of solidarity with others. The market system inherently involves inequality,
which cannot be efficient from the social point of view. (4) The market requires public
control. I conclude that the market should not be abolished, but reconstructed as an
institution to be more accountable to all of society. The market must be viewed as theservant of humanity, not its master. MORIOKA presented as follows: (1) I discuss thetransformation of employment relations inspired by market individualism and major
structural changes in contemporary capitalism. (2) The process of globalization has
caused intensified competition, forcing the restructuring of production methods andwork organization, leading to deteriorating working conditions. (3) Advances in
information and communication technologies have promoted the outsourcing ofbusiness operations and the replacement of full-time employees by part-time andtemporary workers. (4) Today’s consumer society and the accompanying feminizationof the labor force have produced over-consumption driven by a sprit of emulation andunlimited desires, resulting in what Juliet Schor called “the cycle of work and spend”.
(5) We need labor policies that place emphasis on workers’ common interests and tradeunions that represent workers collectively.
Then two discussants gave comments and raised questions on the presentations of
the panelists. Yoshio KOMATSU (Rikkyo University) commented and raised questions asfollows: (1) I disagree with the definition of capitalism by OHNISHI because thisdefinition is so abstract that the historical character of capitalism would disappear. The
optimum process for future society after the industrial revolution will be unrealistic andthe transformation process by Marx is more realistic than that of OHNISHI. (2) SATO
criticizes Marx because he has only a stereotyped class analysis which leads to thesociety, consisting of capitalists and labor, however, Marx has also a positive free andassociated society in the future. SATO should evaluate this aspect of Marx. (3) How does
MORIOKA evaluate the Holland model of economy and the economics of Hodgson?
Michiaki OBATA (University of Tokyo) commented as follows: (1) OHNISHI expressed
his theory of creeping socialism, by which a capitalistic society would gradually betransferred to a socialistic one. Therefore, his theory seems to be based on orthodox
Marxism. (2) SATO criticizes the orthodox Marxian approach because it does not have arealistic anti-market economy. He may stress a normative way of society beyond themarket, but he never mentions it clearly. (3) MORIOKA may historically criticize thecurrent labor situations in contemporary capitalism. However, I cannot judge his52approach, which is basically anti-market or pro-market.
After the panelists answered these questions and comments, general discussion was
opened up for the floor. Six participants questioned OHNISHI, two SATO, and five
MORIOKA.
The 53rd annual conference was held at Daito Bunka University in Tokyo on
October 15 and 16, 2005.
There were 18 parallel sessions with 54speakers. Those sessions included thefollowing topics: “Neo-liberalism and the Crisis of Contemporary Society”, “Marx’s
Capital”, “Money and Finance”, “Labor Market”, “Business Cycle”, “General Topics”,“Book Review”, Neo-liberalism and the Crisis of Contemporary Society”, “Trade,
Investment and Development”, “China”, Analysis of Local and National Economies”,“Gender” and “Environment”.
There was a special plenary session for an invited guest speaker, Gerald DUMENIL(CNRS, France) chaired by Tomohiko SEKINE. DUMENIL made a presentation on“Neo-liberalism ― Neo-imperialism”. This presentation was published as a guest article
in The Political Economy Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 1, 2006.
There was another ordinary plenary session under the title “Neo-liberalism and the
Crisis of Contemporary Society” chaired by Iichiro SEKINE (Kohchi Junior College) andToshio MASUDA (Hosei University). Three panelists presented papers in the session:
Hideo OKAMOTO (Tokyo Keizai University) on “Limits of Neo-liberalism andPotentiality of New Welfare State”, Toshio YAMADA (Kyushu Sangyo University) on“Diversity on Modern Capitalism and the ‘Social’ Regulation” and Satoshi NIIMURA(Okayama University) on “Different Concepts of Equality and Inequality in
Neo-Liberalism and Welfare States”.
OKAMOTO stated as follows: (1) Today’s social crises are strongly related with
policies of neo-liberal ideology. This ideology, however, is outdated and unsuitable forsolving present problems in many countries. (2) The next view is prevalent. Since thedownfall of Keynesian policy, the welfare state lacks its own viable political economy
for managing it. (3) I discuss the concept of civil society, which led to the breakdown of
the totalitarian socialist regimes in East European countries. This concept makes
productive the discussions about the welfare state system and expands its potentiality.
(4) The welfare system should be transformed from a safety net to a springboard for
economic opportunity. YAMADA presented the following arguments: (1) Discourses of
neo-liberalism play an important role of propaganda for a convergence of the wholeworld to the US model. (2) However, B. Amable has classified twenty-one countries

53

into five models: Market-based, Asian, Continental European, Social-democratic andMediterranean capitalism. (3) Starting from his criterion, I propose the idea of “capital
principle” and “society principle” as driving forces of society and history. The present
age after Fordism is characterized as a society with a predominance of “capital
principle” over “society principle”. I stress the “society principle” that should be a
driving force of today’s society instead. Capitalism must be socially domesticated!!
NIIMURA stated as follows: (1) I consider there are different concepts of equality
and inequality in neo-liberalism and the welfare state. (2) There are two principles
which dominate present society that are the “market principle” in neo-liberalism and the“community principle” in welfare state. The former principle is composed of twoelements, which are “distribution in proportion to deserts” and “burden in proportion tobenefit”. The latter principle is composed of two elements, which are “distribution in
proportion to needs” and “burden in proportion to ability”. (3) I argue that thecommunity principles are more or less prevailing not only in welfare states but also invarious communities.
The two discussants gave comments and raised questions about the presentationsof the panelists. Makoto ITOH (Kokushikan University) commented and raised questions
as follows:(1) How to understand the historical necessity and meaning of neo-liberalism? I
understand contemporary capitalism is now spirally going back to the former
competitive capitalism. (2) How to understand the historical characteristic of capitalwhich promotes neo-liberalism? (3) I am afraid that neo-liberalism involves sometotalitarian power of the state and widens the economical difference between rich andpoor countries. I would like the three panelists to present supplementary reports.
Mitsuhiko TSURUTA (Chuo University, emeritus) commented and raised questions asfollows: (1) OKAMOTO points out that neo-liberalism is outdated and does not matchwith the changing present economy. However, I think that the changes of social
framework after the 1970s have brought us neo-liberalism. (2) I would like to know
why YAMADA insists that we succeeded in domestication of capitalism by the society
principle in the 1960s, but then did not succeed and the capital principle went too far
after the 1970s. (3) In considering the contemporary social crisis, why does NIIMURA
take up the problem of equality or inequality and what is the community principle
which underlies contemporary society?
After the panelists answered these questions and comments, general discussion was
opened up for the floor. OKAMOTO answered written questions from four participants,
YAMADA three, and NIIMURA six. There were another three questions from the floor.

