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 expertson economics, commerce, and business administration. In order to obtain membership an
association is subject to an examination of its academic work. As of 2006, the Union had amembership of 61 associations.
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 publicationand distribution of academic material concerning Japanese economics and papers presented bymember scholars, (2) the sending of members to overseas conferences, (3) the holding andsupporting of international conferences in Japan, (4) providing financial assistance to member
associations who invite foreign scholars to Japan, and (5) collecting information on activities ofmember associations and the issuing of a news bulletin.
The Union published in 1974 Keizaigaku No Doko (The Trend in Japanese Economics),
based on a survey of economic studies undertaken in postwar Japan. A supplementary volume
covering Japanese economic studies after 1974 was published in 1982.
The Union and the International Economic Association (IEA) jointly held the Fifth World
Congress of the IEA in Tokyo from August 29 to September 3, 1978. The Union joined theInternational 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 in East 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 the world
economy, the Japanese economy, and Japanese management.”
The Union celebrated in 1980 the 30th anniversary of its founding by launching a variety ofactivities, including the publication of The Information Bulletin. Prof. Paul Snowden of Waseda
University acts as editorial adviser.

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

CONTENTS
Page
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHERS, THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION............................................1
ECONOMIC POLICY ASSOCIATION, JAPAN..................................................................19
INDUSTRIAL STUDIES, THE SOCIETY FOR...................................................................26
MANAGEMENT, JAPAN ACADEMY OF...........................................................................34(Formerly: RESEARCH ON BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIVE BEHAVIOR,THE ASSOCIATION FOR)MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR.............................................40
POLITICAL ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC HISTORY SOCIETY, THE.......................56(Formerly: AGRARIAN HISTORY SOCIETY, THE)RESEARCH AND INFORMATION ON PUBLIC AND
COOPERATIVE ECONOMY, JAPAN SOCIETY OF....................................................68(CIRIEC JAPANESE SECTION)

SOCIAL SCIENCE OF ACCOUNTING, THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR............................76
SOCIO-ECONOMIC HISTORY SOCIETY...........................................................................84

THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHERS
1. Brief history of the JAEG
The Japan Association of Economic Geographers (JAEG), founded in 1954,
celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2003. In the President’s lecture at the 50th Conference,
Professor Toshifumi YADA (Kitakyushu University), looked back over the post-war
history of Japanese Economic Geography and divided its academic development into
four periods: pre-establishment, start-up, growth and transition (YADA, 2003). The firstten years after the War (1945-54) are seen as the pre-establishment period. During thisperiod, geographical research in Japan remained heavily influenced by conventional
approaches such as “environmental determinism”. A growing number of geographers
realized the limit of the old approach and were looking for a more scientific one toadvance understanding of the geographic nature of economic systems. In 1954, some 80
scholars, consisting of both geographers and economists, got together in Tokyo andannounced their intention to establish a new academic society named the Japan
Association of Economic Geographers.
Economic geography in Japan then experienced a start-up period from the late
1950s to the early 1970s. By the late 1950s, the Japanese economy had overcome its
postwar disorder and entered a rapid growth stage that was built upon rapid
modernization of heavy and chemical industries. Geographically, this resulted in a rapid
industrialization of urban areas, in particular in the Pacific coastal zone which stretchesfrom Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka to Fukuoka. In contrast, rural areas suffered from a declineof primary industry as well as a depopulation due to the out-migration of the younger
generation. These geographical changes, especially the widening of regional economic
disparities, stimulated many economic geographers to get involved in empirical researchthroughout the nation. During the start-up period, a large number of detailed regionalmonographs about the changing geography under a climate of rapid industrialization
were published and they created a new research trend called “regional economic
geography” (keizai chishi ron). These studies were primarily descriptive, but
explanations were based on the historical and economic contexts of the studied region,
not on the physical environment. On the theoretical side, a number of papers on
industrial location analysis also appeared. Location studies, which have a century-long
tradition in Europe after the pioneering work done by Von THUNEN, Alfred WEBER and
Walter CHRISTALLER, had been introduced to Japan before the War and were adopted anddeveloped by economists and geographers through this period. Meanwhile, the numberof researchers who joined the Association grew quite substantially. From the starting1

point of 80 people in 1954, the number exceeded 300 in the early 1960s and then 500 in
the early 70s. As the Association grew, the number of members living outside of Tokyoand its surrounding area increased significantly. This situation enabled the JAEG toestablish new regional divisions, firstly in the Osaka-based Kansai area in 1964, andthen in the Nagoya-based Chubu area in 1975. The role of Tokyo, then, became twofold:the nation-wide headquarters and the Kanto regional division. At the end of this period,
Economic Geography came to be recognized as a distinguished discipline in theJapanese academic world.
The late 1970s to the early 1990s were classified as the “growth period”. The
above-mentioned research trend of regional economic geography had produced a pile ofempirical articles and case studies of regional economies throughout Japan. However,there was a limited scope for integrating these various studies. In the 1970s, a newresearch movement that aimed to understand the overall structure of the economic
landscape in Japan emerged. Economic geographers who supported this movement got
together and formed a new research school called “regional structure” (chiiki kozo ron).
The Japanese word kozo literally means “structure” in English, but its nuance is actuallywider-ranging, meaning also “a kind of system”. This school looked upon a national
economy as a spatial system of regional economies and asserted that economic
geography as a discipline should analyze overall spatial structure of the national
economy by integrating theories of industrial structure and industrial location. The“regional structure” approach was certainly ambitious as it sought to cover a wide arrayof issues as industrial location, natural resources development, and regional planningand policy. The research outcomes of the school were published consequently as a
six-volume set one after another from 1977 to 1988 under the series title of Regional
Structures of Japan. Thus this school became and remains influential among economic
geographers in Japan. However, at the same time, other approaches including location
analysis, “regional economic geography” and political economy were also active. For
JAEG such developments brought increased membership during this period from 587 in
1976, to 700 in 1992, as well as the establishment of the fourth regional division, Seinan(the southwestern part of Japan), at the end of this period.
The period since the late 1990s has been deemed the “transitionary period”. For a
decade after the collapse of the “bubble” economy, largely led by the rise of land prices,in 1992, the Japanese economy experienced a long-term recession and this has greatlychanged the economic landscape. The revolutionary development of ICT (Information
and Communication Technology) and globalization of economic activities have also2

accelerated these changes. Consequently economic disparities among regions became
wider. In these circumstances, economic geographical research has had to reorganize its
approach to provide a better understanding of the changing economy of the regions. The
existing research trends including “regional structure” and “location studies”, while
undergoing a restructuring, has not yet led to a new research agenda of the discipline.
Some geographers who have been keeping their eyes on the developments of economic
geography across Europe and America have started to introduce these works into Japan.
Arguments such as the spatial division of labor, new industrial spaces, world city
hypothesis, learning region and so forth have become influential progressively among
Japanese geographers. Neo-classical economics-oriented studies, such as “neweconomic geography” or geographical economics have also become well known among
academics as well as policy makers. Such active “importation” of academic
achievements from foreign countries characterizes the transitionary period. The numberof JAEG members exceeded 800 in 2001 and the fifth regional branch, Hokuto, wasestablished in the northeastern part of Japan. By 2006, though, JAEG seems to haveentered a maturing phase as an organization because the number of members throughout
the 2000s has remained constant around 800.
2. Meetings
The JAEG holds three kinds of meeting activities: an annual conference, a regional
conference and regional division meetings. The annual conference is not only thebiggest event of the JAEG but also the most important occasion for researchpresentations in economic geography in Japan. Held on a weekend in May, a university
is nominated to act as a host of the conference. The conference usually takes three days:
day 1 for “roundtable” and “frontier” sessions, day 2 for the symposium, and day 3 for a
research excursion. The preparation committee for the annual conference specifies thetheme of the symposium, makes a call for presentations, and then selects individual
presenters and his/her discussants respectively. The symposium, open to every JAEG
member, is one of the unique features of the Association because other nation-wide
academic organizations within the discipline of geography are largely oriented toindividual paper readings. All of the presented papers along with abstracts of comments
and discussions made at the symposium are published afterwards in the fourth issue ofthe Annals of the JAEG each year. The themes of the symposium, as shown in Table 1,
reflect the problems and aspects of regional economy in Japan. The protection of theenvironment, for example, was chosen as a topic of the 2001 conference held in Kyoto,reflecting concern with the further deepening of the destruction of regional
environments in urban areas in Japan. Industrial restructuring and regional

3

unemployment were discussed at the 2002 conference held in Tokyo at a time when
neo-liberalism dominated the discourse of the Japanese government’s policy-making.
The hollowing-out phenomenon of industries and a need to revitalize local economies
reflected the symposia both of 2004 on renovation of the old industrial areas, and of2005 on the innovation of industrial agglomeration. The JAEG symposium deals withnot only empirical matters but also theoretical. The Association maintains a kind of
tradition to discuss theoretical approaches within the discipline every ten years. In thisrespect, the topic Methodology of Economic Geography in the New Era was chosen for
the 50th commemorative conference held in Tokyo in 2003.
Table 1 Themes of the annual conference’s symposium during 2001-07
ConferenceTheme#48 (2001)

Diversification in environmental problems and economic geography: Agenda forcreating a cyclical society#49 (2002)

Restructuring of the Japanese economy and its impact on the geography of
employment#50 (2003)

Towards a new perspective of economic geography on methodological reflection#51 (2004)

Industrial renovation in old heavy-industrial areas#52 (2005)

On the innovativeness of industrial agglomerations#53 (2006)

Reorganization of regional economies in the era of low fertility and high aging#54 (2007)

Regional development and disparities in the process of economic recovery(proposed)

As the Association grows, the symposium becomes bigger year by year. The
number of participants at the symposium has exceeded 200-300 since the 1990s, which
does however make it rather difficult to exchange opinions and ideas within an intimate
atmosphere. Since the 47th conference held in 2000, JAEG started a new smaller
meeting called the “roundtable”. This workshop deals with a more specific topic
compared with the symposium and is designed to correspond to not only further
subdivision of research areas but also to the expansion of research interests across thediscipline. The topics discussed at the roundtable since 2001 are shown in Table 2.

4

Table 2 Topics of roundtable meetings during 2001-06
Year
2001

Topic
1.

Changes in management strategy and production base in Japan’s semiconductor
industry

2002

2.

The emergence of community-based economy and local currency

3.

Method for international comparison of “regional structures”

1.

ICT development and restructuring of distribution industries

2.

A scenario for urban renovation based on city planning

2003

1. A perspective to internationalize Japanese economic geography

2004

1. Economic geography textbooks and higher education
2. New development of the national land policy of Japan and South Korea

2005

1. Industrialization of agriculture and restructuring of its spatial structure in Japan
2. Explanation for the 20th century system of the Japanese economy: an economic
geographical perspective
3. The relationship between research and education in economic geography

2006

1. Local finance and economy
2. Local development based on local studies
3. The relationship between research and education in economic geography (2)4. Explanation for the 20th century system of the Japanese economy (2): Towards a new
approach

The second kind of meeting activity is the regional conference which is held
annually in each autumn. This conference is held at a city outside of the Tokyo
metropolitan area. This conference normally lasts for two days: day 1 for presentations
and discussion on a specific topic and day 2 for an excursion. Compared with the annual
conference this is smaller in size, but quite unique because the topic dealt is very
specific to the place where the conference is being held, as shown in Table 3. Thus not
only researchers but also non-academics including policy makers, business people andlocal NPO members take part in the conference. For example, the 2006 regional
conference held in Naha dealt with the controversial topic of economic autonomy of the
Okinawa islands. Although Okinawa became free from US rule in 1972, its economy
remains heavily dependent on the expenditure of the US military. In order to lift the
local economy, a new strategy to develop industry such as tourism and call-center
businesses has begun. Other topics of the regional conference are shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Topics of the regional conferences during 2001-06
Year

Place

Topic

2001

Kanazawa

Economic exchanges in Northeast Asian countries and the roleof the Japan Sea coast area

5

2002

Miyazaki

Further depopulation of mountainous
perspective for revitalizationvillages

2003

Nara

Tourism, local economy and community

2004

Takasaki

Municipal merger and regional planning

2005

Kasugai

Visions of the Chubu region in the 21st century

2006

Naha

Industry and regional development in Okinawa

anda

The third kind of meeting is regional division meetings, which are held in the five
regional divisions: Kanto, Kansai, Chubu, Seinan and Hokuto (Figure 1). The place
where the meeting is held moves from university to university within the region.
Economic geography is a science that can be used to address local and regional
problems. In this respect, the local activities of the JAEG including division meetings
are quite important. This local embeddedness is a unique feature of the Association.
Each regional division holds a meeting four/five times a year and two/three papers areread at a meeting. Consequently, some 50 papers altogether are presented in the division
every year. The Kanto and Seinan division normally hold a meeting every April (thestart of the new academic year in Japan), for young researchers who have completed an
MA dissertation. The division meeting thus functions as the gateway for the start of an
academic career for graduate students in economic geography.

63. The Annals and recent research trends
The Association publishes an academic periodical entitled the Annals of the Japan
Association of Economic Geographers. The Annals publishes peer-reviewed featurearticles, review articles, research notes, forums and book reviews. The first issue cameout in 1955, a year after the establishment of the Association, and the latest volume,
number 52, was published in 2006. The Annals is published quarterly, but five times in
odd-numbered years since 2003, when a new English-language edition commenced. As
mentioned above, No. 4 of each volume is designated to publish articles presented at theannual conference symposium. Therefore most of the original articles submitted to theeditorial committee appear in issues from No.1-3 of each volume. Articles can be
subdivided into three groups: original articles, symposium articles and articles for the
English-language edition. Although peer-reviewed, authors of each article of the latter
two are basically nominated by the Association/editorial committee.
Articles in the Annals chronicle the significant change of scholarly interest in
economic geography. Table 4 summarizes number of articles appeared in the Annals for
six years from 2001 (No.1, Volume 47) to 2006 (No.2, Volume 52), classified bysubdivision of the discipline. In the following, trends of economic geographical researchduring the first half of the 2000s are explored by reviewing papers which appeared in
the Annals.
Table 4 Number of articles appearing in the Annals by subdivisions of discipline(No.1, Vol.47 - No.2, Vol.52)
2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Total

General articles

Vol.47 Vol.48 Vol.49 Vol.50 Vol.51 Vol.52
Theory and location studies

2

Regional problems and policy

2

1

1
1

3

1

5

Public administration and environment

1

2

1

Primary industry

1

1

2

1

Secondary industry

5

1

2

4

1

Tertiary industry

2

1

1

9

Welfare and social services
Population and labor

5

3
1

Transportation

3

3

Urban studies

1

2

3

2

Total

11

13

13

12

7

1

14
13

1
1

4

4

1

6

2

5

15

1

9

4

68

Symposium articles

3

3English language edition articles
Grand total

5

3

4
14

16

22

15

5

19

4

8

24

4

95

Papers that tackled theory and location analysis during the six years were only four,among which three papers were based on an approach of neo-classical economics.
While theory is an essential base of the discipline, unfortunately the number oftheoretical works appearing in the Annals has been decreasing recently. This does notmean that there has been a tendency among economic geographers to avoid theoreticalissues. As mentioned already, Japanese economic geographers started to discuss theissue shortly after the War and it was one of the reasons why economic geographers
decided to separate themselves from conventional geography and to establish a newacademic body of the JAEG in 1954. Since then, theory has been the most controversial
issue, and not a few articles have been published in the Annals. In the symposium of the50th anniversary conference, most participants showed a keen interest in theoreticaldevelopment. Recently, however, most theoretically-based works tend to have appeared
not in refereed journals including the Annals, but in books or non-reviewed periodicals
such as working paper series, as was highlighted by K. YAMAMOTO (2006).
While regional problems and policy are long-standing and important subdivisionsof the discipline, the number of papers on this area, appearing in the Annals, have been
decreasing and only three papers came out during 2001-06: WADA (2002) studied three
newly-constructed long bridges which connect Honshu and Shikoku islands andaddressed their effect on regional development policy; NAKANISHI (2005) discussed aregional viewpoint of government policy vis-à-vis coal mining closures; K.YAMAMOTO(2006) points out that, in recent times, just like as theoretical pieces, policy-oriented
ones tend to come out in non-reviewed journals. He also claims that this tendency poses
an important question within the discipline.
On the other hand, works dealing with local government administration have been
increasing in the Annals. Among industrialized countries, Japan is known as a country
where government expenditure has played a more significant role partly because of its
Keynesian-oriented economic policy. Geographically, the rural economy, endowed withlimited industries and opportunities for income generation, is particularly inclined to be
dependent on local public expenditure. In such areas, instead of primary industry, jobs
in construction for improving local infrastructure as well as public services become amajor income source for local residents. Since the middle of the 1990s, however, the8Japanese government has been suffering from a huge financial deficit and consequently
financial assistance to local governments has been decreased significantly. The changing
economic structure of rural areas has attracted the interest of economic geographers of ayounger generation. This is reflected by a growing number of publications in this areasuch as KAJITA (2001; 2003) and TSUTSUI (2002). The public sector also plays animportant role in the management of regional environmental problems. Environmental
problems affect so many aspects of the economy that researchers of various disciplines
are now paying greater attention to them. As mentioned already, the 2001 JAEG
symposium was organized around the theme of environmental problems, and the papers
presented there were published in the Annals. In addition to these, two articles were
published in the Annals: one was the study on domestic waste disposal by KURISHIMA(2002) and the other was the study on an evaluation of the environment management
system of a regional city by K. ITO (2003).
Let us go on to review the industrial studies within the discipline. Generally
speaking, studies on spatial organizations of primary industry including agriculture,
forestry and fishery have been decreasing as its proportion within the national economy
has become smaller. However, a new type of agricultural geography has gradually
emerged, shifting its focus from production to related economic activities such as food
distribution. H. ARAKI has published a series of works in this area from the viewpoint of
the food supply system and two papers written by him appeared in the Annals (ARAKI,
2003; ARAKI and CHAI, 2004).
Despite tertiarization of the economy, manufacturing still attracts a lot of researchattention. The geography of manufacturing location is a major research area of thediscipline. According to MATSUBARA (2002), the research interest in this subdivision is
twofold: globalization and geographical agglomeration. On the one hand, the geographyof transnational corporations, in particular, Japanese corporations, is expanding and thisis a reflection of the globalization of business activities. In the Annals, three articles
were published. TAIRA (2001) studied location of Japanese businesses in the Seoul
metropolitan area, South Korea, SCHULUNZE (2003) investigated locational adjustmentof the management system of Japanese manufacturing companies in Europe and K.
YAMAMOTO (2003) made a case study on new plant location by the German car
manufacturer, BMW. A review article written by KONDO (2004) dealt with geography oflarge enterprises, focusing on the locational behavior of manufacturing firms.
On the other hand, studies on geographical clustering became one of the mostpopular research areas, largely influenced by discussion among Anglo-American9scholars around the concept of industry cluster, first developed by Michael Porter in the
1990s. Two annual symposia held in 2004 and 2005 were organized around this topic,
as already explained. In the Annals, FUJIKAWA (2001) explored customer-supplier
relationships in the automobile industry’s agglomeration in the Kyushu region andconcluded that the lack of a higher-tier function of business management in the region
caused the underdevelopment of the business linkage. D. YAMAMOTO (2004) also
investigated the bicycle industry agglomeration in Osaka and described the process of
forming production linkages in and between places. As is well known the Japanese
automobile production is uniquely characterized by the use of a just-in-time (JIT)
production system. This has attracted a lot of research attention among economic
geographers because JIT develops very close relationships with a functionally tiered
system of suppliers and encourages geographical proximity between customers andsuppliers. NOJIRI and FUJIWARA (2004), for example, reviewed the literature which
studied the spatial implication of JIT from the viewpoint of economic geography.
Geographical clustering often acts as a base for knowledge accumulation, learning andinnovation. As in Europe and America, spatial aspects of innovation became an issue ofconsiderable debate. MIZUNO (2005) reviewed a large number of papers that studied thegeography of innovation in the context of industry agglomeration and raised a research
agenda to investigate not only geographical proximity itself but also connectivity
between the clusters. A cultural shift in the industry cluster research in Japan was
revealed in the following two articles that appeared in the Annals. HANZAWA (2001)
studied the agglomeration of Tokyo’s world-famous animation industry, which is quite
unique and highly competitive. HARA (2005) also explored the same topic from theviewpoint of “competitive advantage” raised by M. Porter.
Research on tertiary industry has been growing since the 1990s as the economy has
progressively shifted to the service-oriented sector. As shown in Table 4, this area is thesecond largest in terms of number of articles published in the Annals through the 2000s.
Economic geography in Japan is now experiencing the process of a research interest
shift from production-centered to service-centered analysis. The Japanese government
deregulated the law of location of large-scale shops in the middle of the 1990s, aiming
to stimulate commercial activities and consumer expenditures especially in
non-metropolitan areas, most of which were suffering from economic depression. Since
then regional cities in Japan have experienced, one after another, the development ofhuge new shopping malls in the suburbs, which in turn have caused the reduction ofsales volume or even the closure of small family shops, most of which were located in
the town center. This phenomenon of “hollowing-out” of commercial activities from the10