54

The 54th annual conference was held at Aichi University, Nagoya on October 21
and 22, 2006.
There were 14 parallel sessions with 39 speakers. The topics of sessions were
“Marx’s Capital”, “Corporation”, “Employment”, “Mathematical Model”,“Accumulation System”, “Theory of Ownership/Theory of History”, “Environment”,“Information”, “Accumulation/Business Cycle”, “Globalization and Theory ofImperialism”, “China/Korea”, and “Gender”.
The plenary session was on “Transfiguration and Pathology of Contemporary
Corporate Capital”, and chaired by Tetsuji KAWAMURA (Hosei University) and Shinjiro
HAGIWARA (Yokohama National University). Three panelists read papers in this session.
Masahiko ITAKI (Ritsumeikan University) spoke on “The Transformation of theMultinational Corporation from the Viewpoint of So-called ‘Good-will’”, Takeo
KUMANO (Senshu University, emeritus) spoke on “Capitalism Today and the
Corporation”, and Takashi OGURI (Komazawa University) spoke on “TheSelf-dissolving Contradictions in Modern Stock Companies: Interaction with Law andAccounting”.
ITAKI stated as follows: (1) International merger and acquisition (M&A) incurs
so-called “good will” to the investor. It actually represents negative “promoter’s profits”.
As companies expand their scale via cross-border M&As and become multinational,
they are inevitably compelled to maximize capital gains in order to compensate “goodwill” which accumulates as fictitious intangible assets. (2) Transformation of MNCs
into industry-equity capital was accompanied by that of international surplus capital into
equity investment. (3) This process has brought fatal diseases to the capitalist world
economy. First, MNC tends to pursue speculative capital gains and strongly averts R&D
and fixed capital investment. Second, this leads to wasteful and unproductive
consumption of realized gains. And last, it creates instability in the international capital
markets. (4) The interaction between unstable FDI and speculative equity investment
would be one of the most serious hindrances to the health of developing countries.
KUMANO stated as follows: (1) The corporation has been held for many years to be alegal entity for raising a large amount of funds from the public. In the late 19th and early
20th century many corporations were organized to build large-scale production
equipment in heavy industries. (2) The industrial structure has dramatically changed
since the late 19th century. In the late 19th century the core of the industrial structure wasbased on heavy industry. However, in the early 21st century, a new quickly emerging
industry which is based on internet service has come into being. Month after month55

many new companies are born. (3) In the stock exchange today, a lot of M&As takeplace and recently in many cases, purchasers want to buy stocks of the target company
with stocks of the purchaser’s company. In this case the stock of the purchaser isquasi-money. (4) Today, the situation is entirely different from that of the late 19th
century. The capital market has metamorphosed from a market based on raising funds toa speculative one. OGURI stated as follows: (1) I focus on the self-dissolving
contradictions in modern stock companies which tend to bring about the transition fromthe private property to the social property. (2) The capital of stock companies itself rests
on a social mode of production and presupposes a social concentration of means of
production and labor-power. It is the abolition of capital as private property within theframework of capitalist production itself. Stock companies whose functions are
divorced from capital ownership are in a transitional process toward the conversion of
all functions into associated and social producers. (3) However, since property of stockcompanies still exists in the form of stock, its movement and transfer become purely aresult of gambling on the stock exchange. (4) From this point of view, stock companies
should be controlled or managed by the social and public power.
Two discussants gave comments and raised questions on the presentations of thepanelists. Takahisa UEMURA (Yamaguchi University) commented and raised questions
as follows: (1) ITAKI’s presentation was very interesting because study of transfiguration
should be focused on the maximization of capital gains based on the difference ofinterest. However, why does ITAKI see the international credit capital after the 1980s in
surplus? What is the surplus of international credit capital? (2) KUMANO’s presentation
was very suggestive because rampant M&A and loosening regulations have brought
disorder and chaos in present society. But how to evaluate the functions of institutional
investors? (3) OGURI’s presentation gave us a favorable impression because he tried toclarify the affirmative and negative aspects of regulation for present corporations. What
has brought the public power in controlling the corporations? Koji MORIOKA (Kansai
University) commented and raised questions as follows: (1) How to understand therecent situation of M&A in Japan concerning the criminal cases of Livedoor and the
Murakami Fund? (2) What effects has transfiguration of corporate governance brought
to the relation between capital and labor in corporate capitalism? (3) Is the concept of
Hilferding’s finance capital and founder’s gain still effective in considering the
speculative situation of modern finance?
The three panelists answered the discussants’ questions and thereafter the floor
started general discussion. There were four questions by written questions and four
participants from the floor.

56

The 55th annual conference was held at Yokohama National University, Yokohama,on October 20 and 21, 2007. There were 20 parallel sessions with 56 speakers. The
topics of sessions were “Principles of Economics”, “Historical Changes andMathematical Models”, “Post-Keynesian/Structural Macroeconomics”, “The Japanese
Economy”, “The American Economy”, “The Chinese Economy”, “Asian Economy”,“Behavior of Economic Organizations and Mutual Relationships”, “Theoretical
Analysis of Economic Inequality”, “Reconsideration of the History of Economic
Theories”, “Value, Profit and Growth”, “New Development of Regulation Theory”,“Long-run Dynamics of Capitalism and Labor”, “Environment”, “Female Labor andFamily” and “Contingent Workers and Economic Inequality”.
We first planned to have a plenary session in English with Andrew GLYN (Oxford
University). However, we instead asked Tomohiko SEKINE (York University, former) to
make a presentation in Japanese for a special plenary session because GLYN could notcome to Japan since he fell ill. SEKINE spoke on “Marxian Economics, from Crisis to
Resurgence”, chaired by Hiroyasu UEMURA (Yokohama National University). This
presentation was published as a special article in The Political Economy Quarterly, Vol.
45, No. 1, 2008.
The other plenary session was on “How Do We See a Society with Increasing
Inequality?”, chaired by Koji MORIOKA (Kansai University) and Seiichi NAGASHIMA(Tokyo Keizai University). Three panelists read papers in this session. Yuji OISHI(Komazawa University) spoke on “The Widening Gap in the Two-Level Society andMarketism-Economics”, Takao SASAKI (Hosei University, emeritus) spoke on “The
Increase in Income Inequality in the U.S. since the 1970s: Mainly Focusing on the
U-turn of Top Income Shares to the Pre-World-War-Ⅱ-Era”, and Hiroyuki UNI (Kyoto
University) spoke on “Causes of the Increase of Wage Differentials in Japan”.
OISHI stated as follows: (1) Since the 1980s, the Japanese Gini coefficient has been
increasing and the gap between rich and poor has widened. The personal income ofhigh-ranking managers and stockholders has been increased rapidly in the last several
years. (2) Business has actively been urged to adopt a more flexible employment system
where workers are hired as non-regular employees. The rise of the working poor could
be seen as the core problem. In these situations, a lot of regular workers are not paid
overtime. (3) In order to resolve this poverty problem, firstly, the number of regular
employees should be increased. Secondly, the government should review the Social
Security and tax system, redistribute tax for the poor, and reconstruct the welfare system.
SASAKI stated as follows: (1) There was a mild trend toward equalization of family

57

income distribution after World WarⅡ; however, this trend reversed after the 1970s.
Owing to this process, the pre-tax family income shares of top groups have returned to
the very high level of the pre-war or pre-Great Depression era. (2) The causes ofdecrease in income inequality in the early period and its remarkable reversal since the1970s seem to be related to the changes in the American capitalist system. (3) There aremany factors which have made a remarkable contribution to the reversal since the 1970s.
These are worsening of economic conditions, growing economic crisis owing to oilshocks, slowdown of productivity growth and competitive challenges from othercountries. All these systemic factors should be considered the causes of the trends inincome distribution. UNI stated as follows: (1) I empirically show the income
differential of Japan has increased in every age group since the end the 1990s. (2) This
increase in Japan was caused by the following three mechanisms. The first is the longstagnation and globalization of Japanese economy, which have led to a decrease inproduction and employment. This reduction weakened the bargaining power of tradeunions. The second is the pressure of wage restraint, which has grown out of theintensification of competition among firms. And third is the Information Technology
revolution, which has raised wages of upper class workers in the IT sector. (3)Unfortunately, we cannot find the sign of reversal of this trend.
Then two discussants gave comments and raised questions on the presentations of
the panelists. Yasuo FUKUDA (Hitotsubashi University) commented and questioned asfollows: All the three panelists spoke on the present situation, causes and remedy for an
increasing inequality. I highly evaluate their presentations because they took up basic
problems of inequality now. However, there is a lack of important viewpoints instudying the present inequality problems. These problems should be studied from thestandpoint of global capitalism. How to understand the causes of increasing inequality
between capital and labor under global capitalism? Toshio FUKUSHIMA (Senshu
University) commented and questioned as follows: The three presentations tackled the
problems of increasing inequality in our society and succeeded in showing the present
situation, its mechanism and the prospect of a society with an increasing inequality.
OISHI pointed out that the increasing numbers of poor and contingent workers is theresult of structural reform by the state-monopolistic capitalism. However, this isquestionable because the ideas of privatization and small government which have led tothe structural reform are not the results of state-monopoly capitalism but the results of
neo-liberalism.
After the panelists answered these questions and comments, general discussion was
opened up for the floor. OISHI answered written questions from eight participants,

58

SASAKI six, and UNI six. There were several other questions and comments from thefloor.
The complete papers which were read in the plenary panel session of these annual
conferences, together with summaries of discussions, are published in The Political
Economy Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2004; Vol. 42, No. 1, 2005; Vol. 43, No. 1, 2006;
Vol. 44, No. 1, 2007 and Vol. 45, No. 1, 2008.
4.

The Next Annual Conference
The 56th annual conference of the Japan Society of Political Economy was held at
Kyushu University in Fukuoka on October 25 and 26, 2008. The theme of the plenary
session was The Sub-prime Shock and the Future of Global Capitalism.
(Shinjiro HAGIWARA, Yokohama National University)

59THE POPULATION ASSOCIATION OF JAPANThe Population Association of Japan (PAJ) was established in November 1948 andmarked its 60th anniversary in 2008. Among the long history of the Population
Association of Japan, many projects were carried out and related books were published.
In 2002, to celebrate its first 50 years, the Association published the Encyclopedia ofPopulation, which is evaluated to have contributed to the development of the science of
population.
The Population Association of Japan has various members: not only researchers inuniversities, but also businessmen and government officials in related fields of the
Association, such as population statistics, business demography, or regional planning.
The world faces rapidly increasing population; however, in developed countries, aging
and the low fertility rate bring serious social-economic problems. From this point ofview, the study of population analysis has become more necessary to wrestle with thesecomplicated problems.
Since 1978, the Population Association of Japan has been publishing its journal
Jinkogaku Kenkyu (The Journal of Population Studies) along with its newsletter Kaiho,
a publication focusing on papers presented at our annual meetings and other information
pertinent to Association members. Jinkogaku Kenkyu has been published twice yearly
since 1997, with the June issue, released at the time of our annual meeting, focusing on
articles, while the year-end issue, in addition to articles, incorporates more varied
content including research reports and notes. Combined, the two issues provide adefinitive overview of the Association’s activities.
As a commemorative project for our 40th annual meeting in 1988, the Association
established the Population Association of Japan Awards, which are awarded to members
who make a distinguished contribution to the advancement and development ofdemography. Bestowed every other year, the awards serve not only to honor a member’sefforts but to also stimulate motivation for research and foster the young researchersamong members. The Association confers four kinds of awards: the PAJ Award for an
outstanding book, the award for an excellent and a top-quality article, the award for an
excellent book and report for public interests, and the Special Award for a contributor to
the Association.
For the 50th anniversary in 1998, besides the Encyclopedia of Population, acommemorative report of the Association’s 50-year history was published at the sametime, reviewing our half century of activities and accomplishments through archives andreminiscent talks attended by select members.