town center has been commonly observed throughout Japan and it has raised a new
regional problem that needs to be considered. TSUBOTA (2001) dealt with this topic
when he did a case study of a large shopping center’s economic impact on a ruralvillage. OTSUKA (2004) described the regeneration process of a once-depressed shopping
street, largely facilitated by an urban renewal including a new condominium
construction. T. ARAKI (2005) summarized the juridical change concerning city planningand explored a new guideline vis-à-vis the location of large-scale stores. NEDA (2001)
also published a general review article on the spatial organization of the retail industry
in Japan by examining a series of empirical case studies. YASUI (2002) also contributed
to the debate by providing an introductory paper on the geography of theme parks inJapan.
The spatial organization of the distribution industry attracts a growing attention
from younger researchers. The Annals published a special issue on the topic entitled“reorganization of distribution space” in 2005. In this issue, seven papers that studied
various aspects of distribution appeared. ARAI (2005), acting as a guest editor,
contributed an introductory paper of the special issue, arguing that social stratification
brings about the polarization of consumption in Japan. IKEDA (2005), KANEKO (2005)
and NAKAMURA (2005) addressed recent changes of the distribution of vegetablesupplies, clothing stores and pharmacies respectively. KAWABATA (2005), a leading
figure of retail studies, put forward an argument about the internationalization ofJapanese big retailers in the respect of property management. AOYAMA (2005) drew up a
research agenda of the discipline that was shifting from a production-centered to a
distribution and consumption-centered approach. In addition to the special issue, IKEDA(2003) and HATA (2005) also dealt with the distribution system of clothing
manufacturers and book retailers respectively.
With the expansion of female employment, various social welfare services
including nurseries for children and care for old people have become an issue of local
importance. Two papers examining nursery provision were published in the Annals.
YATERA (2002) studied changes in day nursery services provided by public sector and
KUKIMOTO (2006) investigated workplace nurseries provided inside of a privatecompany. In the area of medical services, KAMIYA (2002) discussed recent locational
shifts of psychiatric clinics into urban areas, and KAMO (2002) explored the polarizationof a local nursing job market.
Although population study seems to have been losing its popularity in the11discipline during the latest decade, younger researchers have shifted its focus to thestudy of the labor market of highly-skilled or intelligent workers. NAKAZAWA has been
actively publishing articles which explored the migration of research workers in theinformation service industry (see NAKAZAWA, 2001; NAKAZAWA and ARAI, 2003, 2004).
SATO (2004) shares a similar interest, analyzing the case of R&D workers inpharmaceutical companies. The annual symposium in 2002 also dealt with this topic.
While transportation studies fails to attract as much attention as in the past, papers
in this area have been published relatively constantly in the Annals. The development ofmotorways and its effect upon manufacturing and office location were (re)examined by
S. ABE (2003) and KIKUCHI (2005) respectively. Both DAI (2003) and HOTTA (2003) dida case study on the topic of the development of international transportation anddistribution.
Urban studies have been a long-standing and major subdivision of economic
geographical research since the 1970s, when urbanization in Japan was in full-stream. In
the Annals, nine articles were published through 2001-06 and they can be further
divided into three subgroups: urban economics, inter-urban systems and intra-urban
systems. KAMEYAMA (2001, 2003) contributed two papers, exploring urban andindustrial diversity based on an urban economics approach. In the subgroup ofinter-urban systems, K. ABE (2004), a leading figure on the area in Japan, published an
introductory article which reviewed the change of Japanese urban systems from 1950 to2000 by analyzing the location of head and branch offices of major firms. Both
FUJIMOTO (2003) and PARK (2004) discussed the same topic by using different data.
Studies on intra-urban organization appeared in the Annals covering topics such asurban housing, e. g. HASEGAWA (2002) and T. ITO (2003).
The Annals started to publish an additional special issue in English in 2003. This
new initiative aims to develop communication between economic geographers in Japanand overseas on various research activities as well as provide information about thechanging economic geography of Japan (MATSUHASHI, 2003). The first issue featured
spatial reorganization of the Japanese economy in the 1990s. The 1990s, sometimes
called the “lost decade”, witnessed a long-term economic recession and political change
towards neo-liberalism, bringing about a profound change of spatial organization ofindustrial activities throughout Japan. In order to explore the topic, four major industries
such as manufacturing, distribution, agriculture and construction, were chosen. TOGASHI(2003) provided an overview of the shifts of manufacturing towards globalization on

12

one hand and localization on the other. HASHIMOTO (2003) described spatial
restructuring of the commodity distribution system caused by the rapid development of
ICT. ARAKI (2003) extended his focus from agricultural production to cover otherrelated activities including food distribution and in turn pointed out the regional gaps
within Japan’s food system. The fact that the construction industry as well as agriculture
has become the major income source in rural areas led KAJITA (2003) to explore the roleof construction jobs in the regions experiencing change in public investment
expenditure.
The second issue, published in 2005, featured the changing agglomeration of theJapanese manufacturing industry. Studies on industrial agglomeration have been
reflourishing in Anglo-American countries since the 1990s and they have had aconsiderable influence on economic geography as well as regional economics in Japan.
The special issue, consisting of four papers, aimed to summarize the development ofindustrial agglomeration research in Japan and to articulate theoretical studies of the
topic between Japan and overseas. ODA (2005) provided a general overview of thehistorical development of the Japanese industrial agglomeration. TATEMI (2005)
highlighted the changing features of the clothing industry’s clustering, adopting thetheory of “world of production” developed by STORPER and SALAIS (1997). MATSUNAGA(2005) studied the relationship between the recycling industries and the agglomerationof the existing heavy industries. YAMASAKI (2005) contributed to the debate byproviding an introductory overview of Japan’s industrial cluster program which was led
by the central government.
Before closing this section, let us summarize the research trends of the discipline in
the first half of the 2000s. First, although studies on industrial clustering occupy a major
position, research interest is evidently shifting from production-centered to
non-production-centered topics. A number of works dealing with services, information,knowledge and distribution has undoubtedly increased. Second, as UENO (2003)
pointed out, issues relating to better social living such as work style, welfare services
and public administration have attracted the interest of young researchers. This tendency
could be termed the “social living turn” of economic geography. Third, the intersection
between economics and geography in the field of economic geography, broadly defined,
is progressing to some extent, but it is not so fast as that in Anglo-American countries
because only a couple of works written by economists appeared in the Annals. Fourth,by examining the articles published in the Annals, the “cultural turn” of the discipline is
not so obvious in Japan compared with Anglo-American countries, although YAMAMOTO

13

(2006) argues that there is a tendency to incorporate culture into economic geography
from the mid 2000s.
4. Other publications
A unique and meaningful publication of the JAEG is a series of books entitled
Economic Geography: Achievements and Future Tasks that aims to review research
trends of the discipline by examining works published by JAEG members for a fixed
period. The first volume, which reviewed and summarized the achievements for the ten
years after the foundation though 1955-1966, was published in 1967, and thensubsequent volumes were published in 1977, 1984, 1992 and 1997. The latest, sixth
volume, was published in 2003 and covered research from 1996 to 2001. The structureof each volume has been changing considerably in order to fit the research trend of eachperiod. The content of the latest volume is structured into seven chapters: theory,
regional structure and problems, primary industry, secondary industry, tertiary industry,urban study and overseas research. Although every volume is written in Japanese, it
could act as an all-in-one guidebook to understand the achievements and tasks of
economic geographical research in Japan
JAEG, in commemoration of its 50th anniversary, produced another publication
entitled Fifty Years’ History of the Japan Association of Economic Geographers,
describing its development chronologically in three sections: research activities,
administration and regional divisions. Recollections of the Association’s foundation
were written by leading figures of the discipline and various aspects of the Association’s
activities are also included.
5. Promoting young scholars’ research
In recent years, JAEG has initiated two programs in order to promote a newgeneration of researchers within the discipline. First, a JAEG research award wasestablished in 2002. The selection committee, consisting of seven senior members,
reviews articles and books published within the past two years by authors under the ageof 40 years old and selects the best publication within the discipline broadly defined.
The first award was given in 2003 to TOGAWA’s book entitled Automobiles andRecycling Them, and the second was given in 2005 to KAGEYAMA’s book entitled Urban
Space and Gender. Second, the “frontier” session was introduced at the annual
conference in 2004. In the JAEG, although the opportunity for young researchers topresent papers is sufficiently provided at regional division meetings, there is no similar
opportunity at the nation-wide annual conference. The “frontier” session is specially14

designed for paper presentations by distinguished young researchers who have justcompleted their Ph.D. dissertation. So far the session has been successfully organized
and two-four papers have been presented in each year.
(Yoshihiro MIYAMACHI, University of Oita)
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to my colleague, Dr. Steven Day, for correcting andemending my manuscript.
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AJAEG: Annals of the Japan Association of Economic Geographers(J): in Japanese(JE): in Japanese with English abstract

18

JAPAN ECONOMIC POLICY ASSOCIATION
History of the Japan Economic Policy Association (JEPA)The Japan Economic Policy Association was established in 1940 in Tokyo byprofessors and researchers interested in the scientific study of economic policy. Since
then, it has given birth to a number of other academic organizations related to thediscipline of economics and to the application of theories to economic policy formation.
At present, there are more than twenty academic associations related to economic policy
research, most of which were established after World War Ⅱ . Thus, the Japan
Economic Policy Association is one of the few academic associations for economic
policy established before the War in Japan.
Recently, a large number of researchers in public and private research institutes
laboratories and students at post-graduate schools have become members of theassociation. Consequently, the membership has grown remarkably and currently
amounts to approximately 1300.
Under the new economic conditions such as depression in the Japanese Economy
during the 1990s and globalization of the World Economy, the Association is copingwith a difficult task to provide effective new approaches to analyze various impacts ofeconomic policy on the economy and on society as a whole.
Organization
The association is composed of two levels of organization: national and regional.
There are four regional chapters which cover four areas: Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, andNishinihon. The association is administered by the board of 25 managing directors
elected every three years. In 2004, board members were newly elected. Reishi MARUYA
of Kobe University was elected as the President of the Association in 2004, and Yuko
KAWANOBE, Koji SHINJO, Motosuke SUGINO and Satoru MATSUBARA were elected as theVice-Presidents.
Other than regional organizations, there are five working committees which areresponsible for deciding directions of activities such as publication and international
exchange.
General Activities
The major activities of the association are now composed of the Annual Conference
on the national level, the International Conference, and regionally organized meetings.
The Association has published a new official refereed journal, the Journal of Economic
Policy Studies (JEPS), since 2003, which follows upon the annual reports, the Annual of19the Japan Economic Policy Association. Fifty volumes of the annual reports were issued
until 2002.
The following are also important activities of the Association: (1) The
Association’s Prize was created at the 2004 annual conference and this activity has
started from the 2005 annual conference. (2) In order to promote international linkage
with the Asia-Pacific region, the Association introduced a new academic activity, that is,
The 21st Economic Policy Forum, in 2005. (3) Starting in the year 2001, a home pagefor JEPA was launched giving information about its activities and papers.
Past academic activities and major themes
Since its creation, the Association has followed important policy issues andpublished the results of special group studies, separately from annual reports. The
following books were published by the results of the special group studies and thesereports show the historical characteristics of policy issues in each period.
1) Study results published in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the existenceof the JEPA are the following four books: Post-War industrial Policy in Japan(1957), edited by T. ITO, Analysis of Post-War Japanese Economic policy (1958),
edited by T. YAMANAKA and M. CHO, Development of Japanese Economic Policy(1958), edited by M. MIYATA and K. FUJITA, and A Chronological Table of Japanese
Post-War Economic Policy (1962, enlarged ed. 1969), edited by H. MATSUO and K.
YAMAOKA.
2) Study results published in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of founding the
JEPA make up the following book: Studies in Contemporary Economic Policy(1978), edited by H. KATO, T. FUJII, K. NIINO and M. ITO.
3) Study results published in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of founding the
JEPA make up the following two books: The Making of the Science of Economic
Policy (1988) and The Development of the Science of Economic Policy (1988),
edited by the JEPA.
4) Study results published in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of founding the
JEPA make up the following book: Prospects of Japan’s Socio-Economic System:
Their Trends toward the 21st Century (1995), edited by the JEPA.
Recent Annual Conferences
The Association holds annual conferences. In each conference, a common theme ischosen by the program steering committee. This theme is elaborated by the regional
chapter responsible for sponsoring the conference in that year. In addition, subsidiary20

themes are selected along with the main one for the purpose of promoting anddeepening the discussion on the main theme.
Several topics picked out from recent annual conferences show recent trends ofresearch topics related to economic policy.
-

How to deal with the new type of political economy which is characterized
by interaction between industrial trends and institutional reform such as
deregulation-

To what extent analytical concepts such as game theory are effective
How to explore public choices under the new political behaviors ofindividuals-

What policy the government should take under the pressure of depression
economy- How to set up competition rules
In 2001, the 58th annual conference of the Association was held at Meiji University
on May 26-27. The common theme of the conference was IT Strategy in Economic
Policy.
The following three papers were submitted as keynote speeches on the common
theme, and a panel discussion followed with the keynote speakers and four discussants.
(1) Koichiro HAYASHI (Keio University), “Truth and Fiction on the IT
Revolution in the United States”(2) Yoji TANIGUCHI (Chuo University), “Government Roles in IT Infrastructure
Building”(3) Satoru MATSUBARA (Toyo University), “Role Allotment of the Public andPrivate Economy in the IT Strategy”
This annual conference had the Presidential Address by Hiromi YOKOI, the title ofwhich was “Towards a New Paradigm of Distribution Policy”. Also this annual
conference had 14 sessions as well as the main session.
In 2002, the 59th annual conference of the Association was held at Kobe University
on May 25-26. The common theme of the conference was Revitalizing Japan’s
Deflationary Economy.
The following three papers were submitted as keynote speeches on the common
theme, and a panel discussion followed with the keynote speakers and three discussants.
(1) Hiroo TAGUCHI (Hosei University), “Macroeconomic policies in 1990s: An
evaluation”(2) Sawako TAKEUCHI (Toyo University), “Setting of Objectives of Urban
Policy and Changes of Existing Economic Policies”(3) Nobuaki MATSUNAGA (Kobe University), “The Structural Reform, Industrial21

Re-vitalization and Job Creation in Japan”
As well as 17 sessions, this annual conference also had a special session, the title ofwhich was “Considering the Revival of the Japanese Economy”, and two papers were
submitted.
In 2003, the 60th annual conference of the Association was held at Toyo University
on May 24-25. The common theme of the conference was Technology for Next
Generations and Post-industrial Policy: Construction of the Creation System for New
Industry.
The following three papers were submitted as keynote speeches on the common
theme, and a panel discussion followed with the keynote speakers and two discussants.
(1) Masanori MORITANI (Hoso University), “The Trend of Technologies in the
Next Generation”(2) Satoshi KUSAKABE (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), “METI’s
Policy on Creating New Business ― Current Issues and Future Outlook”(3) Hidetaka FUKUDA (Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry),“The Growth of Semiconductor Firms and Its Effects on TechnologicalInnovation”
Also this annual conference had 11 sessions as well as the main session.
In 2004, the 61st annual conference of the Association was held at Kwansei Gakuin
University on May 29-30. The common theme of the conference was Economic Policy
for Regeneration and Creation of Industries.
The following three papers were submitted as keynote speeches on the common
theme, and a panel discussion followed with the keynote speakers and three discussants.
(1) Naohiro YASHIRO (Japan Center for Economic Research), “Regulatory
Reform and Restructuring of Industry”(2) Akira GOTO (University of Tokyo), “Rebuilding Competitiveness”(3) Yukio YAMABE (former Kobe University), “Economic Policy for
Regeneration and Creation of Industries”
This annual conference had the Presidential Address by Akira YOKAYAMA, the title ofwhich was “New Development of Economic Policy and Public Choice: International
Competition and Cooperation of Policies”. Also this annual conference had 18 sessions
as well as the main session.
In 2005, the 62nd annual conference of the Association was held at Hosei University
on May 28-29. The common theme of the conference was Arguments for the Structural
Reform of the Japanese Economy.
The following three papers were submitted as keynote speeches on the common
theme, and a panel discussion followed with the keynote speakers and two chairpersons.