60

The association’s research activities consist of our national annual meetings andregional meetings. The annual meeting comprises (1) a symposium, (2) themed sessions,(3) general sessions, (4) the chairperson’s address, (5) international sessions and special
sessions, (6) commemorative lectures, and (7) a welcome party. Regional meetings areheld in Kyushu, northern and eastern Japan, Kansai, and Chubu. Below are theassociation’s activities from 2004 to 2008 relating to above items (1) and (2).
1. Symposiums
The Committee of Annual Meeting Planning selects various and wide-ranging
categories of population and its related problems. Taking the opinion of the participantsof the previous annual meetings into account and examining recent social and economic
topics, the Committee determines the theme of the year.
At the 56th annual meeting (2004) at the University of Tokyo, with the total
fertility rate in Japan having fallen to 1.29 in 2003 and the low-fertility problem having
been discussed in connection with pension finance, the Association took up the theme of
Reproductive Health in Very Low-Fertility Societies. Four presentations were made:“Reproductive Health in Very Low-Fertility Societies: A New Paradigm for
Demographic Research and Policy Formation”, “Human Sexuality and Reproductive
Process: Demographic Methodologies and their Outcomes”, “Family Planning andPrevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases: New Approaches in Health Promotion”,
and “Infertility and Reproductive Technologies: Ethical and Social Consideration for the
Recent Changes”.
Topics about the baby-boom generation attracted attention in 2005. The baby-boom
generation is approaching the retirement age, and it is important to consider how thisbaby-boom generation will spend their future life for Japan’ s society. At the 57th annual
meeting (2005) at Kobe University, the Association selected the theme of thesymposium as “Future of the Japanese Baby-Boom Generation”, and presentations weremade from three viewpoints: “Working Style”, “Family Formation”, and “Living and
Residential Arrangement”, to examine their behaviors.
A National Census was carried out in 2005, and a society of declining population
was recognized commonly in Japan at the same time. From that point of view, thesymposium at the 58th annual meeting (2006) at Keio University investigated the trends
and the changes in the Japanese society of declining population. The theme of thisannual meeting was “Japan’s Population Decline: Generational Perspectives”. Threeviewpoints were presented: “Issues on the Young Adult Population”, “Issues on the
Middle-Aged Population”, and “Issues on the Elderly Population”.

61

The 59th annual meeting (2007) was held at Shimane University. The Japanesebirth rate has been declining continuously, and the government has adopted various
policies for low fertility; however the effects of those policies have been poor. The
Association and the Committee for Planning Annual Meetings examined thesesituations, and took up the theme of the symposium as “Reconsidering Policy for Low
Fertility”. The cause of the declining birth rate was reflected by family formation, labor
supply, regional affairs, social welfare, gender relations. Considering the wide anddiverse range of policies for low fertility, the following presentations were made: as“Low Fertility in Europe countries and corresponding policy”, “Low Fertility in Asian
countries and corresponding policy”, and “Low Fertility in Japan and corresponding
policy”.
At the 60th annual meeting (2008) at Japan Women’s University, recognizing theimportance of the concept of work-life balance to raise fertility, the Association
determined the theme of its symposium was “Work-Life Balance in an Aging Society”.
In this symposium, three excellent reports were proposed: “Discussion on Work-Life
Balance in Japan”, “Discussion on Work-Life Balance in Europe”, and “Discussion on
Work-Life Balance in Companies and Organizations”.
2. Themed Sessions
At the annual meeting, the common sessions were an important opportunity topresent particular concerns, such as themes which covered problems for the region
where the annual meeting was being held; however, as of the 55th annual meeting in
2003, the common sessions have been assimilated into the themed sessions and nolonger take place under a separate denomination. Therefore, the importance andnecessity of the themed sessions have increased and more and more researchers havecome to apply.
The themed sessions were established in 1998. As of this year, instead of thecommon sessions, important and timely problems, including topics about regional
interests, selected by the Committee for Planning Annual Meetings have been discussed
at the themed sessions.
Themes over the past five years have been as follows.
2004 (56th annual meeting)1) Gender and Population Problems2) Demographic Analysis Utilizing Microdata
3) Formal Demographic Methods and Their Applications

62

2005 (57th annual meeting)1) Population Decline and Society from a Regional Perspective2) Emergence of Lowest-low Fertility and Policy Responses in Some Asian Countries
3) Diversification of Union Formation
2006 (58th annual meeting)1) Quantitative Analyses of Life Course and Population
2) Declining Fertility in East Asia and Its Relation to the Social Role of Women(English session)3) Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage: A Historical Demography Perspective4) Regional Population Statistics in the 21st century
2007 (59th annual meeting)1) The Demography of the Baby Boomers’ Children
2) Small Area Statistics and Regional Demography Part 1
3) Small Area Statistics and Regional Demography Part 22008 (60th annual meeting)1) Quantitative Analyses of Life course and Population
2) Evaluation of Population and Family Policy in Japan
3) Socioeconomic Differentials and Demographic Outcomes: A historical demography
perspective
3. International Activities
The Association’s Committee for International Exchange was established in
1998-99, and has been overseeing various international activities since then. In May
2000, agreements of exchange were finalized between the Population Association ofJapan and both the Population Association of Korea and the Population Association of
Taiwan.
According to the agreements, the Association of Population invited researchers
from East Asian countries to discuss “the Declining Fertility in East Asia and Its
Relation to the Social Role of Women” at the annual meeting of 2006, and held an
English session.
(Hisakazu KATO, Meiji University
Machiko WATANABE, Meikai University)