22(1) Yoshio SUZUKI (Asahi Research Center), “A Consideration of the History of
Deregulation”(2) Kan’ichiro ARITOMI (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications),“Competitive Policy for Communications: A Trend of Communication Policy”(3) Hirotaka YAMAUCHI (Hitotsubashi University), “Structural Reform for
Infrastructure”
Also this annual conference had 18 sessions as well as the main session.
In 2006, the 63rd annual conference of the Association was held at Kyushu Kyoritsu
University on May 27-28. The common theme of the conference was Economic Policy
for Efficiency and Security: A Retrospection and Outlook of the Japanese Economy
during the Post-war 60 years.
The following three papers were submitted as the keynote speech of the common
theme and the panel discussion followed by keynote speakers and three discussants.
(1) Toshiaki TACHIBANAKI (Kyoto University), “A Retrospection and Outlookof the Japanese Economy during the Post-war 60 years”(2) Hiroshi OHBUCHI (Chuo University), “The Age of Decreasing Population
and Its Policy Measures”(3) Kohei KOMAMURA (Toyo University), “A System Design for ’Security’”
Also this annual conference had 18 sessions as well as the main session.
International Conference
The Japan Economic Policy Association introduced a new academic activity, that is,an International Conference, in 2002 to promote the Association’s activities in aninternational perspective. This academic activity has been held every year from 2002
and the 5th Conference is planned for December, 2006.
The 1st International Conference of the Association was held at Chuo University
Korakuen Campus, Tokyo on November 30-December 1, 2002. The main theme of thisConference was “Nation States and Economic Policy: Conflict and Cooperation”. This
Conference had two plenary sessions whose titles were “Nation States and Economic
Policy: Conflict and Cooperation” and “Keynesian Policy Reconsidered” as well as 16
sessions.
The 2nd International Conference of the Association was held at Nagoya University,
Nagoya on November 29-30, 2003. The main theme of this Conference was “New
Economic Governance: The Limit of National Policy and Role of Private Sector”. This
Conference had two plenary sessions under the main theme and two special sessions aswell as 14 sessions. Also, this Conference had a special Lecture by Sir James A.
MIRRLEES of Cambridge University, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences.

23

The 3rd International Conference of the Association was held at Meiji University,
Tokyo on November 13-14, 2004. The main theme of this Conference was “Policy
Implementation and Its Consequences ： What Good Does Economics Do?” This
Conference had two plenary sessions whose titles were “Policy Implementation and Its
Consequences：What Good Does Economics Do?” and “Economic Crisis and Policy” aswell as 20 sessions. In the first plenary session, three papers by Koichi HAMADA of Yale
University and Chuo University, Willem THORBECKE of George Mason University, andPetr ŠAUER of the University of Economics in Prague were addressed. The second
plenary session also had three papers by Ryokichi CHIDA and Ken-ichi TAMEGAWA of
Meiji University, Cesar CALDERON, Riberto DUNCAN and Klaus SCHMIDT-HEBBEL of theCentral Bank of Chile, and Seh-Jin CHANG, President of the Korean Development
Economics Association.
The 4th International Conference of the Association was jointly held by the
Association and the 21st Century COE Program of Kobe University at the Awaji
Yumebutai International Conference Center, Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture on
December 17-18, 2005. The main theme of this Conference was “Towards a New
Economic Paradigm: Declining Population Growth, Labor Market Transition andEconomic Development under Globalization”. This Conference had three COE special
plenary sessions and 30 sessions. In the first COE special plenary session, whose title
was “Recent Economic-Demographic Modeling,” two papers by Allen C. KELLEY of
Duke University and Robert M. SCHMIDT of the University of Richmond were addressed.
In the second COE special plenary session, whose title was “Labor Market in an Ageing
Society,” Robert HUTCHENS of Cornell University and Akira KAWAGUCHI of Doshisha
University addressed their papers. The third COE special plenary session, whose title
was “Demographic Dividends,” had a paper addressed by Andrew MASON of the
University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The 5th International Conference of the Association will be held on December 2-3,
2006 at Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo. The main theme of the Conference is Asian
Economic Initiative: How Do We Integrate Our Economies? In this conference, Gary
BECKER of the University of Chicago will be invited as a guest speaker.
Journal of Economic Policy Studies
Although the Japan Economic Policy Association had published the Journal of the
Association, the Annual of the Japan Economic Policy Association, once a year until
2002, it was followed upon by the new official refereed journal of the Association, theJournal of Economic Policy Studies (JEPS), from 2003.
The reason why the Association changed the Annual to the Journal is that the24Association has adopted as one of its objectives cooperation with equivalent foreign
associations in response to increasing globalization and is broadening international
liaisons in various forms. The main purpose of the Journal is, therefore, to develop a
close relationship between JEPA and foreign Associations and to encourage theeconomic policy studies of the members by publishing papers on economic policy.
The scope of the Journal includes all fields of economic policy, and it is issued
biannually, one issue consisting of the papers presented at the annual conference eachyear. The Association will also publish a Journal, the International Journal of Economic
Policy Studies, consisting of papers written in English in the near future, which will be
issued in an electronic version.
The Association’s Prize
The 2004 annual conference of the Japan Economic Policy Association approved
creating the Association’s Prize and to awarding it to the members who have presented
the most outstanding papers at the annual conference. The prize is composed of the
Academic Prize (gakujutsu-sho) and the Prize for Encouraging Research(kenkyu-shorei-sho). The prize for the year of 2005, the first one, was awarded to
Masayoshi HAYASHI of Hitotubashi University. The title of the prize-winning paper was“Economic Studies of the Local Allocation Tax in Japan: A Critical Survey”.
The 21st Economic Policy ForumIn order to promote international linkage with the Asia-Pacific region, the Japan
Economic Policy Association (JEPA) introduced a new academic activity, that is, The
21st Economic Policy Forum, cosponsored by the Kansai Association of Corporate
Executives (KACE) in 2005. The first forum was held at Asahi Super-dry Umeda,
Osaka on September 16, 2005 and Katsuhide TAKAHASHI gave a lecture on “East Asian
Community and the Diplomacy for Economic Affairs between Japan and China”. The
second forum was held at Hotel New Otani, Osaka on October 31, 2005 and Satoru
MATSUBARA gave a lecture on “Privatization is the Driving Force for Economic
Development: Restoration of the Japanese Economy and the Role of Her Economy for
Economic Development of the Asia-Pacific Region”. The second forum was jointly held
by JEPA, KACE and Harvard University.
(Yasuhide TANAKA, Kobe University)

25THE SOCIETY FOR INDUSTRIAL STUDIES, JAPAN1. General Description of the Society
The Society for Industrial Studies（SIS）was founded as the Research Group for
Industrial Studies in 1972, then changed to the current name in 1975. In the last year, the
SIS celebrated its 30th anniversary.
The objective of the SIS has been to conduct research and analysis on problems related
to industries, which covers specific industry studies such as steel, chemical, electronics, andautomobiles as well as those on inter-industry comparison and industrial policies. The SIS
consists of members from various backgrounds, including college professors who teach andconduct research at social science departments, engineers and business people from theprivate sector who make daily strategic decisions, and central/local government employees
who actually conduct industrial policies. The SIS also accepts graduate students as student
members.
The number of members has been stable at slightly above 300. The annual meeting has
been held for two days in every June, which attracts about 100 participants. The first-day
has sessions for open topics in which the members apply for presentations. The second-day
has a session with a specific theme which is chosen by the executive committee of themeeting. The committee invites speakers and corresponding commentators, both of whom
participate in a panel discussion at the end of the session. The invited speakers include
members as well as non-members. The committee often tries to have a discussion between
academic researchers and business people, and the latter are often non-members. As a result,
the ratio of business people among the second-day session’s speakers/commentators isgreater than the ratio in the members. While the content of the first-day session also reflects
research interests of the members, this report focuses on the themes of the second-day
session.
The SIS has three regional meetings (East, Central, and West regions), each of which isheld every autumn. Moreover, the SIS started divisions of Automobile Industry Researchand Innovation Research in 2001. The SIS publishes 450 copies of Sangyo Gakkai Kenkyu
Nenpo (Annals of the Society for Industrial Studies, Japan) as the official journal every
March (at the end of the fiscal year).
Consisting of members with various backgrounds is the strength of the SIS; however,their research approach is also varied. Even among economists, some use qualitative
analysis, and others uses theoretical analysis. Researchers with business/management
background often conduct research on business strategy or organization of leading
companies. As a result, it is sometimes difficult for the members to discuss the industry on
the same level field. However, the SIS proudly maintains the diversity of its members.

26

2. Annual Meetings
The 35th annual meeting was held at Hosei University on June 7 and 8 in 1997 with thetheme of The Globalization of Japanese Industries and the Economic Development of Asia.
The session consisted of “Foreign Direct Investment of Three Tigers in East-Asia:
Changing Character and the New Role in the 1990s” by Yukiko FUKAGAWA (Long Term
Credit Bank Research Institute), “The Changes in Business Environment with the
Economic Growth in Thailand” by Masamichi OGAWA (Sumitomo Trust Bank ResearchInstitute), “The Difficulties of the Chinese Automobile Industry for Profit Making” by
Koichiro SEI (Kanto Gakuin University), and “Foreign Direct Investment in the ElectricPower Industry of India “ by Hideki ESHO (Hosei University).
The 36th annual meeting was held at Ritsumeikan University on June 13 and 14 in 1998
with the theme of Innovation and Industrial System. The session consisted of “A Case
Study of Research Consortia in the U.S. Electronics Industry” by Yukio MIYATA (Osaka
University of Commerce), “Competitive Strategy and Production System―A Case of theJapanese Steel Industry” by Nozomu KAWABATA (Tohoku University), “Industrial Structure
and Innovation in Shiga Prefecture” by Shinichi OTSUKI (Hannan University) and“Increasing Returns and the Localized Concentration of Industry” by Yoshinori SHIOZAWA(Osaka City University).
The 37th annual meeting was held at Kanagawa University on June 12 and 13 in 1999
with the theme of The Differences in Reponses to Globalization among Japanese, US, andEuropean Firms. The session consisted of “The International Direct Investment in the
Global Economy” by Teruhiko ISHIZAKI (Kanagawa University), “Minebea’s Global
Operations” by Ryusuke MIZUKAMI (Minebea Co., Ltd.), “Globalization of the JapaneseElectronics Industry and Its Regional Strategy” by Keiichi KASHIWAGI (former Matsushita
Electric Industry Co., Ltd.) and “Emergent Global Strategy: A Case of the Australian
Automobile Industry” by Takahiro FUJIMOTO (University of Tokyo).
The 38th annual meeting was held at Kyushu University on June 10 and 11 in 2000,
with the theme of Economic Reforms in East Asia Region. The session consisted of “TheChanging Industrial Structures and Locational Environment in East Asia” by Yotaro SUZUKI(Osaka City University), “Reform of Sate Owned Enterprises of China” by ZHANG Shuying(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), “Reform of Korean Giant Conglomerates: Policies
and Issues” by Ilgon KIM (Miyazaki Sankei University), and “Dissolution of Japanese
Keiretsu” by Hiroshi OKUMURA (Chuo University).
The 39th annual meeting was held at Musashi University on June 9 and 10 in 2001 withthe theme of The Trend of International Industrial Reconstruction in the 21st Century. The
session consisted of “Japanese Information Industry and Its Restructuring” by Katsuaki
ONISHI (Senshu University), “The Current of Realignment of the Financial Industry, and27

Future Directivity” by Kimiko WATANABE (PwC Consulting Co., Ltd.), “The Environment
and Tasks of the Japanese Pharmaceutical Industry” by Hiroshi NAKAGAWA (Merrill Lynch,
Japan), and “Japanese Automakers’ Business Plan and Strategy: Why are Japanese
Automakers Internationally Competitive?” by Yasuo TSUCHIYA and Takeashi OSHIKA(Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.) .
The 40th annual meeting was held at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University on June 22
and 23 in 2002 with the theme of New Development of Industrial Networks in Asia. The
session consisted of “New Trends of Automobile Manufacturing Networks in ASEANCountries” by Kunio IGUSA (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University), “Why Have the Multi
Channels and the Multi Tiers Existed in China?” by Hiromi SHIOJI (Kyoto University),“Industrial Clusters Development in China, Leading to an IT Nation” by Hatsumi HAMADA(Sony-Nakamura Management Institute), and “The Development of the Information
Communication Revolution and the Change of Economic Structure in Asia” by Toshiharu
KATO (Ministry of Economy and Industry).
The 41st annual meeting was held at Nihon University on June 21 and 22 in 2003 withtheme of The New Trend of Industrial Agglomeration and Rebirth of Japanese Industry.
The session consisted of “Diversity of Industrial Agglomeration and Regional Industrial
Policy: The Case of Birmingham” by Seiji KOBAYASHI (Nihon University), “Necessary andSufficient Conditions of Clusters as Mothers of Innovation―The Necessity of Regional
Innovation Strategy” by Konomi TOMISAWA (Doto University), and “Japanese
Small-Medium Enterprises’ Business Strategy for Entering the Chinese Market and Two
Linkages―A Case Study of Kashima Electro Sangyo” by Shigeru MATSUSHIMA (Hosei
University).
The 42nd annual meeting was held at Osaka University of Commerce on June 12 and 13
in 2004 with the theme of Industry-University Collaboration as a Regional Industrial Policy.
The session consisted of “Industry-Academic Partnerships in the Kyushu Silicon Cluster”
by Akira YAMASAKI (Chuo University) and Hideyuki OKUNO (Kyushu Economic ResearchCenter), “University Spin-off Ventures and Technology Transfer: On A Case of Ehime
University” by Kazuhisa MINAKUCHI and Kazuhiko MIYAKE (Ehime University), “The
Renewal of A City with an Entertainment Industry―An Attempt by Kwansei Gakuin
University in Takarazuka City” by Shigeki SADATO (Kwansei Gakuin University) and “TheFormation of Different Field Communities as an Infrastructure for Industry-University
Cooperation: A Case of the Iwate Network System (INS) and Kansai Network System(KNS)” by Satoshi DONO (Osaka Urban Industry Promotion Center).
The 43rd annual meeting was held at Hosei University on June 11 and 12 in 2005 withthe theme of The Future of Japanese Firms following the 30th anniversary presentations byformer presidents entitled “The Differential of Labor Productivity Growth Between

28

Japanese and American Industries” by Teruhiko ISHIZAKI (a professor emeritus at Kanagawa
University) and “The High Economic Growth in Modern China and Its Negative Aspects”
by Mitsuo FUJII (a professor emeritus at Nihon University). The session consisted of“Software Business Development and Industrial Policy in the Japanese Electronic Industry”
by Masayuki YAMADA (former Hitachi Soft Engineering), “High Grade Steel Strategy ofIntegrated Steel Producers in Japan: Steady and Conservative” by Nozomu KAWABATA(Tohoku University), “The Japanese Automobile Industry in the FTA Era” by Toshihiro
IWATAKE (Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc.), and “Establishment andDevelopment of New Management Strategy in Asia: Under Increasing Interdependence
among ASEAN, China, and India” by Toshimasa ASAKA (Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.,
Ltd.).
The 44th annual meeting was held at Kitakyushu City University on June 10 and 11 in2006 with the theme of The Rapidly Growing Automobile Industry in Asia followed by afield trip to Toyota and Nissan factories on June 12. The session consisted of “TheDevelopment Strategy of the Chinese Automobile Industry” by Hiroshi SHIOJI (Kyoto
University), “The Truth of the Asian Automobile Industry ― Its Strength in Asian
Markets and Successful Strategies for Japanese Makers” by Yasuo TSUCHIYA, (Mitsubishi
Research Institute, Inc.), Takeshi OSHIKA (University of Tokyo), and Ryuichiro INOUE(Aomori Public University), “Globalization of the Korean Automobile Industry ― A
Study on the Parts Suppliers” by Shogo FUJIKAWA (Hannan University), and “The Locationof Automobile Related Industries in Newly Industrial Agglomeration Regions and Asia” byHiroshi KIDO (Kitakyushu City University).
The 45th annual meeting will be held at Ochanomizu University on June 9 and 10 in2007.
3. The Trend of Research
A trend of research at the SIS is a decline of interests in inter-industry comparison. This
reflects the general and international trend of research in the field of industrial organization.
The empirical study of “the SCP (Structure-Conduct-Performance) Paradigm” thatoligopoly industrial structure leads to collusion and thus high profits with the sacrifice ofconsumers, had been a hot topic among industrial organization researchers until the 1980s.
However, it is found that inter-industry comparison often cannot exclude industry-specificfactors as noise. The recent trend is to focus on the analysis whether or not there exists amonopoly power in a specific industry. Similarly, in a field of innovation study, many
researchers tried to empirically analyze “the Schumpeter Hypothesis” that innovation is
generated by large and/or monopolistic firms. However, many researchers have recently
accepted industry-specific technological characteristics rather than market structure or29simple firm size accounts for innovations. It is rather a natural trend that the SIS members’
research interest has been shifted away from inter-industry comparison. The interest inindustrial policy has also declined because it is recognized by mainstream economists thatthe role of industrial policy by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry for Japanese
economic development has been overvalued. Also, deregulation, small government, and thereliance of the market mechanism are a trend of the last decade, so government intervention
in industrial structure is not so popular as a research topic. However, the regional
development policy which includes the formation of “clusters” attracts research interests
among the SIS members. Also, as shown below, the SIS members are interested in the
globalization of the automobile industry, so they conduct research on industrial policies offoreign governments to nurture their automobile industry.
The recent research interest at the SIS can be expressed as two key words: globalizationand industrial agglomeration, while one can express them as one word “glocalization.”
Since the SIS conducts analyses on industries, the trends and the conditions of Japaneseindustries strongly affect the SIS’s research trend, while unfortunately, it is rare that
research at the SIS had affected the trends of Japanese industries.
In the last ten years, Japanese industries suffered from post-bubble recession. The US
regained her competitiveness in high-technology industries. On the other hand, while
financial crisis temporarily slowed down their economic growth, Asian nations rapidly
increased their significance as manufacturers in the global economy. Japanesemanufacturers faced strong competition from lower waged manufacturers in Asian nations,while the technological gap with the US remained wide or even became wider. Moreover,as Japanese firms have to operate in Asian nations, several industrial agglomerated regionsin Japan decreased their manufacturing activities.
As shown above, the theme of annual meetings reflected this trend. The keyword ofglobalization is often complemented by industrial agglomeration. The annual meetings in
1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006 clearly focused on globalization. And except forthe one of 1999, the discussion concentrated on Asia. The annual meetings of 2003 and2004 focused on regional economic development. The one of 2003 focuses on
manufacturing agglomeration, and the one of 2004 on industry-university collaboration forregional development. The theme of 2004 has been well discussed in Japan in these days,
while it was a new attempt for the SIS to choose it for discussion. The theme of 2004 is
related to the one of 1998 because both deal with technological innovations.
As mentioned above, the SIS consists of researchers whose interests are diverse.
However, the recent trend is increasing interests in the automobile industry. A reason of thisstrong interest partially reflects the fact that the Japanese automobile industry keeps
international competitiveness while it suffered from the recession in the 1990s. An