63

JAPAN PORT ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
1. Brief History
The Japan Port Economic Association (JPEA) was established for the purpose of
performing the scientific and interdisciplinary study of ports, airports and so on in 1962.
The number of members of the JPEA as of September 2008 is 275 persons. The JPEA
has coped with changes in social economy, and it has taken a role and a function as an
opinion leader in studies concerning the policy of ports and airports to improve thequality of life through the reinforcement of competition in the international market, thereconstruction of industry, the building of a sustainable society and so on. In 2006, the45th anniversary of the JPEA was held at Yokohama Port and Kanto Gakuin University,and active discussions were held there. For the development of Japanese ports andairports, the role that the JPEA should achieve has an important meaning in future.
2. Trends in Membership
The JPEA consists of the following members: researchers who belong touniversities, research institutes, government offices and private enterprises, researchers
from foreign countries, and also graduate students.
A national conference of the JPEA is held every year, and various port problems
are discussed from the domestic or international point of view. Also, the JPEA publishes
The Annual Report of the Japan Port Economic Association as the rich harvest from theresults of studies that have been discussed at the national conference and so on.
The JPEA is composed of seven divisions: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku,
Chubu, Kansai-Chugoku-Shikoku and Kyushu-Okinawa. At each division, studies ofthe ports which make the most of the quality of the local area are conducted, andobservation visits of the port facilities and so on are performed.
Tsuyoshi YANO, Ginjiro SHIBATA, Hisashi AZUMA, Toshiro KITAMI and Toru
YAMAJO have previously served as chairman of the JPEA; the present chairman, Teruo
KOBAYASHI, was inaugurated in 2006.
All members of the JPEA respect their assignments about ports, and give carefulconsideration to a lot of port problems; moreover they have continued their strenuousstudies for the development of the JPEA as a scientific organization.
3. Trends in StudyThe JPEA has taken a role and a function as an opinion leader for the study of a lotof important assignments concerning ports, which function as a core of the Japanese64economy in its dependence on foreign trade.
The original assignment of the JPEA was to get rid of the pre-war idea that a port
was a national public work. After having reviewed it, the theory of a port authority
theory was verified. Another assignment was to correct and solve the distortion between
private capital and social overhead capital which was caused by the “port congestion
problem” attendant on rapid economic growth. In other words, it was to improve theworking conditions of the port laborers and to condition a new work environment. The
progress of rationalization of marine transportation advanced to sophisticate portfunctions and cargo work. As a result, it was necessary to train the port laborers and to
improve the working conditions attendant on the rationalization. Such a port problem
was equivalent to the problem concerning the essence of miscellaneous Japanesesocioeconomic problems. Indeed, it became an assignment to review the Japanese
capitalistic economic society itself, which necessarily exposed structural paradoxes.
After that, when the Japanese economy had become more sophisticated, problems
concerning the improvement of coastal zones around locations of ports and portfunctions became the main assignment. The priority distribution of public investment toachieve social overhead capital service in the local community progressed withindustrial development as a policy. As the various local governments possessed port
cities, as a result the port cities went ahead with the correction of differences among the
local areas. However, the domestic competition among the ports became intense and theports were at the mercy of the trend of international competition.
Afterwards, the Japanese industrial structure was converted from large-scale
smokestack industry to smaller-scale industry, and problems concerning thereconstruction of port functions are now being discussed at the present. The policy of“super gateway ports” in global society has led to an assignment concerning
re-improvement of the hub ports and review of the location of ports. Tourist potential
for reuse of coastal zones attendant on the switch in industrial structure, basic policies
for disaster prevention and so on must be cases for review of port functions in specificareas. There are a lot of problems concerning ports.
4. National Conferences and Common Subjects
The JPEA holds a national conference once a year. Before discussion, an
observation visit is made to a port facility in the locality of the conference site is always
helpful to later discussions. The past seven sites and common subjects are as follows:
2002: 41st, Ports in Northeastern Asia and Japan, at Hokkaido
2003: 42nd, Management and Problems of Ports in a Metropolitan Area, at Tokyo

65

Port
2004: 43rd, Local Activation and Problems of Port Functions, at Ofunato Port
2005: 44th, Ferries and Ports, at Shimonoseki Port
2006: 45th, Super Gateway Ports and Port Management, at Yokohama Port
2007: 46th, Logistics and Port Management, at Nagoya Port
2008: 47th, Activation of the Regional Economiy and Ports, at Sendai-Shiogama
Port
Here is an outline of the national conference of the most recent three years.
1) 2006 (45th) National Conference
The 45th national conference was held at Kanto Gakuin University and Yokohama
Port as a meeting place for three days from August 24th to August 26th, 2006. On the
24th, Yokohama Port was observed through the cooperation of the Ports and Harbors
Bureau of Yokohama City and the Association of Yokohama Port Promotion after ameeting of the board of directors. On the 25th, the keynote speech was held and thecommon subjects were discussed. On the 26th, free subjects were presented, and active
discussion was done. The common subject was “Super Gateway Ports and Port
Management”. When surveying the ports, main important Asian ports such as Singapore
and Pusan have accomplished remarkable development. In comparison with thedevelopment of the main Asian ports, the development of Japanese ports has slowed
down, and their function as Asian hub ports has deteriorated. A plan for “super gateway
ports” aims for the main Japanese container ports to recover from the competition in theinternational market.
That plan is premised on the introduction of the next generation of high-standard
improved container terminals of on condition on that the government, port managers
and private enterprise are not united in prepossession with the traditional port systemand framework. Also, it is premised on a drastic structural switch of the existing basis ofport administration and management. There are a lot of problems to tackle within theports, such as reduction of total costs, simplification and swiftness of efficiency oflead-time for distribution, and the functional reinforcement of the physical distribution
base.
Therefore, the improvement of container terminals and the reform of port
management must be urgent business. However, because the reform of ports isdependent on the system of port-related suppliers to their port, there have occurred a lotof problems such as adjustment with port-related suppliers and port managers among66

adjacent ports, too.
Vast social overhead capital has been invested in many important ports in the past,and container wharves have been constructed. The switch to port policy around “supergateway ports” will lead to expanding problems about the differences among ports, andas a result, problems about the influence to the regional economy will be involved.
These were the basic points; the common subjects that were reported are as
follows:“Port Development Strategy in East Asia Hub Ports”, Mariner WANG (Ritsumeikan Asia
Pacific University)“Re-examination of the Super Gateway Ports Policy”, Takayuki TSUMORI (Okayama
University)“Super Gateway Ports and Local Ports”, Yoshihide HIROSE (Nittsu Research Instituteand Consulting, Inc)
“The Significance of Super Gateway Ports in Port Strategy”, Takeshi ONO (Ministry ofLand, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism)“A Study on the Method Proposal of a Management Strategy Improvement of a South
Korean Super Central Port”, Mi Young LEE (Dongseo University)“On the Container Terminal Policy in Japan”, Masanaga BUJO (Osaka University ofCommerce)2) 2007 (46th) National Conference
The 46th national conference was held from August 5th to August 7th at Nagoya Port,
which had greeted its 100th anniversary, through the cooperation of the Chubu divisionof the JPEA and Nagoya Port Authority. On 5th, an observation visit was made to
Nagoya Port, after the meeting of the board of directors. On 6th, the keynote speech washeld and the common subject was discussed. On 7th, free subjects were presented, andactive discussion was developed.
The common subject was Logistics and Port Management. The original meaning oflogistics is the procurement, distribution, maintenance, and replacement of materiel andpersonnel. Now, logistics has the meaning of a system which effectively plans, drafts
and carries out various distributions, such as the development of products, material
supply, production, sales, allocation, storage, transportation, consumption, disposal andrecycling. Logistics should not be understood only from the angle of distribution; it isnecessary to try to find a method that improves port functions more effectively in order
to cope with competition on the international market.
On the basis of such points, the following common subjects were reported.