30interesting analytical framework was generated by Professor Takahiro FUJIMOTO at the
University of Tokyo. Although he himself is not a member of the SIS, he made apresentation at an annual meeting and researchers from his group joined the SIS. Also,
although not everyone at the SIS supports his analysis, his research supplies a starting pointof discussion. He stresses that Japanese firms have international competitiveness in the fieldof manufacturing which has to integrate various components to achieve a specific function.
On the other hand, Japanese firms are not competitive in the manufacturing sector with amodular system in which the improvement of an isolated component improves the entire
system. The automobile industry represents the former and the IT industry represents thelatter. For example, the improvement of driving comfort cannot be achieved by the
improvement of one part, but connecting and then “fine-tuning” various components isnecessary, while in the IT industry, the improvement of one device is enough to improve thespecific function of the system.
Many researchers of the SIS are interested in why the Japanese automobile industry
retains international competitiveness, and whether or not its competitiveness will be kept in
the future. Moreover, the globalization of the Japanese automobile industry forces them toopen overseas factories, and the related companies such automobile part manufactures also
have to move overseas. The effect of expanding overseas operations on the Japanese
automobile manufacturing system at intrafirm level (factory level operation and quality
control) and interfirm level (the relationship between part suppliers and the assemblers) is
an interesting research topic.
A strength of the analysis by the SIS on the automobile industry is to study the industry
as a system. As shown above, not only the manufacturing system at factory level but also
related parts suppliers are included in the research scope. Also, several researchers at the
SIS are interested in the distribution system of automobiles. Since the distribution systemand the production system are often studied by different researchers belonging to different
academic societies, it is difficult to understand the whole figure of an industry. However,
the research group of the SIS covers both production and distribution systems of theautomobile industry.
Researchers who are interested in the automobile industry organize an automobile
industry research division, holding seminars in the Tokyo region and Kansai region several
times a year. Their research activities have resulted in a book entitled Kokusai Saihen to
Aratana Shido―Nihon Jidosha Sangyo no Yukue (International Re-alignment and New
Start―The Future of the Japanese Automobile Industry (Nikkan Jidosha Shinbunsha, 2005).
The book was edited by Kunio KAMIYAMA and Hiroshi SHIOJI, both of whom aremembers of the SIS. Also, the Division of Automobile Industry Research of the SIS waslisted as an editor. The book consists of 14 chapters, each of which is written by one author.

31

Nine of them are members and the other five are also participants (guest speakers) indivision meetings.
The book covers the development of automobile industries in various regions and rolesof Japanese firms in them. It is a very interesting question whether or not automobile
companies of other nations including developing countries particularly China will gaininternational competitiveness. The technology transfer or diffusion through international
alliance and overseas operation of Japanese firms may result in the lose of comparativeadvantage of the Japanese automobile. These problems attract many researchers at the SIS
and the book is a milestone of their research efforts.
4. Future Tasks
While the SIS has made a strong step into the fourth decade of its history, there areseveral tasks that the SIS should tackle. First, while the SIS is proud of generating a large
quantity of research output in the field of automobile industry studies, research in otherfields is not necessarily active. In particular, while research on the electronics industry
attracts research interest at the SIS, the biomedical industry, which is another high-techindustry facing severe global competition, does not necessarily attract many researchers.
Only one presentation covering the pharmaceutical industry was held in the session of 2001.
A reason may be that this industry does not hold international competitiveness and thestrategy to gain competitiveness is also unclear. However, the biomedical industry willcontinue to be a major battle field of international high-technology competition. Moreover,as the number of elderly citizens increases, the demands for biomedical products increases,
too. Since a nation whose biomedical industry is not internationally competitive has to pay
for imports as well as royalties, the competitiveness of this industry significantly affects thenational wealth. The SIS may have to pay more attention to this industry.
Second, the SIS had been traditionally interested in manufacturing. It is important for
the SIS to continue studying the manufacturing sector, which has supported Japanese
economic growth by supplying a large number of highly waged jobs. However, it is aninevitable trend that Japanese industrial structure has shifted toward the non-manufacturingservice sector. The SIS has not paid much attention to industries such as health care,banking/financing, tourism/entertainment, or retailing except for the distribution system of
automobiles shown above. The service sector accounts for more than 60% of employment
and value added shipments in the Japanese economy. Since many of these industries’
products are not internationally traded, the firms with low productivity in this industry cansurvive, reducing the productivity of the entire nation. As a result, it is significant to analyze
non-manufacturing service industries, so the SIS can no longer ignore this task. While there
are academic organizations that conduct research on analysis of some of these individual
industries, the SIS may be able to play a great role for grasping the whole status of the32

non-manufacturing service sector.
Third, the SIS accepts graduate student members including foreign students andpart-time non-traditional students who have full-time jobs. This is because graduate
programs in social science and part-time extension programs are expanding in Japan. Many
graduate programs encourage or even require Ph. D. candidates to make presentations at
national meetings and to submit papers to refereed journals. The SIS should prepare a
responsible answer to these demands. The SIS should provide these graduate students with
opportunities; however, the quality of presentation and papers in the journal (The Annals ofIndustrial Studies) should not be allowed to decline. Frankly speaking, if most presentations
are by graduate students, regular members are not willing to attend such meetings.
Now, the SIS recommends graduate student members to make presentations at regional
meetings before applying for the first-day session of the annual meeting so that senior
members can check the quality of their research at regional meetings. While the Annals ofIndustrial Studies is not a refereed journal, the presentations at the first-day session are
observed by the SIS board members. Then, at the board meeting on the second day of theannual meeting, who is going to be asked to write a paper for the journal is decided by vote.
While more than half of presentations are accepted for submission to the journal, the SIS atleast makes a kind of quality control. In particular, a mentor of the student is asked by thejournal editor to make a proof-reading of a student member’s paper before it is sent to thejournal editor. If the mentor is not a member of the SIS, a member of a the board takes careof the student. The presenters at the second-day session are almost always asked to write
their papers for the journal, because the SIS asked them to make presentations and thequality control was done by this early stage.
As the demands for graduate students to submit their papers to referred journals are
great, the SIS should consider the policy of the journal. One option is to change the journal
to a formal refereed journal which opens a door for paper submission regardless whether or
not it is presented at the annual meeting, as long as the paper is submitted by a member. (Orthe person is required to be a member only after the paper is accepted by the journal.)
However, it is not necessarily easy to operate a referee system. There are 15 board members
including the president, secretary, and the editor of the journal. The board members do notnecessarily cover the entire field of research, so if a formal refereed system is introduced,
the SIS must establish an independent referee committee. Moreover, there is a possibility
that the board members are mentors of the students, so an independent committee isnecessary to avoid conflict of interests. The SIS should consider whether or not it canoperate an independent refereed committee within the time frame of the publication of thejournal every year. However, the policy change toward a referee system should be carefully
discussed by spending several years, because once the journal becomes a refereed journal, it
would be an embarrassment to revoke the referee system.
(Yukio MIYATA, Osaka Prefecture University)

33THE JAPAN ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT(Formerly: THE ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCHON BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIVE BEHAVIOR)
1

General Description
The characteristics of our Academy are first, our concept of investigating andreviewing the guiding principles of administrative behavior, which include corporatesocial responsibility and business ethics. Second, we take an interdisciplinary andintegrated approach with scholars of economics, accounting, marketing, law and otherrelated business majors and business people.
The Academy has 430 members (as of July, 2006) and holds an Annual Meeting,and four regional conferences a year (Tokyo area in April, June, October, andDecember), which have numbered 60 times so far. It also holds Chubu (Central Japan)
conferences (June and December) and Kyushu conferences (in April).
The English appellation of the Academy was changed from the Japan Association
for Research on Business Administrative Behavior to the Japan Academy ofManagement in 2002.
2

Annual Meetings (2000-2006)
The Annual Meeting is held in late July as a rule, and includes a symposium under aunified theme and 24 research reports. As can be seen below, unified themes for recent
symposiums are on environment, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, andcorporate governance, which reflect not only recent business issues but also the guiding
principles of the Academy. Themes which are related to local business and industry arechosen when the annual meeting is held in a provincial area (Yamanashi Prefecture in
2002, and Aichi Prefecture in 2005).
(1) 10th Annual National Meeting (College of Economics, Nihon University, July
22nd-23rd, 2000)
Administrative Behavior in the 21st Century: the Orientation of Innovation and Issues(2) 11th Annual National Meeting (Wako University, July 27th-29th, 2001)
Analysis and Prospects of Administrative Behavior in the New Century: Its Light andShadow(3) 12th Annual National Meeting (Yamanashi Gakuin University, July 27th-29th, 2002)
Reordering of the Industrial and Economic Structure: Current Status and Problems to34

Challenge(4) 13th Annual National Meeting (Tokyo Keizai University, July 26th-27th, 2003)
Intellectual Society and Its Management(5) 14th Annual National Meeting (College of Commerce, Nihon University, July
29th-21st, 2004)
Compliance Management and Management Responsibility: in order to Overcome Social
Inequity(6) 15th Annual National Meeting (Aichi Gakuin University, October 1st-2nd, 2005)
Revitalization of Local Economy and Administrative Behavior(7) 16th Annual National Meeting (Obirin University, July 28th-30th, 2006)
Administrative Behavior and Ownership Structure: from Perspectives of M&A and
Corporate Governance
Reporters and titles for the 16th Annual National Meeting are as follows:(1) Nobuo KATSUBE (Kumamoto Gakuen University) “Transformation of Stock
Ownership Structure and Governance in Japan”(2) Tasuo UEMURA (Waseda University) “Fundamental legal Issues on M&A and
Corporate Governance”(3) Ken KANEYAMA (Obirin University) “Administrative Behavior and Function ofExternal Audit and Ownership Structure: Mainly on Corporate Governance in China.”(4) Masaharu KUHARA (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University) “Where have the mainbanks gone: Thrir Function and Ownership”(5) Kenshu KIKUZAWA (Keio University) “Conflict between the Character of JapaneseCorporations and the American Way of Corporate Governance: an Action Agency
Approach”
3

The Japan-China Enterprise Management Symposium
Promoting international academic exchange is one of our academy’s aims. The

35

Japan-China Enterprise Management Symposium started in 1984, and symposia havebeen held in Japan and China by turns. The Academy began organizing the Japanesepart in 2000.
Because of the spread of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003, theth
19 symposium was postponed to the next year.
(1) 16th Japan-China Enterprise Management Symposium (Nihon University, 2000)
Problems that Business Administration will Face in the 21st Century and Its Response toThem(2) 17th Japan-China Enterprise Management Symposium (Hangzhou, 2001)
Management Innovation and Globalization of Economy, and Rapid Progress of IT(3) 18th Japan-China Enterprise Management Symposium (Obirin University, 2002)
Environmental Change and Corporate Correspondence(4) 19th Japan-China Enterprise Management Symposium (Shenzhen, 2004)
Sustainable Growth and Competitiveness of Enterprise(5) 20th Japan-China Enterprise Management Symposium (Waseda University, 2005)
Sustainable Growth of Enterprise and Innovation of Business Administration(6) 21st Japan-China Enterprise Management Symposium (Lanzhou, 2006)
Competitiveness of Enterprise and Environmental Issues.
4

The Japan-Mongolia International Symposium
Since the Academy and Economy and Business Union of Mongolia (Tuvd DORJ,
President) organized 1st Japan-Mongolia International Symposium in Ulan Bator in
2000, Symposia have been held symposiums in each country by turns. Several reporters
report from both sides. The symposiums are held at the same time as Annual Meetings
in Japan. The 3rd Symposium was postponed because of the spread of SARS.
(1) 1st Japan-Mongolia International Symposium (Ulan Bator, 2000)
Management Issues of Mongolian Enterprise and Japanese Enterprise towards the 21stCentury: The Japanese Case and the Mongolian Case(2) 2nd Japan-Mongolia International Symposium (Wako University, 2001)

36

Industrial Policy and Corporate Development in the New Century: The Japanese Caseand the Mongolian Case(3) 3rd Japan-Mongolia International Symposium (Ulan Bator, 2003)
Industrial Policy and Developments of Firms in the New Century: Some Problems
under Mongolian and Japanese Circumstances(4) 4th Japan-Mongolia International Symposium (College of Commerce, Nihon
University, 2004)
Environmental Change and Issues of Industry and Firms(5) 5th Japan-Mongolia International Symposium (Ulan Bator, 2005)
Roles of Enterprise and Government in Economic Growth(6) 6th Japan-Mongolia International Symposium (Obirin University, 2006)
Harmonious Coexistence of Environment and Industry: Aiming for Sustainable
Development
Reporters and their themes at the 6th Japan- Mongolia International Symposium(July 28th-29th, 2006) are as follows:(1) Tsuyoshi IWATA (Director of Suruga Corporation) “Four Seasons Gardens Projectand Harmonious Existence of Different Cultures”(2) Tuvd DORJ (President of Economy and Business Union of Mongolia) and
Gombodorj BATTKHUREL (Director of Mechanical Engineering School) “SomeSpecification of Management Methods of Genghis Khan, the King of the Mongolian
Empire”(3) Tetsuhiro HAYASHI (German Chamber of Commerce and Industry) “Germany’s
Aspiration of Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”(4) Tserendorj DAVAADORJ (National University of Mongolia) “Impact of Privatization
on Poverty and Inequality in Mongolia”(5) Altai ZULGEREL (Muncipality of Ulan Bator, Head of Urban Development Policy andPlanning Development) “Defining City Development Strategy and Marketing”

37

(6) Akira KOISO (member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly) “Regulation on PM
Emissions from Diesel Engine-Driven vehicles by TMG”
(7) Ochir BATERDENE (vice president of the road repairing and caring company of Ulan
Bator) “Present Situation of Air Pollution in Ulan Bator”(8) Akio HATA (Osaka City University) “The Metal Mining in Japan and Environmental
Issues”
5

The Japan-Spain International Meeting on Business Management
The 1st Japan-Spain International Meeting on Business Management was held at aconference room in the Embassy of Spain in Tokyo, on November 22nd, 2005, organizedby the Academy and IESE Business School and the study group on Japan-Spainmanagement. Kimio KASE (IESE Business School) lectured on “Decision-making ofCEO’s of Japanese Companies” and an executive manager of Chupa Chups, S.A.
lectured on “Japanese Market and Japanese Companies from the View Point of a
Spanish Company.”
6

Publications
The Academy publishes its annual journal Keiei Kodo Kenkyu Nenpo andNewsletter for the members quarterly. Because of the English appellation of the
Academy, the title of the journal changed from The Annals of the Japan Association for
Research on Business Administrative Behavior to The Annals of the Japan Academy ofManagement. The journal used to contain summaries of reports at the symposium undera unified theme and summaries of the other reports at the Annual Meeting. Along withthe change of the English appellation, the size and contents of the journal changed in
2003. The journal used to contain summaries of the reports at the symposium, refereed
papers, and book reviews.
The latest journal (published in July 2006) contains six from the Annual Meeting’s
symposium, reports on research-grant-aided projects, 14 papers (some are from thereports at the Annual Meeting and others are submitted), and three book reviews.
7

Research Projects
The Academy calls for research projects from the Academy members and gives
research grants to a few projects. The themes of projects which were adopted recently
are as follows:38

Satoshi KONUMA, Mitsuhiro HIRATA, Kikuo OGASAWARA, Isao ICHIKO“Concentrated Corporate Ownership and Corporate Governance”
Moto SHINKAWA, Haijing JIN, Jae Suk KIM, Tao BAI, Ken KANEYAMA“Comparative Studies of Corporate Governance Systems in East Asia”
Masashi YAMADA“Formation of Clusters in a Region ― Promoting Factors for Clusters”
8

Research Trends and Future Prospects
The Academy has three pillars of its research activities: sociality and morality ofadministrative behavior; international comparison of administrative behavior;international academic exchange.
(Chikako NOMURA, Yamanashi Gakuin University)

39

JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
1. General Description
The Japan Association for Management Systems (Nihon Keiei Shisutemu Gakkai:
JAMS) was founded in 1980 as an interdisciplinary association organized by university
professors and academic theoretical and empirical researchers, public or private. The
founding spirit and objectives of JAMS are to contribute to human society andmanagement systems, and to propose new models and logical thinking covering a wide
range of management fields of social and natural science together, regarding
management systems from a broader perspective.
At the present time, integration of various management resources in a corporation is
becoming a more and more important subject. Taking into consideration theestablishment of management ideas to realize integration, investigation of human nature,
innovation inside an organization, the global environment and contribution to the world,
it may be said that it is an indispensable subject in the development of strategic
management. In addition, product development and market capability also play asignificant role together with the innovation of business processes by ICT, and theconstruction of new business models is needed. For example, integration of mainstay
businesses by ERP and realization of strategy tie-ups between corporations in the global
domain by SCM raise the level. Studies should not focus only on technology such as
current IE, QC, OR, artificial intelligence and neural networks and fuzzy systems etc.,
which is a field mainly based on human resources, but it has a future prospective to beeven broader in the field of management systems.
From the viewpoint of continuing the efforts of Science and Technology promotion,
JAMS catches and deals with various problems of corporation management by acontinuous forward-looking attitude which is expressed as “to design management by
an integration of engineering, information and social science”. JAMS is a researchergroup which has a global vision and researches to solve the problem in the real world
with realistic and effective thinking and develop new techniques to contribute to thefield of management systems. In addition, research findings have been returned to theeconomy and society, and certain progress has been made in system reforms such as
improvement of systems to cultivate young researchers.
2. Organization and Current Activities
JAMS consists of two sections. The head office manages the main work for members
and acts in conjunction with the board of directors, the board of editorial members topublish the JAMS journal, and the board of information members to publish JAMS

40

news and study meetings.
The Kansai Branch Office manages regional activities such as presentation meetings,
Kansai regional research meetings, support at conferences, and others. In July 2006 theAssociation has 433 individual members, 90 student members and one corporate
member.
3. The Activity of the Kansai Branch Office
3.1．The Origin of the Kansai Branch Office
The establishment of Kansai branch office was approved at the third board meeting of
1994, which was held at Kogakuin University on Saturday, August 6, and its official
regulations were approved at the first board meeting of 1995, which was held at
Kogakuin University on Saturday, April 22. The area of the Kansai branch office was
decided as the Kansai and the rest of Japan to the west.
The start of activities of the Kansai Branch Office was decided at the 16th general
meeting held on Sunday, May 14, 1995. The numbers of the original Kansai branch
office were 40 members on September 16, 1995.
At that time, the special lecturer was Prof. Sennosuke KURIYAMA Ph.D. of Setsunan
University, and his lecture’s title was “Management Automation Systems ―management systems in the manufacturing industry.”
3.2．Summary of Activities
The main annual events of the Kansai Branch Office is meetings for the study,
general meetings, factory visits and steering committees. Study meetings are conductedfive times a year, and one factory visit is made each year. Fifty-two study meetings had
been held by the end of September, 2006. One general meeting is held every year inJune, where an accounts report, a business report, a budget plan and a business plan are
discussed. In addition, reelection of officers such as the director of the branch office isdiscussed at the general meeting twice every year.
4. Annual National Conferences
The annual national conference of JAMS is usually held for two days each in spring
and fall. At each conference, the unified theme is set up by the host university and theexecutive committee. Annual national conferences usually consist of the unified theme
session, a keynote speech, special lectures and free theme papers in four sessions. They
are set up in each conference, in which research topics in social and natural science
disciplines, comprising management and organization theorists, economists, sociologists,
political scientists and management engineers, are presented and discussed by members
in each sessions.