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“Port Operators in the Global Logistics Age”, Hiroto UEBA (Yokohama Harbor
Polytechnic College)“Ports and Optimum Aspects as a Whole in the EDI”, Kimihiro KONO (Gifu Shotoku
Gakuen University)“Supply Chain Management and Port Management”, Takayuki TSUMORI (Okayama
University)“Present Conditions and Problems about Management and Administration of Japanese
Public Container Terminals”, Noboru TOCHIGI (Regional Development Consultants)“Port Competition and Paradigms in Policy-Making: In Comparison with the EU Port
Policy”, Masato SHINOHARA (Tokai University)“A Study of Transportation by Ferry Boat from Shanghai for Retailers in Japan”, Shinji
ISHIHARA (Tokai University)
3) 2008 (47th) National Conference
The 47th national conference was held at Sendai-Shiogama Port from August 25th
to August 27th through the cooperation of the Tohoku division of the JPEA and Miyagi
University. On 25th, an observation visit of Sendai-Shiogama Port was made after ameeting of the board of directors. On 26th, the keynote speech was held and the common
subject was discussed.
The common subject was Activation of the Regional Economy and Ports. In recent
years, the distortions that were caused by deregulation and innovations to thecompetitive principle have impoverished the regional economy. The regional economy
has formed a kind of living area, as a place for employment, consumption and recreation.
In such living areas, employment and consumption have decreased through excessivecompetition, and the industrial structure that forms the living area has undergone a greatchange. Also, container wharves have been built by the investment of social overhead
capital. However, the switch of port policy to “super gateway ports” has escalated the
problem of the economical difference among ports, and as a result, various influenceson the regional economy are involved, too. Because each distortion further
impoverishes the regional economy, the correction of this distortion takes on the role ofmotive power for the re-activation of regional economy.
On the basis of such points, a symposium based on the common subject was held,
and active discussions were performed there.
The panelists were Shunichi OSHIMA (Chubu University), Akihiro KOGA
(Association of All Japan Express), Kenji ONO (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism), Nobufumi YAMAGATA (Miyagi Prefectural Government),68Toshinori ISHIKAWA (Nihon University) and Isamu MITSUHASHI (Miyagi University).
The 2009 (48th) national conference will be held in Kitakyushu Port throughcooperation of the Kyushu division of the JPEA and others.
5. Awards
The JPEA confers the Kitami Toshiro Award for distinguished scientific study inthe field of social science about ports and airports. Also, the JPEA similarly confers the
Kitamura Shojiro Award for the purpose of support and encouragement to young
researchers. In addition to the report at the national conference of the JPEA and thestudy results of The Annual of Japan Port Economic Association, the results of thescientific studies mentioned above become not only the precious property of the JPEA
but also great precepts for port policy and the field of business.
6. Future Assignments
As above, the trends of the JPEA have been overviewed, and now the futureassignment must be a reexamination of the ideal method of port management attendanton the switch in industrial structure. The ideal role of “super gateway ports”, thepromotion of the logistic function and the activation of the regional economy are futureassignments. These demand correspondence concerning the aspect of hardware fromnational government. That may mean it is impossible to abandon the idea that a port is anational public work.
The effective use of ports under a mature society is a necessary assignment fromnow on, and it is related to trying to get rid of the idea that a port is a national public
work. It concerns the relationship among aspects of software such as the creation of acomfortable and prosperous waterfront which is thrown open to citizens, the port as abase for recovery from disaster and for disaster prevention, and the creation of an eco
port for disposal or retreatment of industrial waste.
Therefore, study from the aspects of both hardware and software in ports has
become an important assignment for reviewing future ports.
(Toshihiro KATO, Chuo Gakuin University and
Hirofumi WATANABE, Asano Institute of Technology)

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THE SOCIETY FOR THE ECONOMIC STUDIES OF SECURITIES
1. History and Activities
The Society for the Economic Studies of Securities was founded in 1966. So it has
a history over 40 years. It issued A Short History of the Society (for 30 Years) in 1996.
Our main activities of conferences in 1990 were reported in this Information
Bulletin, No. 11 (1991) and our development from 1966 to 1995 was reported in thisBulletin, No.16 (1996), by Joji KOBAYASHI (Aoyama Gakuin University). The
development after that up to 2001 was reported by Hiroshi FUKUMITSU (Seijo
University).
The objective of our Society is to study and research the theory, history, policy andothers concerning securities, and to promote the development of learning and economy.
In order to achieve the aim stated above, our society holds biannual national
conferences and sectional research meetings, and also publish Annals of Society for the
Economic Studies of Securities, reports for national conferences, and books. The annual
report is composed of academic articles and papers which are reports of national
conferences and meetings of each district.
The spring national conference is held in the Tokyo district, and the autumn
conference is held in a district apart from the Tokyo district.
In the conference a common theme is selected. Generally three or four reporters
discuss a problem that faces the Japanese securities market. In the conference there arealso many reports on free themes.
2. Organization
Our society was founded by researchers in securities economics, members who
belonged to the Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution and also researchers inmonetary economics, public finance and business administration. Most members of oursociety are academics, but others are economists, accountants, lawyers, securities
analysts and practitioners working in financial institutions.
At the end of June 2008, there were 612 regular members, 19 special individual
members, and 14 special corporate members.
Members are divided into five districts, namely Hokkaido, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai
and Kyushu.
To run the activities of the Society there are a representative director, fiveexecutive directors, 11 directors, two auditors, two counselors and 20 managers for each
district. The present representative director is Takuo SAGA (Japan Securities Research

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Institute).
The head office is set up in the Japan Securities Research Institute in Tokyo.
3. General View for 40 Years since the Foundation of Our Society(1) Main Concerns of Our Society from 1966 to 1995 (for 30 years)
We would like to report a general view on the main concerns of national
conferences.
In the first period (1966〜1973), the issue of long-term government bonds was
resumed. Liberalization of international capital movement and financial reorganization
progressed. New stock issues at market price were adopted. The Securities andExchanges Law was revised. In the second period (1974〜1980), the Japanese economy
moved from a high-growth path to a low-growth path. Large amounts of government
bonds were supplied to the securities market. Big companies tended to become
independent from bank borrowing. Corporate finance largely changed. In the third
period (1981〜1989), financial liberalization, internationalization and securitization
advanced. Stock prices rose largely in the latter part of 1980s, and in reality a bubble
economy emerged. In the fourth period (1990〜1995), The Japanese bubble economy
collapsed. Scandals in financial markets were revealed. Reconstruction of securities
markets was required.
Arguments at our national conferences reflected the changes in the situation of theJapanese economy and securities markets stated above.
(2) Main Concerns of Our Society from 1996 to 2005 (for 10 years)
In the 65th national conference in June 2006, two special speeches were made ascommemorative speeches for the 40th anniversary of our society. Namely Kiyoshi
NIKAMI (Shiga University) reported on “A Review of Activities in the Society: for theLast 10 Years,” which surveyed research activities in recent years of our Society andshowed problems to study in the future. Yasuyuki FUCHITA (Nomura Institute of CapitalMarkets Research) reported on “Transition toward a Market-Based Financial System:
Japan’s Experience and Future Outlook”, which surveyed changes in the Japanesefinancial markets in the last 10 years, and pointed out a decrease in profit margins infinancial services, and also pointed out the transition toward market-based forms ofindirect financing.
NIKAMI described 10 years of activities of our Society as follows. On the financial
system, the model of a market-based form of indirect financing was regarded as thedesirable one. Concerning joint stock companies and corporate finance, finance theory71