41A unified theme of management systems that is considered to be a meaningful topics
of current intense discussion is given at each conference. Each presentation session,
including discussions and questions, takes 30 minutes. On the other hand, student
presentation sessions, which are open to undergraduate and graduate students, take 20
minutes. The programs of the annual conference are edited by the program committee
and the executive committee.
5. Publications
The association publishes a bulletin entitled the Journal of the Japan Association forManagement Systems. It is published twice a year. Technical papers, research papers,
case studies and commentaries are edited by the Association’s Editorial Committee. The
Committee selects two referees and requests them to review the submitted papers. After
reviewing and acceptance, the paper is carried in the Journal of the Japan Association
for Management Systems.
Moreover, the association publishes a newsletter entitled JAMS News, which is editedby the Association’s Information Committee. It is published four times a year. JAMS
News announces the dates of study meetings and call for papers for annual national
conferences. It is a necessary and useful means of effective communication formembers.
6. Recent Research Activities of JAMS
Recently, worldwide competition among companies has become increasingly severe
and tight according to the development of information. Studies cannot focus only on one
field of knowledge, but there is a demand for them to be broadened in terms of fieldknowledge and perspective. The integration, fusion and optimization of management
resources in a company are now regarded as very important factors for a company tosolve social, economic, and management problems. The present situation in studies
emphasizes the fusion of application of methodologies in both natural science and social
science. Studies and researches in management fields are required to develop anddeepen, and advanced technology is needed
In particular, innovation in management systems and systemization of businessadministration have become strategically essential subjects. Recent research activities of
JAMS have studied and proposed new models and logical thinking theories as well as
applications to solve new problems in the information era. Some scholars andresearchers study and explore the possibilities of applying new theories to solve
management problems and focus on key business areas such as strategy, information
systems, human resources, marketing, accounting. Especially, performance-based

42systems, discrimination in the workplace, business ethics, industry analysis, competitive
advantage, global strategies, synergy and diversification, entrepreneurship and corporate
governance are current topics in recent research activities of JAMS.
7. Annual Conferences
The locations and unified themes of annual conferences held from 2001 to 2005 are
as follows:
The 26th at Sanno University in May 2001 with the unified theme: Information
Technology Revolution―Problems and Opinions of Management Systems.
A keynote speech, two special lectures, two unified theme papers, and 47 free theme
papers were presented in four sessions.
(1) Keynote speech: Yousuke NAITOU (The Sanno Institute of Management), “Role of
IT and Change of Corporate Management”(2) Special Lecture: Noboru KOMIYA (Hitachi Information Academy Co., Ltd.),“Management Revolution and Problems of Human Resources Management in the
IT Era”(3) Special Lecture: Kazuo NAGATSUMA (Sankyo Frontier Co., Ltd.), “Management
Strategy of the Venture Company in the IT Era”
(4) Unified theme: Tatsuhiro MASUDA (Sanno University), “Small Business
Management in the Information Technology Era”
(5) Unified theme: Hiroshi HIRAIDE (Hitachi Electronics Co., Ltd.), “IT Innovation as aManagement Tool”
The 27th at Sunhills Mikawawan in October 2001 with the unified theme: e-Businessand Management Systems
A keynote speech, two unified theme papers, a special session and 42 free theme
papers were presented in four sessions.
(1) Keynote speech: Koichi MATSUKAWA (PricewaterhouseCoopers Consultants Co.,
Ltd.), “Integration of Reform on Management Models and Information Technology
Strategy”(2) Unified theme: Daiju NAKAGIRI (Setsunan University), Sennosuke KURIYAMA(Setsunan University), Sadaya KUBO (Setsunan University), “Strategic Productionand e-Management”(3) Unified theme: Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Framework ofInformation Activation Based on the Entropy Concept”

43The 28th at Yokohama College of Commerce in May 2002 with the unified theme:
Paradigm Shift of Management Systems
A keynote speech, two unified theme and 42 free theme papers were presented infour sessions.
(1) Keynote speech: Tatsumi SHIMADA (Setsunan University), “Digital Government
System in e-Japan Strategy”(2) Special speech: Ataru NAKACHI (PIP-TOKYO, Co., LTD.), “Action for the Changeof Management Systems”(3) Special speech: Yoshitomo MIYAHARA, “Business as Social System”
The 29th at Kansai University in November 2002 with the unified theme: The Roleof a Management System in Recycling Society
A keynote speech, a special speech, two unified theme papers, a special session and
35 free theme papers were presented in four sessions.
(1) Keynote speech: Kenichi MORI (Kansai University), “A Proposal for Societal
Quality Management”(2) Special speech: Akira OZEKI (The Asahi Shimbun), “Why Should a Company be
Conscious of the Environment? ―From the Viewpoint of Journalism”(3) Unified theme:＊ Shinichi OKAMOTO (Tokyo University of Information Sciences), “Development of
an Environment-conscious Society”＊ Kenji KANAI (Setsunan University), “Global Environment Problems and Policies”(4) Special session:＊ Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “On Information, Knowledge and Behavior
in Global e-SCM”＊ Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Conceptual Framework for Knowledge
and Information”＊ Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Low-Entropy Resource Framework for
TOC”＊ Masanobu MATSUMARU (Tokai University) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University), “Productivity and Evaluation in SCM”
＊ Masanobu MATSUMARU (Tokai University) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University), “A Study on Vulnerability of Consensus in SCM”
＊ Tadakazu WATANABE (Jinji-In) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Studyon Governance Chain Management (GCM)”＊ Shoichi KANEKO (Yamanashi Gakuin University) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University), “On ‘B to B & Co’ Framework and ‘B to Cu’ Framework in e-SCM”

44

＊ Shoichi KANEKO (Yamanashi Gakuin University), Masanobu MATSUMARU (Tokai
University) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “WWW Alliance andGlobal e-SCM”＊ Makoto HAYASHI (Meiji University) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A
Study on Global e-KCM”＊ Mamoru UEHARA (The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University), “A Classification Framework of Customers and the Behavior Optionsin an Information Society”＊ Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Dilemma Model of TOC in Lot
Production Systems”
The 30th at Takushoku University in May 2003 with the unified theme: Management
System and Intelligence ―Based on the global ICT era
A keynote speech, a special speech, two unified theme papers and 54 free theme
papers were presented in four sessions.
(1) Keynote speech: Masaaki TODA (Toyota Digital Cruise, Inc.), “Management
systems in the global ICT era ―Actions of the Toyota group”(2) Special speech: Hitotora HIGASHIKUNI (Tokyo University of Science), “Mobile
Business Strategy and Mobile Enterprise Systems ― On the Basis of Global
Information Communication Technology”(3) Unified theme:＊ Makoto HAYASHI (Meiji University), “Business Model for the Global ICT Age”
＊ Koji MATSUOKA (Takushoku University), “Changes to the Global Information
Communication Technology ― Progress Turned to Ubiquitous Computing from
Mobile Computing”
The 31st at Toyohashi Sozo Senior College in November 2003 with the unified
theme: Management System and Globalization ― Creative Systems and Maturity
Society
A keynote speech, a special speech, two unified theme papers and 50 free theme
papers were presented in four sessions.
(1) Keynote speech: Hideo YAMADA (Waseda University), “Global competition andstandards”(2) Special speech: Hitotora HIGASHIKUNI (Tokyo University of Science), “Mobile
Business Strategy and Mobile Enterprise Systems ― On the Basis of Global
Information Communication Technology”

45

(3) Unified theme:＊ Shoichi KANEKO (Yamanashi Gakuin University), Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University) and Masanobu MATSUMARU (Tokai University), “WWW Alliance andTacking Management in Inter-firm Group Competition”＊ Tamotsu HARADA (Tama University) and Aki NAKANISHI (Tokyo Metropolitan
Institute of Technology), “In Search for Synchronicity Management”
The 32nd at Siebold University, Nagasaki in June 2004 with the unified theme:
Innovation of Knowledge-Based Society
A keynote speech, a special speech, four unified theme papers and 52 free theme
papers were presented in four sessions.
(1) Keynote speech: Tatsumi SHIMADA (Setsunan University), “The Barrier and theStrategy of e-Local Government”(2) Special speech: Kouki NAGAKAWA (Soubeiya Co., Ltd.), “The significance of anestablished brand and local expectations”(3) Unified theme:＊ Akihisa INENAGA (Nagasaki Prefectural University), “The Concept of Economic
Cooperation among International Areas in The Knowledge- Based Society ―For
Example, between Sasebo, Nagasaki and Xiamen, Fijian in China”＊ Yukio TAKAGAKI (Surugadai University), “Management of Technological
Knowledge: the Case of Environmental Technology”＊ Mamoru UEHARA (Aichi Shukutoku University), “From Corporate Social
Responsibility of ‘Inter-Corporate Groups’ (Risk Management in a Supply Chain istaken up as an example)”＊ Aki NAKANISHI (Meiji University), “The Ownership of Our Knowledge (Conflictand Fusion between Business and Non-Business)”
The 33rd at Meiji University in October 2004 with the unified theme: Improvement
and Reformation in Japanese Companies
A keynote speech, four unified theme papers a special session and 40 free theme
papers were presented in four sessions.
(1) Keynote speech: Yasushi OGASAWARA (NTT Data Institute of Management andConsulting), “A Japanese Way to Redesign an Organization under a Global Paradox
Context”(2) Unified theme:＊ Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), Keiichiro NAKAGAWA (NTT DATA) andShoko TAKAHASHI (NTT DATA), “A Framework of Individual Learning and46

Organizational Learning for Improvement and Reformation”＊ Yoshihiko TAMEMOTO (Mitsubishi Research Institute), Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University) and Shoichi KANEKO (Yamanashi Gakuin University), “Unification
Forming Process on Touch Point with Customers”＊ Tadakazu WATANABE (Meiji University), “The Bias Classification Framework of
Policy Evolutions”＊ Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Study On Earlier Imitation Activities of
IS Specialists”(3) Special session: The Academic Frontier Research Project: “The advanced global
business and IT management”＊ Takahiro NISHI, Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), Shoichi KANEKO(Yamanashi Gakuin University) and Takeshi MATSUDA (Meiji University), “A Studyon TOC as a ‘Decentralized Lower Entropy Resource’”＊ Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “On Multi-Domestic Information Systems
and Matrix Reduction Design”＊ Yuki SATO, Tadakazu WATANABE, Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University) and Akira
OTABE (Nihon University), “A Study on the Role of the Manager in Control andSupport to GCM”
＊ Junichi NAGAKURA (Meiji University), Noriko TAKAHASHI (Meiji University) andHiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Study on Seamless Line Superiority
Organization”＊ Yoko ORITO and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Study on ActivatedMembers for Personal Data Protection in Business Organizations”
The 34th at Reitaku University in May 2005 with the unified theme:
Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century
A commemorative speech, a keynote speech, a unified theme paper and 52 freetheme papers were presented in four sessions.
(1) Commemorative speech: Takejirou SUEYOSHI (International Environment Plan
Financial Initiative), “Global Environment Problems and World Financial
Institutions”(2) Keynote speech: Hideyuki KUDO (Reitaku University), “Management philosophy isa keystone of enterprise.”(3) Unified theme: Mamoru UEHARA (Aichi Shukutoku University), Hiroshi
YAMASHITA (Meiji University) and Takahiro ONO (Waseda University), “A Study on
the Weights Determination Method of the Criteria in SRI (Socially Responsible
Investment)”

47

The 35th at Miyazaki Sangyo Keiei University in October 2005 with the unified
theme: Area Activation and Management Systems
A commemorative speech, a keynote speech, two unified theme papers and 75 freetheme papers were presented in five sessions.
(1) Commemorative speech: Miyuki NAKAJIMA (Unkai Sake Brewing Co., Ltd.),“Establishment of a Management System that Utilizes Local Resources
Availability”(2) Keynote speech: Kazuteru HASAMA (Hasama Co., Ltd.), “Agriculture through
Drastic Environment Management”(3) Unified theme:＊ Akihisa INENAGA (Nagasaki Prefectural University), “International Industrial
Cooperation and Area Activation in the Domestic Economy ―For New Industrial
Cooperation with Economic Areas in East Asia”＊ Toshio MITSUFUJI (Siebold University of Nagasaki), “A Social Innovator in the
Regional Community”
8. Members’ Research Activities and Papers
JAMS has its own journal called the Journal of the Japan Association forManagement Systems, which is issued in spring and autumn, twice a year. Many
excellent contributions have been published. These papers are generally those presented
at JAMS conferences. Papers that are contributed to the journal by members are strictly
refereed by two or more anonymous expert members appointed by the editorialcommittee.
The titles of papers published in Journals in the last six years are follows:[Contents of the Journal, Vol.17, No.1, 2000](1) Yoshitaka MIURA (Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.), “Study of a Resonance Model
between Market and Organization ―Matching of the Organization Model with theElectricity, Chemistry, and Food Industry”(2) Tomonori NISHIKAWA (Toyohashi Sozo Senior College), “Vicissitudes ofInformation Oriented Management Systems by Progress of Information Network
Technology”(3) Yukiko ORITO, Genji YAMAZAKI (Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology) andTomonori NISHIKAWA (Toyohashi Sozo Senior College), “Formulation of the
Financial Time Series with Chaotic Dynamics”(4) Masatsugu SHIIHARA (Osaka Institute of Technology), Sennosuke KURIYAMA(Setsunan University), Toyokazu NOSE and Koichi YASUDA (Osaka Institute of48

Technology), “A Study for the Effect of Batch Splitting in Priority Rules on Job
Shop Scheduling”(5) Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Study on Standardized Fuzzy Entropy”(6) Hitoshi KOGURE (Tokyo Management College), “A Study on a Concept of theInformation Systems Structure”(7) Nobutoshi HATANAKA (Canon Inc.), “Strategy Factor Deriving Methods and SMBP”[Contents of the Journal, Vol.17, No.2, 2000](1) Hayao WASHIZAKI (University of Tokyo), “Relationship between Input-output
Pattern and Information Activity in Industry”(2) Syuichi ISHIDA (Hokkai Gakuen University), “R&D Strategy and Knowledge-Based
Networking ―Empirical Analysis on the Industry of Lithium Ion Batteries”(3) Masaaki HARADA, Tatsuo ISHIHARA (Sanno University) “How to Identify aRepresentative Price by Applying a Linear Integration Method to Customers’
Uncertain Pricing Judgment ― A Compound Approach Based on Individual
Opinions and Opinion Pools”(4) Tatsumi SHIMADA (Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology), “Characteristics of
Outsourcing in Modern Management”(5) Jianming DENG (Osaka Prefecture University), Tetsuhisa ODA (Aichi InstituteTechnology) and Motohide UMANO (Osaka Prefecture University), “Fuzzy
Logical Operations in the Two-dimensional Hyper Logic Space Concerning the
Fuzzy-set Concurrent Rating Method”(6) Tomonori MIURA, Akira OTABE (Nihon University) and Kazunari MIURA (Park24
Co., Ltd.), “Study on Minimum Wages in Manufacturing Industry”(7) Majid KASMAI and Junichi IIJIMA (Tokyo Institute of Technology), “An Analytical
Approach to Strategic Alliances―Cases of the Semiconductor Industry”(8) Hiroto NAMIHIRA (Otsuma Women’s University), “Replacement Demand Forecast
for Parts Based on a Non-stationary Stochastic Model”(9) Akira KIMATA (University of Tokyo) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A
Model for Accessibility in Tele-work Organizations”(10)Masami CHOUI (Hiroshima International University), “Studies on ‘Training Creative
Thinking’ Education Using a Network Environment”(11)Hideki SAKAMOTO (Hokkaido Information University), “The Trade Environment
and Management Systems in the 21st Century”(12)Shunsuke NAKA and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Dillemma Model ofActivation to Class Management”[Contents of the Journal, Vol.18, No.1, 2001](1) Akihiko TOBA (Showa-Denko), Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University) and49