took root, but differences in corporate finance policies between America and Japan werepointed out. In regard to the securities transaction system, competition between
securities markets was disputed. As for the securities analysis and stock price theory, theefficient market hypothesis was generalized, which regards stock prices as reflecting all
information, and positive analysis based on the hypothesis was accumulated.
4. Main Concerns of Our Society from 2002 to 2007 (in the Last Six Years)(1) The 57th and 58th Conference in 2002
Next we report the main concerns of our Society since 2002 precisely.
The 57th and 58th Conference were held in 2002. In this year special
commemorative speeches were made by two professors invited from foreign countries.
William Arthur THOMAS (University of Liverpool) gave a lecture on “London Stock
Exchange: To merge or not to merge?” in June. The record of this English lecture isprinted in Annals of Society for the Economic Studies of Securities, No. 38, May 2003.
Hartmut SCHMIDT (Universität Hamburg) spoke on “Regional and Transregional
Exchange in Europe” in November. The full paper of this speech is published in The
JSRI Journal of Financial and Securities Markets, No. 40, December 2002, Japan
Securities Research Institute.
In March 2001 the Schedule for five years of the financial system reform named
Japan’s Big Bang was over. The framework of competition in the securities markets waslargely changed. In 2002 we focused our discussion on the function and competition ofcapital markets. The common theme of the 57th Conference was the Current Situation
and Issues of Competition for Stock Market in Japan.
Takeo KUMANO (Senshu University) posed two questions. He questioned whether
the existence of plural secondary markets was a necessary result of diversification ofmarket participants or showed only competition for orders. He also pointed out thenecessity to analyze competition between markets in connection with the transition of
the structure of Japanese industry. Kazuhito KONDO (Ichiyoshi Research Institute)introduced the current situation of internal stock-market competitions for start-up or
venture-stage firms and tasks for their reform plans. Sadakazu OSAKI (Nomura ResearchInstitute) insisted that market competition was to be dealt with in market microstructure.
Sakutaro KINBARA (Tokyo Stock Exchange) introduced the trend of Japanese financial
system reform and securities markets.
The common theme of the 58th Conference was Competition and Transformation of
Stock Exchanges. After the enforcement of the revised Securities and Exchanges Law inDecember 2000, major stock exchanges adopted the structure of joint stock companies.

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Kiyoshi NIKAMI (Japan Securities Research Institute) argued for stock exchange
demutualization under markets competition, and future tasks for Japanese markets.
Tomoharu NAKANO (Tokyo Stock Exchange) also explained the demutualization andrecent efforts and future tasks surrounding the listing procedure of the Tokyo Stock
Exchange. Shigeharu KOBAYASHI (Japan Securities Dealers Association) emphasized therole of the JASDAQ Market as the stock market for emerging companies in Japan.
Yoshinori SUZUKI (Kanagawa University) pointed out the environment of
demutualization of stock exchanges.
(2) The 59th and 60th Conference in 2003
Japanese securities markets retained prosperity, and market transparency
progressed in 2003.
Efficient corporate finance was required for restoration of Japanese economic
prosperity. So our society selected the theme: The Present State of Japanese Corporate
Finance and Securities Markets, as the common theme of the 59th Conference. Katsuhiro
MATSUMURA (Ritsumeikan University) pointed out the limits of discussion on corporate
governance in recent Japan. He insisted that fund management is more important thanfund raising for recent Japanese companies. Hirokazu SAGO (Tezukayama University)
mentioned the necessity of the reinforcement of profitability of companies forrestoration of Japanese prosperity. He examined the development of American
corporation finance and suggested the improvement of Japanese corporate finance.
Yasuhiro YONEZAWA (Yokohama National University) mentioned that Japanese
corporate finance should change its object from good treatment for employees to goodtreatment for stock holders. Kiyoshi OBA (Meijo University) discussed Japanese
corporate finance in recent years from the viewpoint of practical business.
Recently behavioral finance which places the focus on human psychology attracts
researchers’ attention. The theme: Psychological foundations of Security Investment
Behavior was selected as the common theme of the 60th Conference. Hideaki KATO
(Kobe University) explained the reason why behavioral finance attracted attention
recently. Masashi TOSHINO (Daiwa Institute of Research) argued for effectiveness of
behavioral finance. He summarized the fundamental structure of behavioral finance, andpresented the effect which had been brought about by analyzing data of the Japanesestock market. Kengo SHIROSHITA (Yamaguchi University) verified the prospect theory of
Kahneman and Tversky through an experimental analysis of investment behavior ofsmall individual investors. Hiroshi TAKAHASHI (Mitsui Asset Trust and Banking)analyzed data for the last 40 years of weather and stock prices, and concluded that73

investors’ psychology had played an important role in stock price fluctuation.
(3) The 61st and 62nd Conference in 2004
In 2004 defects in the fundamental system of the capital market came out insuccession. Japanese financial system reform had not resolved the improvement of thequality of capital market.
The 61st Conference discussed the common theme: The Recovery of Financial
System and Security Market in Japan. Megumi SUTO (Waseda University) attachedimportance to the high quality of the capital market where market prices accuratelyreflect the risk of financial products traded. She proposed to form a multiplicate
securities market which risk-taking investors freely choose on the principle ofself-responsibility. Ryoji MUSHA (Deutsche Securities) argued for financial system
reform amid the post-bubble economy. He paid attention to worldwide factors as thecauses of financial crisis. He suggested changing the pyramid-type financial system
where multiplicate financial intermediaries comprehensively deal with financial trade toa horizontal financial system where investors can directly access financial products andfinancial institutions are separated and specialized. Nobuyuki KINOSHITA (Saitama
University) explained the financial recovery and bad loans problems. He reported theprocess of improvement of financial infrastructure. In the system of fund raising, direct
financing and indirect financing are well-known. Kazuto IKEO (Keio University)
recommended the market-based forms of indirect financing.
After the collapse of the Japanese bubble economy the issue of deficit-covering
government bonds was resumed, and since the Obuchi Cabinet enormous government
bonds have been issued. The Japanese fiscal situation is the worst among majorcountries. The national debt problem is one of the most serious problems in Japan.
In the 62nd Conference the common theme: Accumulation of the National Debt andDebt Management & Monetary Policies, was discussed. Experts, such as an academic, athink-tanker, a member of the Ministry of Finance and a member of the Bank of Japan,
reported on debt management and monetary policy. Masataka NAKAJIMA (Konan
University) discussed government debt management policy in recent years. He
emphasized that easy money policy supported digestion of government bonds andgovernment bond price. Kosuke SHIRAISHI (Mitsubishi Research Institute) tried to
calculate issuance costs of government bonds. Hiroshi OKAWA (Ministry of Finance,
Japan) reported the present situations and future prospects of government debt
management policy by using enormous data. Tatsuji KURIHARA (the Bank of Japan)
explained the national bond market and the role of the Bank of Japan to form its market