Tadakazu WATANABE (Jinjiin), “A Job-Change Model of Orientation toward
Rank-Hierarchies”(2) Koichi KUSAKABE (Network of Education and Culture, NPO) and Tatsuo ISHIHARA(Sanno University), “An Analysis of Characteristics of Small Groups’
Decision-making by AHP”
(3) Masaaki SAMPEI and Minoru TOKITA (Waseda University), “An Optimization
Method for Pavement Management in Municipal Government”(4) Tatsuyuki NEGORO (Waseda University) and Takafumi MORIOKA (Niigata Universityof Management), “A Study of the Merits and the Risks in Inter-Corporate Alliance”(5) Shoichi KANEKO (Yamanashi Gakuin University), Mami SUZUKI (Aichi Gakusen
University) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Conceptual Model ofBenchmarking”(6) Masahiro DOI, Fumiyoshi MIYASHITA, Tsutomu IZUI and Kenichi MORI (Kansai
University), “The Influence which Intranet Introduction has on
Information
Sharing for the Enterprise and the Effect ― Application of the Directed
Independence Graph”(7) Yukiko ORITO, Genji YAMAZAKI (Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology) andTomonori NISHIKAWA (Toyohashi Sozo Senior College), “Financial Modeling
Adopted by the Structure Changing of Time Series ―Mixture of stochastic andchaotic models applied by the false nearest neighbors method”(8) Jun OGAWA, Kenichi NAKAJIMA, Toyokazu NOSE (Osaka Institute of Technology)
and Sennosuke KURIYAMA (Setsunan University), “A Study on Combination Sales
Planning with Consideration for Customer Satisfaction”(9) Mamoru UEHARA (The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi), “The Existence of the ‘Third
Risk’ in Operational Risk”(10)Masamichi MATSUMOTO and Masanobu MATSUMARU (Tokai University), “Portfolio
Insurance Models by Using Survival Time Analysis”(11)Sunghoon LEE and Masanobu MATSUMARU (Tokai University), “Portfolio by Using
Time-series Analysis and Put-Option”[Contents of the Journal, Vol.18, No.2, 2001](1) Akira KIMATA (University of Tokyo), “A Conceptual Model of Recycling
Assessment”(2) Toshihiko ITO (Gakushuin University) and Masahiro HORIUCHI (Aoyama Gakuin
University), “A Study on Useful Areas of Electronic Mail in Business Firms ―From the Point of Media-richness and Context”(3) Daisuke SAHORI (Canon Inc.), “A Study on Managers and Workers under
Implementation of Telework”

50

(4) Tatsuo ISHIHARA (Sanno University), “A Proposal on the Four Fundamental Rulesof Arithmetic of the Fuzzy Number”(5) Yoshitaka MIURA (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.), “A Study on Organizational Fund Flow
Models by Sine-Wave Periodic Motion ―2nd Report on the Study on Resonancebetween Market and Business Organization”[Contents of the Journal, Vol.19, No.1, 2002](1) Akira KIMATA (University of Tokyo), “Two Aspects of Cost ― Assessment for
Recycling”(2) Yoshiro MIYAGI and Shinichi OKAMOTO (Tokyo University of Information Science),“A Study on Customer Satisfaction for Day Services”(3) Mamoru UEHARA (The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University), “The Tendency to be Lenient in Risk Evaluation, by Assuming theHalo Effect”(4) Yoshitaka MIURA (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.), “A Study on Organizational Stock
Models by a Force Polygon”(5) Takanori SUZUKI (Graduate School of Social Sciences), “Motivating an Agent
through Performance Signals”(6) Mamoru UEHARA (The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi), “A Conceptual Model of Risk
Management Focusing on the Frequency of Occurrence”(7) Takeshi KAKINOKI (Hitachi Information Systems Ltd) and Masatoshi NISHIO (Chiba
Institute of Technology), “Decision-Making Methods for Developing Strategic
Information Systems ―A Proposal to Product Providing Enterprises”(8) Tatsuo ISHIHARA (Sanno University), “A Proposal for Group Fuzzy AHP”
[Contents of the Journal, Vol.19, No.2, 2002](1) Mami SUZUKI (Aichi Gakusen University), Shoichi KANEKO (Yamanashi Gakuin
University) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Study on an Analytical
Method for Analysis of Estimation of the Notice Distribution Model to Learning in
Organizations”(2) Tsutomu IZUI, Tsukasa TAKEDA, Shogo MIZUGUCHI and Fumiyoshi MIYASHITA(Kansai University), “The Effect of IT Governance on the EDI ― From theViewpoint of the Information Strategic Pattern”(3) Mamoru UEHARA (The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi) and Masanobu MATSUMARU(Tokai University), “The Statistical Analytic Model for Quantifying Risk ―The
Quantification of Reputational Risk and ‘Third Risk’”(4) Junichi FUJIOKA, Tsutomu IZUI and Fumiyoshi MIYASHITA (Kansai University),“Examination of the Promotion Factor on Agile Management Using the Covariance
Structure Analysis”

51

(5) Shahzadah Nayyar JEHAN (Hokkaido University), “Shaping the Accounting
Information System: Impact of Venture Investor & Investee Relationship −An
Interactive Approach”(6) Tamaki MASUMITSU (Fuji University) and Kazuhiko YASUDA (Tohoku University),“Evaluation Framework for Selecting the Right Software Tool for Business Process
Modeling”(7) Hideyuki NAKANISHI, Hiroaki KURIHARA, Tomoaki TABATA and Takahiro ONO(Waseda University), “A Valuation of a Defaultable Interest Rate Swap”[Contents of the Journal, Vol.20, No.1, 2003](1) Takashi USAMI and Kazuyuki TERAMOTO (Aichi Institute of Technology),“Estimation Method of Solicitation Items Using Principal Component Analysis andan Entropy Model”(2) Kenichi ARAI, Fumiyoshi MIYASHITA and Tsutomu IZUI (Kansai University) , “OnStructure of the Knowledge Creation Process in an Enterprise ―An Application of
the Ill-Starred Graph”(3) Denjiro HIROTA (Institute of Municipal Information Co., Ltd.) and Junichi IIJIMA(Tokyo Institute of Technology), “Application of Text Mining Technology for Data
Clustering in Questionnaire Analysis”(4) Toshihiko ITO (Aichi Shukutoku University) and Masahiro HORIUCHI (Aoyama
Gakuin University), “A Study on Characteristics of E-mail Systems andManagement in Business Firms ―An Empirical Study on Effectiveness of E-mailSystems”(5) Kazumasa ASHIHARA, Geonha KIM, Takahiro ONO (Waseda University), andTomoaki TABATA (Tokyo Fuji University), “A Verification of Quality Barometer
Hypothesis on Price Considering Tangible Factors”(6) Yasuhiko MURASE, Shiro MASUDA and Shuichi FUKUDA (Tokyo Metropolitan
Institute of Technology), “A Proposal on Regression Conversion and an Order
Quantity Ratio Compensation Type Inventory Control Model subject to Binominal
Truncated Normal Distribution”(7) Takashi KURIHARA (Jumonji University) and Shinichi OKAMOTO (Tokyo Universityof Information Science), “A Study of Huff’s Model for Educational Marketing”(8) Tomonori NISHIKAWA, Tsuneo Leo ONOZAKI (Ryutsu Keizai University), Shizue
SHIMIZU (Kyoei University) and Masafumi IMAI (Toyohashi Sozo Senior College),“A Study on Nonlinear Breakeven Point Analysis”[Contents of the Journal, Vol. 20, No.2, 2003](1) Tatsuyuki NEGORO (Waseda University) and Tomohito EBINE (Opt, Inc.), “The
Effects of Permission Mail ―Implications About Selection of Mail Medium and52

Delivery Segments”(2) Teppei KUNISHIGE, Geonha KIM, Takahiro ONO (Waseda University), and Tomoaki
TABATA (Tokyo Fuji University), “A New Approach to Pricing of Brand Extension”(3) Junichi NOMURA (Nagoya University), “Optimization Analysis of Operations ofMizusumashi Operators in the Manufacturing System”(4) Berna KIRKULAK and Shahzadah Nayyar JEHAN (Hokkaido University), “Mothers
Stock Market and Underpricing of Initial Public Offerings ―Impact of Ownership
Pattern on Returns”(5) Yukihide NISHIOKA and Hiromi KOBAYASHI (Tokai University), “A Prototyping
Development Method Using VRML in Production Systems”(6) Hironori FUJITA, Kenichi NAKASHIMA, Toyokazu NOSE (Osaka Institute ofTechnology) and Sennosuke KURIYAMA (Setsunan University), “Analysis andDesign of Web Pages with Consideration for Life Cycle Management”(7) Hiroumi MORIYAMA, Takao HADA and Yusuke DOI (Tokai University), “A
Near-Optimal Solution for the Unrelated Parallel Machine Scheduling Problem
with Sequence-Dependent Setup Times”(8) Hideki OKUI (Kobe University), “An Altruistic Behavior Research ― Its
Mechanism and Development in the Organizational Theory”[Contents of the Journal, Vol.21, No.1, 2004](1) Yasuhiko MURASE, Shiro MASUDA, Shuichi FUKUDA and Tetsuhisa OTSUKA (Tokyo
Metropolitan Institute of Technology), “An Improvement on a B1 Type Inventory
Control Model For Broad-Band Demand Distribution”(2) Tatsuo ISHIHARA (Tokai University), “Arithmetic Operation of Fuzzy Numbers with
Border Random Variables”(3) Tadakazu WATANABE and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “A Study on
Governance Chain Management (GCM)”(4) Kenji KANAI (Setsunan University), “Global Warming Problems and Policies”(5) Akinori YOKOTA and Kazuhiko YASUDA (Tohoku University), “An Analysis of
Current ERP Implementation Methodologies”[Contents of the Journal, Vol. 21, No.2, 2004](1) Yoshitaka MIURA (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.), “A Consideration on the Description of
the Financial Indexes and Dimension Matching with Flow and Stock”(2) Masanobu MATSUMARU, Toru NARITA (Tokai University) and Minoru TOKITA(Waseda University), “Discriminate Analysis and the Prediction of Corporation
Bankruptcy”(3) Toshio MITSUFUJI (Siebold University of Nagasaki), “A Simulation Model of theInnovation Diffusion Process on a Two-Dimensional Plane: Applying to the53Consumer Durables on the ICT”
(4) Shogo MIZUGUCHI, Tsukasa TAKEDA, Tsutomu IZUI and Fumiyoshi MIYASHITA(Kansai University), “The Secular Tendency and Examination of its Effectivenessfrom the Viewpoint of the Motivation Theory about Network Organization”(5) Tadakazu WATANABE (Meiji University), “A Study on Halo Effect Mechanism in
Policy Evaluations”(6) Qianxi LI and Shinichi OKAMOTO (Tokyo University of Information Sciences), “A
Study on the Urban Domestic Waste in China”(7) Makoto AOKI, Tsutomu IZUI and Fumiyoshi MIYASHITA (Kansai University), “Effectof IT Governance on SCM”
(8) Tokuo FUJITA (Sato Corporation), “Knowledge Management with Full Staff
Participation under Top-Management Coordination―A Self-Organizing Feedback
Loop with Fluctuations and Self-Reflectiveness”(9) Yukihito SHIMAMURA and Shinichi OKAMOTO (Tokyo University of Information
Sciences), “Decisions and Crises in Processes of Company Environmental Risk”(10)Takaaki KAWANAKA (Net Ones Systems Co.,Ltd.) and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University), “A Cusp Catastrophe Model of Computer Virus Damage”[Contents of the Journal, Vol. 22, No.1, 2005](1) Masanobu MATSUMARU and Kenji FUJINO (Tokai University), “Prediction of TOPIX
by Using Fuzzy Chaos Analysis”(2) Yasuhiko MURASE, Shiro MASUDA and Shuichi FUKUDA (Tokyo Metropolitan
Institute of Technology), “A Study of a Forecasting Inventory Control Model by
Applying Technical Analysis”(3) Tomoyuki NISHIMURA (Kushiro Public University of Economics), “The Concept ofAutonomous and Cooperative Systems”(4) Eishun SATO, Fumiyoshi MIYASHITA and Tsutomu IZUI (Kansai University),“Construction of a Knowledge Management Model ― Relation Between
Information Sharing and Organizational Effectiveness”(5) Tatsuo ASAI (Nagaoka University of Technology), Kazutoshi NAGANO (Matsushita
Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.) and Naomi FUKUHARA (Nagaoka University ofTechnology), “A Proposal for Organization of Cross-Functional Management
Systems”(6) Shoko TAKAHASHI, Keiichiro NAKAGAWA (NTT DATA Corporation) and Hiroshi
YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “Conceptual Framework and Analytical Model of a
Balanced Scorecard in Terms of Learning and Growth”(7) Hironori TAKUMA and Masatoshi NISHIO (Chiba Institute of Technology),“Supporting Framework for Decision Making in Projects of Information System

54

Development for a Local Government”(8) Yasushi YAMAMOTO (Waseda University), “Empirical Study for Knowledge
Creating Ventures and Entrepreneurs in the Japanese Semiconductor Industry”(9) Tatsuyuki NEGORO and Manami MIYAMOTO (Waseda University), “A Critical
Development of the Strategic Group Theory of M. E. Porter ―A Proposal on theThree Strategic Group Categories and Introducing the Concept of Distance into theAnalysis”[Contents of the Journal, Vol. 22, No.2, 2005](1) Jian ZHANG and Masanobu MATSUMARU (Tokai University), “Prediction of Currency
Option Prices”(2) Tatsuo ISHIHARA (Tokai University), “The Method for Obtaining Maximum andMinimum of Fuzzy Numbers with Border Random Variables”(3) Akira KIMATA (Tokyo University), “A Model of Effective Utilization of Resourcesin the Production System”(4) Fusako NOGUCHI (St. Mary’s Junior College), “Successful Factors of the Dementia
Prevention Activities in the Kurokowa Community area, Imari city”(5) Yoko ORITO and Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji University), “Personal Data Protection
and Activated Members in Business Organizations”(6) Nobutoshi HATANAKA (Canon Inc.) and Hiroshi OSADA (Tokyo InstituteTechnology), “Improvement of Corporate Genes in Strategic Management by
Policy (SMBP)”(7) Takaaki KAWANAKA (Net Ones Systems Co., Ltd.), Hiroshi YAMASHITA (Meiji
University) and Makoto HAYASHI (Strategic Management System Office), “A Studyon Measures against Computer Viruses and e-Knowledge Chain Management（e-KCM）”(8) Atsushi INUZUKA (Japan Advanced Institute of Sciences and Technology),“Effective Use of Media in Systems Development”(9) Kazuhiko OMURA, Hiroumi MORIYAMA and Takao HADA (Tokai University), “A
Near-Optimal Solution for the Asymmetric Vehicle Routing Problem with Minmax
Objective”(Masanobu MATSUMARU, Tokai University)

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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC HISTORY SOCIETY(Formerly: THE AGRARIAN HISTORY SOCIETY)
The Political Economy and Economic History Society was originally established in1948 as the Agrarian History Society. The objective of this Society was to study the wholeprocess of the agricultural reformation after the Second World War and forecast the futureof our society. The membership included scholars of economic theory, agrarian economics
and history, foreign and Japanese economic history, and legal and rural sociology. This
Society tried to clarify the specific characteristics of the agricultural reformation andsocio-scientifically locate it in world history.
In its early years, the Society held an annual conference and published The Bulletin ofAgrarian History. Since 1958 it has published The Journal of Political Economy andEconomic History quarterly. As we reported in Information Bulletin No.22, 2002, theSociety attained its 50th anniversary in 1998 and held a special academic conference in the
Department of Economics at Tokyo University. Its common theme was Twentieth Century
Capitalism: A Review of History and its Methods. The Society decided to change its namefrom the Agrarian History Society to the Political Economy and Economic History Society
in October, 2002.
The Society has four divisions: Economic Theory and Current Analysis, Japanese
Economic History, Agrarian Problems, and Foreign Economic History. The four divisions
are usually supposed to take turns organizing academic conferences, which are now held
semiannually on common themes.
The following is a review of the Society’s academic activities in its meetings from 2002
to 2005.
1. The Autumn Conference in 2002
In 2002, the Society picked out the problems of globalization in the current world. The
autumn conference was held on October 26-27, 2002 at Chiba University. In a symposiumon the second day, the topic for discussion was the Globalizing World and the Associationof Global Citizens. Three sessions ran simultaneously. The first session was chaired by
Masanao ITO (Tokyo University) and Hiroshi INOUE (Fukushima University). Two research
papers were presented at this session. The title of the first was “Financial Globalization andEconomic Growth in Developing Countries: Lessons from the Asian Financial Crises of1997” by Masayoshi TSURUMI (Hosei University), and the second was “Financial
Globalization and the International Monetary System” by Takao KAMIKAWA (Yokohama
National University).

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In this session, first, Tsurumi presented as follows: This presentation focused on adeveloping country’s policy strategy for balanced economic growth under financial
globalization. Sudden outflows of foreign capital in the middle of 1997 occurred as many
foreign investors responded to macro-economic unbalance in Asian economies in the
mid-1990s. Many Asian economies heated up beyond their potential growth rates during
the boom of the mid-1990s, through over-investment, over-consumption or a financial
bubble. Why did the financial authorities dismiss these signs of macro-unbalance? One of
the causes may have been a failure to estimate potential growth ratios based on the NAIRU(Non-Accelerating Inflation Rates of Unemployment) or Phillips curve. In the early 1990s
the NAIRU or Phillips curve appeared to be shifting leftward in many Asian economies:
unemployment across the East and Southeast Asian region decreased from over 4.5% toaround 2%, although price levels remained stable. Lower unemployment, however, does
not necessarily imply a leftward shift of the NAIRU. We need to analyze movements in
productivity of both labor and capital. The estimation of NAIRU using modern smoothingfilters tends to fall in a developing economy, due to lack of data and rapid changes inunemployment rates.
The lesson from the Asian financial crisis is that a developing country should keep its
economic growth rate on a balanced, moderate uptrend. Maintaining balance in economic
growth could protect a small national economy from the trauma caused by volatile foreign
capital movements. The government may have to adopt various means for capital control inorder to reap the benefits of increased inward investment while avoiding the risks. In order
to avoid frequent recurring financial crises, a developing economy should make adevelopment plan based on the idea of balanced economic growth. A key tool to achievingthat it is through improving the estimation of NAIRU.
Second, KAMIKAWA presented as follows: The purpose of this presentation was toconsider the recent financial globalization and its relationship with the internationalmonetary system. Firstly, he analyzed the structure of the recent financial globalization andcompares it with the classical one prior to 1914. In those days, the pound sterling was thepreeminent international currency under the gold standard system. Nowadays, the U.S.
dollar is the leading currency, and it has dramatically increased its influence under thefloating rate system since the 1970s. Particularly, since the 1980s, the volume ofinternational capital flows has increased sharply and the structure of the international
financial market has become more complicated, as seen in the euro-market and thederivatives market.
Secondly, he noted that many developing countries, including emerging countries andcountries in transition, adopted capital account liberalization in the 1990s, partly under the
influence of IMF policy. However, the 1990s also witnessed currency crises in Europe, East

57

Asia, Russia, Brazil and some other emerging countries. One of the most important featuresof the recent globalization has been the extremely rapid expansion of international liquidity,
dominated by the U.S. dollar. He analyzed this international liquidity problem and reviewed
the causes of and the policy responses to currency in the 1990s.
Thirdly, he looked at the role of the Japanese yen and German mark, both of which had
been used in international transactions since the mid-1980s, primarily in East Asia andEurope respectively, but without ever approaching the level of international use displayedby the dollar. Meanwhile, the launch of the euro in 1999 may have a great impact on the
U.S. dollar’s status in the future. He examined recent trends in the international monetarysystem – not only currency union, but also currency board systems, basket peg systems,
fixed-rate systems and floating-rate systems –and discussed various plans for reform of theinternational monetary system.
The second session was chaired by Masato MASUDA (Hosei University) and Hideyuki
OTSUKA (Kobe University of Foreign Studies). Three research papers were presented at thissession. The title of the first was “The New Economy and the American Middle Class” by
Eiichi AKIMOTO (Chiba University), the second was “New Trends among ‘Middle Citizens’in Western Developed Countries” by Hiroshi SETOOKA (Komazawa University), and thethird was “Class and the Distribution of Economic Wealth in Japan” by Yasuo FUKUDA(Hitotsubashi University).
In this session, first, AKIMOTO presented as follows: The debate over the status of the
middle class in the modern economy has reached boiling point these days in Japan as wellas in America. This presentation deals with middle-class economic wellbeing in the U. S.
during the 1990s were marked by the progress of information technology (IT) andglobalization, which led to an increase in employment of over 15 million jobs in ten years.
Contrary to the superficial stereotypical arguments, IT producing industries contributed
heavily to wage increases and to productivity growth. Income growth in the middle range
was especially noticeable during 1995-2000. The recession of 2001, however, seemed to
put the brakes on the equalization trend. Among the demerits of the new economy-type
growth, mounting job insecurity stands out most evidently. A decrease in secure full-timejobs added to family insecurity. As a result, husbands are taking second jobs and morehousewives are taking employment. Personal bankruptcy has been increasing rapidly. The“rules” of the new economy, i.e., easy founding and restructuring of small andmedium-sized enterprises, entails corresponding costs on the side of middle-class workers.
Second, SETOOKA presented as follows: This presentation examined the public values
associated with the neo-liberalism that seem to have prevailed all over the world in recent
decades. This issue relates to that of why some people have tended toward neo-Nazism or58

nationalism in European countries, as well as becoming conservative and bellicose in the
United States, after the September 11 attack. Taking average people living in the U.S. or EU
countries as “middle-citizens” in the Western developed world, this presentation made thefollowing three suggestions. First, these middle citizens dominate the contemporary world
economic system. They constitute less than one-fifth of the world’s population, but haveenjoyed high and increasing levels of material well-being. Second, the benefits of highpost-war economic growth in the developed countries have spread to working-class people,
bringing them higher incomes and better welfare systems. Finally, neo-liberal economic
and political policies have actually won considerable support from citizens living indeveloped countries where there is a well-developed market economy and welfare society.
Third, FUKUDA presented as follows: Capital accumulation takes precedence overpeople’s living conditions in Japan. This is a matter of distribution of economic wealth, inwhich the company has an advantage over labor. This presentation is to clarify the social
systems by which the distribution of economic wealth is determined in Japan. A
comparative analysis of economic wealth distribution between developed counties showsthat Japan is a country where the distribution has a remarkably strong bias toward capital at
the expense of labor. This bias can surly be expected to intensify as a result of government“restructuring” policies. Distribution of economic wealth is determined through a power
relation between capital and labor. That same power relation also determines government
policies that impact on the distribution pattern. The point here is to explain the social
system that enables big business to hold its advantage over labor in Japan.
The third session was chaired by Miyoko SHIMAZAKI (Japan University of Welfare) andTomoji ONOZUKA (University of Tokyo). Two research papers were presented at this session.
The title of the first was “New Types of Working and Employment Systems for the 21stCentury: The Essence of Dutch-style Work-Sharing” by Toshihisa NAGASAKA (Takushoku
University), and the second was “Local Currencies: The Role of Community Work, fromthe Viewpoint of the Social Economy” by Masahiro FUKUSHI (Tokyo University of
Economics).
In this session, first, NAGASAKA presented as follows: The Netherlands had a miraculous
recovery from a severe unemployment crisis in the early 1980s. Before then, the “Dutch
disease” had been a term used by economists as a synonym for the economic policy; but as
the Netherlands moved to record job growth in the 1990s that term was replaced by analtogether more positive one: the “Dutch miracle.” Dutch policies for employment growth,welfare reform and corporatism were nicknamed the “Polder Model.” The model consistedof a total package of policies, including wage restraints and austerity budgets from the early
1980s and the reform of the social security system and employment policy in the 1990s. He

59

discussed the Dutch model of work-sharing, which was introduced in 1993 through a
tripartite consensus of government, trade unions and employers’ organizations. He explored
Dutch-style work-sharing as a new type of working/employment system for the 21st
century.
Second, FUKUSHI presented as follows: This presentation aimed to clarify the role ofcommunity work in England from the viewpoint of the social economy, focusing on local
currencies, which have been developed all over the world since the 1990s. In thispresentation “local currency” was defined as any system of informal community exchange
based on general mutual relationships. Local currencies in England started with local
exchange and trading systems in the early 1990s and have recently developed to the TimeBank. This presentation clarified the role of community work in comparisons with bothtypes, based on the idea of the full-engagement society proposed by Colin C. WILLIAMS.
The social economy embraces a broad range of activities with the potential to provide
opportunities for local people and communities to engage in all stages of the process of
local economic regeneration and job creation. However, research on the social economy has
so far focused on the formal economy expressed in official statistics. The informal
economy has been neglected as a result. By looking at the theme of local currencies, hehoped to evaluate the under-researched role of the informal economy in the community.
2. The Conferences in 2003
In the spring conference of 2003, the Society picked out the reorganization of local
communities in the globalizing economy for discussion. This was held on June 28, 2003 in
a lecture room of the Graduate School of Economics at the University of Tokyo. Tworesearch papers were presented. The title of the first was “The Characteristics of The Great
Merger Movement of Local Communities in the Heisei Era: From the Study of Local
Economies” by Tomohiro OKADA (Kyoto University), and the second was “Reorganizing
Problems of Villages in the Current Merger Movement of Local Communities” by Tokumi
ODAGIRI (University of Tokyo).
The autumn conference was held on October 18-19, 2003 at Kyushu Kokusai
University. In a symposium on the second day, the topic for discussion was Potential for
Research on the Urban Histories: Public Affairs and Living Space. Two sessions ran
simultaneously. The first session, whose topic for discussion was The Formation of Modern
Cities, was chaired by Hiroki OMORI (Seijo University) and Minoru DAIZU-SHODA (ToyoUniversity). Two research papers were presented at this session. The title of the first was“Paris Transformed under the French Second Empire” by Michiaki MATSUI (Yokohama
City University), and the second was “The Transition from a Feudal Castle Town to a60

Modern City: The Case of Kanazawa” by Masao TSUTSUI (Shiga University).
In this session, first, MATSUI presented as follows: Paris has developed fairly
consistently because it has been the capital of France. Its heavy dependency on royalauthority has deprived it of autonomy and the relationship between the central government
and Paris has always been strained. Paris is not only a political city, but also a religious andindustrial city, as well as a center of production and consumption. An original plan forreconstruction had been laid as early as the French Revolution. The initial stages of the planentailed improving roads, which the revolutionary government attempted to do when it
confiscated the ecclesiastical properties in the city and disposed of them. The road
improvements, however, were not carried out because of the civil war and the NapoleonicWar. It was not until the Monarchy of July that improvements began, and the plan was
ultimately executed in earnest under the reign of the Second Empire. The reconstruction of
Paris, however, provided a model for the redevelopment of other cities and had a strong
effect on both French and foreign cities suffering from the same problems.
Second, TSUTSUI presented as follows: The purpose of this presentation was to clarify
how and when Kanazawa was transformed into a modern city. He concluded that
Kanazawa accomplished the transition after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-5), mainly in thefirst decade of the 20th century, for the next three reasons: First, after the Sino-Japanese War,the newly developing bourgeois class and shizoku (samurai class) with an interest inmodern capitalism organized a chamber of commerce and its political detached corps, theJitsugyokai. Second, through the active efforts of the city council and the chamber ofcommerce, modern institutions and facilities in political, industrial, educational, traffic andsanitary domains were created in Kanazawa City, establishing its status as a modern city.
And, third, civil associations such as fire brigades, which originated in the Tokugawa Era,
had resisted coming under public control in the early Meiji Era, but were successfully
reorganized under the new administration of Kanazawa City after the Sino-Japanese War.
The second session, whose topic for discussion was The Transformation into a Modern
City, was chaired by Akihiko AMEMIYA (Chiba University) and Masakatsu OKADO(Yokohama National University). Two research papers were presented at this session. The
title of the first was “The Institutional Basis of Urban Society in the 20th Century: A
Socio-historical Analysis of the Child and Maternal Health System in Germany, 1900-50”
by Osamu KAWAGOE (Doshisha University) and the second was “The Expansion of Urban
Areas and the Construction of Living Space: Urban Problems in Greater Tokyo” by Yoshito
YAMAGUCHI (Ehime University).
In this session, first, KAWAGOE presented as follows: This presentation examined theinstitutional basis upon which modern urban society was constructed, and the kinds of61

problems involved, through a historical investigation of the problems and policies regarding
infant mortality and child and maternal health in Germany from the late 19th to the early
20th century. This study focuses on four main points: (1) the social changes experienced bywestern European societies almost simultaneously at the turn of the century; (2) the state ofaffairs regarding infant mortality and child and maternal health in Germany from the turn ofthe century to the first World War and the Weimar Republic; (3) the development of a childand maternal health system in the period from the Weimar Republic to Nazism; and (4) the
meaning of the historical experiences of German society in the early 20th century.
Second, YAMAGUCHI presented as follows: This presentation discussed the problem of
public responsibility in the maintenance of a living space for the masses, taking up the cityof Tokyo from the 1920s to the 1930s as an example. In particular, he considered the role ofmarket and administration, and the influence of some social policy problems on the market
system. The Tokyo administration realized that small business owners and industrialists
constitute one of the city’s main socioeconomic classes, and attempted to support themthrough offering public assistance in resource management. While supply of goods had
been primarily determined in a market by the small managers, the city decided to try to
implement partial state control of supply. From this experience, a government agency
expected to act as an adjusting body in mass urban society was born. The stabilization of
the supply of living necessities led to the instruction of the small industry and its
management, and became a starting point for housing policy and small-and-medium-sizedenterprise policy after the Second World War.
3. The Conferences in 2004
In the spring conference of 2004, the Society picked out the problems of free trade
agreement for discussion. This was held on June 26, 2004 in a lecture room of the Graduate
School of Economics at the University of Tokyo. The theme for discussion was The Free
Trade Agreement in Globalization: The North American Free Trade Agreement and theChallenge of Asia; two research papers were presented. The title of the first was“Globalization and the Free Trade Agreement Policy of Japan” by Masato MASUDA (Hosei
University), and the second was “The Free Trade Agreement and Multinational
Agribusiness” by Toyohiko MATSUBARA (Ritsumeikan University).
The autumn conference was held on October 16-17, 2004 at Waseda University. In a
symposium on the second day, the topic for discussion was Globalization of Labor in Asia
and Europe: Past and Present. Two sessions ran simultaneously. The first session, whose
topic for discussion was Globalization of Labor in Asia, was chaired by Kenji KIMURA(Shimonoseki University), and Toshio TASAKA (Osaka City University). Two research

62papers were presented at this session. The title of the first was “Urban Formation and
Korean Migrant Workers in Pre-war Osaka” by Kazuyuki IWASA (Kochi University), andthe second was “International Boundaries and the Restructuring of Class Relations in Asia
under the Global Economy: An Approach from Economic Geography” by Fujio MIZUOKA(Hitotsubashi University).
In this session, first, IWASA presented as follows: Recently, globalization of labor has
been an important issue worldwide, as well as in Japan, where many researchers and policy
makers argue over the future acceptance of foreign workers from developing countries.
However, the acceptance of foreign workers is by no means new in Japan. Historically,
Japan experienced a labor inflow from Korea under colonialism, and until now Korean
immigrants and their offspring have been characterized as an “invisible” part of amulti-ethnic Japanese society. This presentation analysed the immigration of Korean
workers during the pre-war period as the first stage of the globalization of labor in Japan.
He focused on Osaka-city, the most populous destination for Korean immigrants. Throughthis historical analysis, he attempted to clarify the socioeconomic roles of Korean
immigrants in Japanese capitalist development.
Second, MIZUOKA presented as follows: An economic or social body needs to place
itself in its own spatial container, or territory, by bounding the contiguity of subsumed
pristine absolute space. However, the boundary circumscribing the territory inevitably has
physical and institutional porosity. In order to maintain the integrity of the economic orsocial body, the porosity has to be controlled by the body dominating the territory. It may
allow or deny elements of society or economy passing through the boundary, in order tobring the configuration and functioning of its economy and society to the optimum. For an
independent sovereign nation, the spatial container means its national territory; and thecontrol of the institutional porosity of its international boundary is done through its
immigration or customs regulations.
The second session, whose topic for discussion was Globalization of Labor in Europe
and U.S., was chaired by Keiichi SHOJI (Josai University) and Isao HIROTA (University ofTokyo). Two research papers were presented at this session. The title of the first was “TheExclusion, Separation and Integration of Immigrants and Foreign Laborers in France:
Focusing on the Period from the End of the 19th Century to the 1930s” by Katsuhiro
SHIMIZU (Chuo University), and the second was “Migration Policy and Regional Integrationin the EU: Will the EU Change Its Course?” by Yasushi IGUCHI (Kwansei Gakuin
University).
In this session, first, SHIMIZU presented as follows: Since the age of the Industrial
Revolution, the industrialization in France has depended heavily on immigrants and foreign63

laborers, and their integration has become a major social problem. Consequently, theFrench case may be considered to be an early precedent of the globalization of labor market.
G. NOIRIEL, whose work “The French Melting Pot” is the starting point of studies on thehistory of immigrants and foreign laborers in France, criticizes French historians forconsidering simply the problem to be the integration of foreigners into French society
unified at the time of the French Revolution. Based on NOIRIEL’s view and resent works on
the history of immigrants, in this presentation, SHIMIZU outlined the conditions of foreignlaborers, examined the process of elimination-integration, and considered the segmentation-assimilation of foreign laborers within the working class in France. He drew threeconclusions: first, in France foreign laborers make up 10-15% of the labor population, andthe elimination of their culture, which begins at the end of the 19th century, is intensified
between the two world wars. Second, in spite of the great influx and efflux of foreignlaborers, a significant number takes root in French society. Finally, within the working class,the first generation immigrants tend to stay at the bottom of the labor market, but as
subsequent generations gradually get higher positions, they tend to fuse into a new working
class with French laborers.
Second, IGUCHI presented as follows: The EU now focuses on strengthening ofcompetitiveness and changes in migration policies in the face of a declining populationfrom the 2020s. The European Commission is in charge of taking the initiative forharmonization of migration policies, based upon the Treaty of Amsterdam. However, there
are currently no conditions which the “Core countries” (such as Germany and France) agreeon, due to their different speed of fertility decline, high unemployment rates and differencesin adaptability of their education systems. The EU member states have been adapting theirmigration policies for foreigners from outside the EU based upon three principles: (1)selection and programming of the flow of migrants, (2) strengthening social integration,and (3) the mitigation of “push” factors in the countries of origin. Policies to cope with
global competition for highly skilled workers in the late 1990s, however, were not as
successful as in the US. Germany’s New Immigration Act was an important attempt tochange its course. However, as the result of compromise between the coalition and the
opposition parties, the New Immigration Act lost its active components. If the EU succeeds
in adopting a more active migration policy to attract highly skilled foreigners from othercountries, it may affect Asia, as Asia is the largest supplying region of highly skilledworkers. Japan should take initiatives for human resource development and circulation inthis region, so that Asian countries will be able to utilize their human resources for thedevelopment of Asia itself.

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4. The Conferences in 2005
In the spring conference of 2005, the Society picked out the problems of foreignlaborers in Japan for discussion. This was held on June 25, 2005 in a lecture room of the
Graduate School of Economics at the University of Tokyo. The theme for discussion was
The Background of Low Wages and Foreign Labor; two research papers were presented.
The title of the first was “The Current Situation of Low wages and the Agriculture andVillages” by Shinji OHSU (Chuo University), and the second was “The Introduction of
Foreign Laborers in Japanese Agriculture” by Mitsuyoshi ANDO (Ibaragi University).
The autumn conference was held on October 29-30, 2005 at Niigata University. In a
symposium on the second day, the topic for discussion was the 20th Century Wars andSocial Transformation. This was chaired by Yasuo GONJO (Yokohama National University),
Yuichi KANAI (Nagoya University), and Asobu YANAGISAWA (Keio University). Four
research papers were presented at the symposium. The title of the first was “ ‘The War
within the War’ – The Wallace-Jones Feud of 1942-45” by Takeru SAITO (Chuo University),
the second was “Competitive Order and Liberal Interventionism: National Socialism andNeo-liberalism” by Akihiko AMEMIYA (Chiba University), the third was “ ‘The Great War’and Socio-Economic Changes in France” by Isao HIROTA (Niigata University), and thefourth was “The Reorganization of Japanese Farming Village Society, 1910-1950” by
Takemaro MORI (Hitotsubashi University).
First, SAITO presented as follows: During the Second World War the power of the state
vastly expanded in the US. In this atmosphere sharp conflicts between the New Dealers andthe business community flared up over mobilization of the war, and post-war state building.
The New Dealers brought their ideas of social reform into the warfare state, and Vice
President H. A. WALLACE was a major supporter. In the opposite corner, the businessconservative alliance, headed by Secretary of Commerce J.H. JONES, stood against the New
Dealers. Big business had already recovered its confidence and power, successfully meetingthe challenges of the war economy. It made every effort to stop the “Third New Deal,”voting against welfare bills, abolishing New Deal directives one by one, and expelling New
Dealers from war-mobilizing branches. Wallace held power over the Board of Economic
Warfare (BEW), among others, which was procuring strategic materials overseas, while
Jones had long been “czar” of the New Deal credit establishment, the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation (FRC), which at that time financed war in general. An irreconcilable
duel was fought over the procurement of rubber (a vital strategic material), labor clauses,
and so on. But the most serious issue was building the post-war welfare state. The conflictreached its climax in the 79th Congress on the “Full-Employment Act of 1945.” Buteconomic recovery and conservation on the whole prevented the “Third New Deal” which