74with high function.
(4) The 63rd and 64th Conference in 2005
The Japanese financial system returned to an ordinary state in 2005.
In this year international issues were discussed. Thus, the common theme of therd
63 Conference was Globalization in Financial and Securities Markets of China after
Joining the WTO: A View from Foreign Countries. Problems of Chinese globalization in
financial and securities markets were examined. Yu HARASHIMA (UFJ Institute) pointed
out problems in investment in China after its joining the WTO. Dongming WANG
(Setsunan University) argued the reform of the Securities Market in China and pointed
out the points of problems in the market. Tsuyoshi SHIBA (Sumitomo Mitsui AssetManagement) reported on the Chinese capital market from the viewpoints of foreign
investors. Shiping TONG (Matsuyama University) explained the China Foreign
Exchange Trade Market & the China Yuan Exchange Rate. He clarified the structure of
the Chinese foreign exchange market.
In the 63rd Conference Tatsuo UEMURA (Waseda University) made a special speechin which he treated corporate governance. He insisted on the importance of a securities
market, which is the base of corporate governance.
Corporate governance which governs corporate managers has collected muchattention of many people. The common theme of the 64th conference was The Structural
Change of the Japanese Securities Market and Corporate Governance. Kiyoshi NIKAMI(Shiga University) examined the theory of corporate governance by main banks. He
surveyed the transforming of roles of the securities market and emphasized the functionof the securities market as the function of present corporate governance. Megumi SUTO
(Waseda University) insisted that institutional investors should play the role of thegovernor of companies in the securities market. Yasufumi ASAOKA (Barclays Global
Investors) reported on Japanese corporate governance, especially on corporate
governance by the exercise of voting rights by trustees.
(5) The 65th and 66th Conference in 2006
In June 2006 the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act was enacted.
The theme: the New Trends in Securities Regulation was selected as the common
theme of the 65th Conference. Etsuro KURONUMA (Waseda University) explained theprocess of the enactment of the law, and summarized the contents of the law. Kuniyo
KUSUMOTO (the Research Institute of Financial Consumer Problems) pointed out the
insufficiency of the protection of financial consumers under the law. Kiyoyuki

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TSUCHIMOTO (Tokyo Stock Exchange) explained the improvement of the listing system
of Tokyo Stock Exchange, and stated the necessity of the balance between corporate
action and market discipline. Sadakazu OSAKI (Nomura Institute of Capital Markets
Research) summarized the transition of regulation of securities firms in Japan andexplained the influence of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and future tasks.
In the 65th Conference two special speeches were made as special events for the
40th anniversary as mentioned above.
The common theme of the 66th Conference was The Conversion of the Financial
System and Securities Markets. The significance and problems of conversion of thefinancial system were discussed. Masaya SAKURAKAWA (Keio University) pointed out
the decline of the credit intermediary function of banks, and expected banks toparticipate in market-based forms of indirect financing. He pointed out the challenges
for a finance market which works instead of banks. Goro KUMAGAYA (Mizuho
Securities) observed the structural change in the Japanese stock market in shareownership and trade flow by investors and future challenges. Yusuke KAWAMURA(Nagasaki University) put importance on the emergence of market-based forms ofindirect financing in the transition of the Japanese financial system after the 1980s andemphasized the necessity of restructuring financial law systems. Yoichi KAWANAMI(Kyushu University) clarified the progress of diversification of sources of profits infinancial institutions and emphasized the importance of retail financing in gaining
profits.
(6) The 67th and 68th Conference in 2007
The subprime loan problem caused the Subprime Crisis. Many people have paid
attention to this problem and this theme was discussed in the district conferences in
Kanto and Kansai in 2007.
Nowadays the worldwide reorganization of stock exchanges is progressing. The
common theme of the 67th Conference was The Worldwide Reorganization of Stock
Exchanges. Kenji IWATA (Kyushu University) argued for the global reorganization ofstock exchanges from European perspective. Masahiro YOSHIKAWA (Japan Securities
Research Institute) argued for the global integration of stock exchanges from the U. S.
perspective. Sadakazu OSAKI (Nomura Research Institute) reported the current state andproblems for the future development of Japanese stock exchanges. He clarified thecharacteristics of competition between markets, and suggested that the stock of Tokyo
Stock Exchange should be listed and assessed in the market. Jitsuko NAKANISHI(McKinsey & Company) pointed out inefficiency of the trading system in Japanese76exchanges.
In this conference, Tadao MIYAKAWA (The Institute of Statistical Research) was
invited. He made a special speech in which he pointed out a problem in the making of astock price index, and criticized the Nikkei 225.
M&A has been regarded as a major management strategy. The theme: M&A andContemporary Securities Market was chosen as the common theme of the 68th
Conference in order to discuss the relationship between M&A and the securities market,
challenges and future direction. Junsuke MATSUO (Momoyama Gakuin University)
argued for corporate takeover and rehabilitation. He observed recent changes incorporate rehabilitation from the viewpoints of introducing market trade, expansion of
investment funds, and increase in investment objects, and pointed out the problems
accompanied by these changes. Kenichi OSUGI (Chuo University) analyzed managing
buyouts in Japan. Kotaro INOUE (Keio University) researched into the protection ofminority shareholders’ interests in Japan, and concluded that M&A contributed to therise of corporate value. Tatsuo UEMURA (Waseda University) discussed M&A from theviewpoints of company laws.
We will report the development of our Society after 2007 at the next opportunity.
(Hisahiko SAITO, Chiba University of Commerce)

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