65

New Dealers had hoped for.
Second, AMEMIYA presented as follows: This presentation dealt with the history of
neo-liberal ideas for economic policy formed during the interwar period in Germany. It haslong been said that the crisis of capitalism in the Great Depression of the 1930s led toKeynesian state interventionism, in which governments incorporate some elements ofsocialism into capitalism, and try to partially revise the principle of economic liberalism.
The New Deal in the US and Nazism in Germany are both said to be typical cases of thiskind of interventionism, and the latter is said to have been economically more successful.
However, Charles S. MAIER critically reexamined the popular opinion about therelationship between the Nazi economy and Keynesian policy, and argued that the deciding
factor of the Nazi economic recovery was the recovery of flexibility in the labor market,
which was achieved by lowering the high wages that had been maintained in the second
half of the 1920s. Maier showed that the Nazi economic recovery can be interpreted as aprocess in which the economic problems pointed out by Borchardt concerning the “disease
economy” of the Weimar republic were gradually solved. Corresponding to this kind ofanti-Keynesian interpretation of German economic policy of the 1930s, the newfoundconcept of anti-Keynesianism and neo-liberal state interventionism appeared in Germany atthat time. This neo economic liberalism, conceived under the key concept of “order” wasdeveloped as a neo-liberal policy oriented towards competitive order. It aimed not atrevising capitalism socialistically, but at reconstructing the function of the capitalist market
economy in accordance with the neo-classical price theory. In this presentation, thenewfound opinion of state interventionism was examined, and the formation process of theconcept was pursued from a historical viewpoint.
Third, HIROTA presented as follows: The First World War had important effects on theeconomy and society of France. He could see changes along three dimensions: social andeconomic structures, institutions and policies, and ideology and mentality. In thispresentation, he examined the changes along these dimensions, paying particular attention
to state intervention in the economy and society, and focusing on economic modernizationand the construction of the welfare state. First, he examined the economic and social
characteristics of France before the First World War, to understand the changes which
occurred due to the Great War, as well as examining the immediate effects caused by the
economic mobilization during the War. Next, he called attention to the various plans for
economic modernization to overcome the relative economic backwardness, the change of
attitude of the labor movement towards the state, the diminution of resistance to stateintervention, and the development of “social reform.” Third, he examined later
consequences of the changes caused by the Great War. He argued that structural reforms in
the economy and society after the Second World War, i.e., the nationalization of industries,

66

economic planning, and the social security system, were consequences of the changes thatcame about due to the Great War. One characteristic of postwar reform in France was that
economic modernization was given priority over social reform.
Finally, MORI presented as follows: This presentation explored the changes that took
place in Japanese farming villages from 1910 through 1950, as a result of the two World
Wars and the Great Depression. The dismantling of the Japanese landowner system took
place through a three-part process, beginning with the decline of the landowner system
around the time of the First World War.
Next, he could see changes in the rural elite at the time of the Great Depression, and in
the Second World War they lost their ability to function altogether. Postwar agrarian land
reforms marked the last step in the dismantling of the landowner system in Japan. Whatcaused the reorganization of Japanese farm village society from 1910 to 1950? It was thematuration of farm management and the organization of farmers into groups, such as
agricultural cooperative associations. During those times, agricultural villages underwent achange from the focus on producing their own food for consumption to the focus on
small-scale production of commodities for sale in the market. Based on the rural economy
regeneration movement of the 1930s, this change hinged on the efforts of a few core
individuals in the agricultural village, and helped to create a new kind of village society.
In other words, the organization of farmers’ associations, and the new village societies thatcame about as a result of the post-Second World War land reforms.
After the four presentations, two comments were offered by Shunji ISHIHARA(University of Tokyo) and Ryoichi MIWA (Aoyama Gakuin University, emeritus). ISHIHARA
commented on the four presentations, comparing with the case of Sweden, and MIWA
theoretically commented on the four presentations. There was much discussion about war
and social transformation based on the four presentations and two comments. The
symposium, which was held at Niigata University on October 30, 2005, had a large
attendance and was a great success.
(Shinjiro HAGIWARA, Yokohama National University)

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JAPAN SOCIETY OF RESEARCH AND INFORMATIONON THE PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMY(CIRIEC-JAPANESE SECTION)
1. Overview
CIRIEC-Japan was organized as one of the international branches of
CIRIEC-International in 1985.
According to the CIRIEC-International statutes, CIRIEC-Japan is an independent
academic association, inside the network of CIRIEC-International.
Since its establishment, CIRIEC-Japan has developed its academic activities inaccordance with its international outlook, sometimes attending the Congress in delegations.
CIRIEC-Japan’s members need not belong directly to CIRIEC-International, but haveautomatically been understood as international members. (International Membership is paid
from the part of the domestic budget.) This system is very rare for Japanese academic
societies, but convenient for them to promote their international relationship.
The headquarters of CIRIEC-International are located in Liège, Belgium. Many
sections of this institution are located mainly in Europe in addition to Canada, Argentina,
Turkey, Japan, including some candidate countries in Eastern Europe and South America.
They hold a biennial congress to discuss issues and prospects on public utilities,
cooperative and social economies. They also organize scientific councils on subjects ofpublic economy and social economy.
CIRIEC-Japan holds an annual congress and publishes an academic magazine every
year. It also organizes study groups for the cooperative and social economy.
In this report, I would like to introduce both CIRIEC-International and CIRIEC-Japan’s
activities after the mid-1990s.
2. CIRIEC-International: history and organization
2-1. Objective and history
CIRIEC is a non-governmental, international scientific organization.
Its objectives are to undertake and promote the collection of information, scientificresearch, and the publication of research results on economic sectors and activities oriented
towards the service of general and collective interests as follows:* action by the public authorities in economic fields (economic policy, regulation.);* public utilities;* public and mixed enterprises at the national, regional and municipal levels;* the so-called “social economy” (not-for-profit economy, cooperatives, mutuals, andnon-profit organizations);68

* workers’ participation
In these fields, CIRIEC seeks to offer information and opportunities for mutualenrichment to practitioners and academics as well as for promoting international action.
In 1947 Professor Edgard MILHAUD, a French economist, founded CIRIEC; he had
earlier published the review then known as the “Annals of Collective Economy”.
“CIRIEC Membership shall not imply that its members subscribe to any theories of apolitical, economic or social nature. It shall merely imply that members adhere to theassociation’s statutes”. (Art. 5 of the statutes)
CIRIEC is a federation or a network of international sections, consisting of various
collective or individual members: enterprises and organizations associated with
network-economics together with socio-political networks (government agencies, public
administrations, socio-professional federations, trade unions) or technical networks (public
utilities, semi-privatized firms), enterprises and organizations from the “social economy”
sector (cooperatives, mutual, associations, non-profit or not-for-profit enterprises andorganizations, foundations), individual researchers from universities and research centres
interested in CIRIEC’s activities.
In many countries, CIRIEC has deepened close contact with enterprises, institutions or
individuals who have literal interests in public, social or cooperative economy.
2-2. Organization
The International Board forms CIRIEC’s Board of Directors.
It is composed of delegates of the national sections. Its meetings (twice a year) areorganized in accordance with one international section’s invitation.
The biennial General Assembly
It meets every two years in accordance with the occasion of the International Congress of
CIRIEC.
Scientific Bodies
The International Scientific Council is organized and is composed of delegates of thenational sections of CIRIEC. It directs the activity of two International ScientificCommissions: one devoted to issues concerning Public Services and Public Enterprises,
the other devoted to Social and Cooperative Economy
Both Commissions also comprise a transversal commission. These Commissions and theirworking groups as a whole form an international network of more than a hundred
academics and experts, involved in many research activities.

692-3. CIRIEC-International Biennial Congress
The CIRIEC-International Biennial Congress is held on main themes that reflect social
environments and member-sections’ demands. Until the 1970s, the most congresses
adopted titles such as “Collective Economy”, “Public and Cooperative Economy.” But after
the end of the 1980s, key words like “non-profit organization”, “mixed economy”, “social
economy” have tended to increase.
The places and titles of recent congresses are as follows:* 1996 (Lisbon, Portugal) Towards What Economic and Social Cohesion? The
Contribution of Public Enterprises, Cooperatives and Social Economy Enterprises.
* 1998 (Cologne, Germany) The Management of Human Resources in Public, Social
Economy and Cooperative Enterprises.
* 2000 (Montreal, Canada) Social Economy and Public Economy: New Forms of
Cooperation in an Era of Globalization.
* 2002 (Naples, Italy) Renewal of Welfare and General Interest Policies: Public Institutions,
Regulated Markets, Social Economy.
* 2004 (Lyon, France) The Response of the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy to
the Expectations of Society: Basic Rights, Social Needs, Solvent Demand.
* 2006 (Istanbul, Turkey) The Public, Social and Cooperative Economy in the Context of
Globalization: In the Service of a More Responsible and More Solidarity-based
Economy.
2-4. Reports from Japan at the CIRIEC-International Biennial Congress
May 1994 (Graz, Austria)“Public, Cooperative and Social Economy Enterprises Facing Industrial andCompetition Policy”, by Kohei SAKAMOTO (Chairman of the Board of TORAY BusinessResearch Institute)
May 1996 (Lisbon, Portugal)“Information Network System as a Social System”, by Yuji MASUDA (University ofTokyo)
May 1998 (Cologne, Germany)“Japanese Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations in Transition after
the Collapse of the Bubble Economy: A Provisional Report”, by Hajime IMAMURA (ToyoUniversity)
June 2000 (Montreal, Canada)“Public Utilities Reform in Japan”, by Munenori NOMURA (Kwansei Gakuin
University.)
October 2002 (Naples, Italy)

70

“Reform of Long-term Care in Japan : from Administrative Placement to Market”, by
Kaori SAITO (Toyo University) and Masatomi FUNABA (University of Marketing andDistribution Sciences.)
September 2004 (Lyon, France)“How Can Social Economy Improve User Access and Capability? The Case of
Health Co-ops”, by Akira KURIMOTO (Director & Chief Researcher, Consumer
Co-operative Institute of Japan)
June 2006 (Istanbul, Turkey)
All reports in this Congress were asked to join round tables set up to cast light on thecommon subject of the Congress; “The Public, Social and Cooperative Economy in theContext of Globalization: In the service of a more responsible and more solidarity-based
economy.”In this congress, members of CIRIEC-Japan contributed a lot as reporters andmoderators as following.
Report at Round Table titled “Agricultural Cooperatives”, Akira KURIMOTO as reporter.
Report at Round Table titled “The role of public authorities in guaranteeing services
provision and ensuring territorial development”, Hajime IMAMURA as reporter.
Report at the Round Table titled “Financing Modes for sustainable infrastructure
supporting good quality services”, Kazuhiko TABATA (Hyogo University) as reporter.
Moderators of the Round Table;
Matsuyo MAKINO (University of Hyogo) and Masatomi FUNABA (Prof. Emeritus,
Hiroshima University)
3. Activities of CIRIEC-Japan
In 2005, CIRIEC-Japan held its 20th anniversary meeting at Kwansei Gakuin
University. The main subjects of our activities have been changing over the years.
Especially, according to the process of economic globalization and deregulation,
management of the public utilities and cooperative sectors has had to face competitivenessin the market. Moreover, the financial squeeze by central and local governments has led to
an increase in many kinds of social economies. The subjects of on academic activities
reflect sharply changes in such social and economic conditions.
CIRIEC-Japan’s activities are mainly composed of an annual meeting to discuss
relevant subjects by inviting speakers to round tables, and to prepare chances for members
to report on their academic studies. One more important activity is to publish the academic
journal entitled Kokusai-kokyo-keizai-kenkyu (International Public Economy Studies) inJapanese.

713-1. Annual Meeting of CIRIEC-Japan
The Annual Meeting of CIRIEC-Japan has been held as follows:*16th (2001) Annual Meeting at Sakushin Gakuin University
Main Theme: Regional Development in the Era of Globalization.
*17th (2002) Annual Meeting at Kobe University of Commerce
Establishment of Social Systems in the Era of Marketization and Globalization.
*18th (2003) Annual Meeting at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
Education and Science-Technology Policy in the Era of Globalization.
*19th (2004) Annual Meeting at Chuo University
Stabilizing and System-Composing for the Social Economy .
In this meeting’s symposium, Professor K. KAIZUKA (Chuo University) reported on the
future prospect of the fiscal deficit in Japan. Four panelists discussed the role of the social
economy in the various sectors.
Another symposium was held, titled “Practice of BAJ (Board of Audit of Japan) and
Policy Evaluation”. Katsura SAKURADA (Senior Accounting Officer) made an initial speech
and four panelists discussed policy evaluation and planning in the Japanese public sector.
This Congress consisted of one plenary session with four reports and three sessions with 10
reports.
*20th (2005) Annual Meeting at Kwansei Gakuin University
This Congress was a commemorative meeting to celebrate CIRIEC-Japan’s 20th
anniversary, and to evaluate the experience of the 10 year-long reconstruction after theGreat Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.
The main title of the symposium was “Social security through establishing network
infrastructures”. The main report titled “Towards the construction of cities strengthened
against natural disasters” was presented by Toshizo IDO, the Governor of Hyogo Prefecture.
Two panel discussions were also held in the round tables.
(1) Risk management and construction of cities ― from the private enterprise’s point ofview.
(2) Establishment of hard and soft (human) infrastructure for risk management. Also, twoplenary sessions and two workshops including 11 reports were held.
*21st (2006) Annual Meeting at Daito Bunka University
Socio-Economic System in the Era of Low Birth-Rate Populations.
In this meeting, a special session was held to discuss promotion of joining the FirstWorld CIRIEC Conference on the Social Economy that will be held at Victoria (British
Columbia, Canada) in October, 2007.

72

3-2. Publishing International Public Economy Studies
CIRIEC-Japan publishes its academic journal annually. It consists mainly of therecords of the symposium held at meetings and some refereed articles reported there.
Most theses should pass selection by the strict referee system of this journal.
Subsequently, its academic status has become increasingly higher. The editorial board isorganized mainly by the steering committee members at their regular meetings.
Outstanding reports at the annual meetings are adopted to be published. Here, I will
introduce some titles of selected documents.
International Public Economy Studies No.13, December 2002.
“Market control power in commercial electricity in California,” by Toshio MATSUDA,
Tetsuo TEZUKA, Hidekatsu YOSHIKAWA“Contemporary issues in the public transport system: the case of Sweden,”by Masamichi MORI
“Global logistics strategy by the nations,” by Toru HIGUCHI, Takeshi CHIBA“Formation of the community and the role of NPOs in the global era,” by Ippei MIYAKI“International comparison for the emergence of industries,” by Kazuhiko TABATAInternational Public Economy Studies No.14, December 2003.
“Environmental policy of contemporary Sweden – from the welfare state to thesustainable society,” by Tokutaro OZAWA“EU projects towards sustainable cities. The role of local governments and their
network,” by Yoichi KUMAGAI“Arsenic contamination of underground water in Bangladesh and the role of the Local
Autonomy,” by Takao IRIYA“Topics on the developing nations in the era of globalization and the role of a NPOs,”
by Ippei MIYAKI“Globalization and sustainable development: The role of Japan to make an international
network,” by Matsuyo MAKINO
International Public Economy Studies No.15, October 2004.
“Analysis of the effect of R&D investment on spillover and productivity,” by Tatsuo
KINUGASA“One special product in each village as a rural industrial promotion policy,” by Kunio
IGUSA“Topics on the decision-making process for the location of an atomic power plant,” by
Teizo ANAYAMA“Regional innovation system (RIS) and public policy,” by Kazuhiko TABATA“Economic inefficiencies of the copyright system,” by Shunpei YAOITA“Comparative study of economic systems of the nations in the world: from the point of73

view of data analysis of political freedom and economic freedom,” by Katsumi OKUNO“Strengthening of the price-cap in British water supply enterprises andcountermeasures,” by Tetsuji UEMURA“Quantity-distribution schemes in the gas industry network—comparative analysis
between the UK and Japan,” by Shinichi SAITO“Goals and new expansion in supplier systems from sub-contractors inmanufacturing,” by Shinji TAKAHASHI“Cost-reduction effects on the iron and steel industry using information technology,” by
Akihiro ITO“Study of international public goods and domestic public goods from the point of view ofan optimal subsidy policy,” by Katushi TERASAKI“Guidelines and reform for the supply of governmental goods and services,” by Tomoaki
SAITO
International Public Economy Studies No.16, October 2005
This volume of the journal mainly contains the reports presented at the 19th Congress
held at Chuo University.
“System formation for the promotion of rural electrification in the African nation ofMalawi,” by Masayasu ISHIGURO, Hiroo YAMAGATA“Policy elements and control indicators to realize sustainable cities,” by Yoichi KUMAGAI“The earthquake risk in congested metropolitan Tokyo and risk mitigation by earthquake
insurance,” by Shoji KUSUDA“System planning for the regional redistribution,” by Masanori TAHIRA“Offset effects of social regulation: the case of traffic safety control in Japan,” by Takao
GOTO, Koichiro TEZUKA“Influence of the evaluation for administration on administrative efficiency,” byTomoyasu TANAKA“Tax system as a rule; reexamination of tax theory by H. C. SIMONS,” by Yukio ARITA“Economic analysis for the purpose of non-profit organizations,” by Junichi SAKAMOTO“Analysis of applicable liberalization models in China’s electric power market,” by Chun
Chun NI“Social exclusion and the club system in bus services in the UK,” by Hitoshi OGUMA“Present condition and future of third sector railroads influenced by the newly
constructed Shin-Kansen,” by Daisuke FUJII“Transformation of the choice of fuel by electric power corporations,” by Yoshihiro
YAMAMOTO, Tetsuo TEZUKA“Diversity and Convergence in OECD industrial policies,” by Kiyohiro KOKARIMAI“Welfare transfer system in the special zones for structural reform,” by Masumi
SHIRAISHI74

4. Future Prospects
Recently, the role of public sectors is changing rapidly. This means that social service
provisions are coming to take many different forms. Globalization and marketization,
including technological innovation, tend to bring public interest services under the rules ofcompetition, including internal market rules. To establish rules to ensure the service ofgeneral interests for the people, the EU nations have been accumulating serious experienceon how to adjust EU rules and cooperation.
Many members of CIRIEC-Japan have been contributing to domestic and international
academic fields by making theoretical and empirical studies as shown in ourabove-mentioned Journals. Our subjects and international cooperative studies will become
more and more important. We should make every effort to promote more useful
relationships between the members of many international branches.
5. Appendix: President and Staff for 2006-2007.
President: Eiji SHIOMI (Prof., Chuo University)
Vice Presidents:
Masatomi FUNABA (Prof. Emeritus, Hiroshima University) for CIRIEC –International(Member of presidium in CIRIE Headquarters)
Munenori NOMURA (Prof., Kwansei Gakuin University) for Public Enterprise
Akira KURIMOTO (Consumer Co-op Inst.) for Social Economy
Koichi MIURA (Research Institute of New Science and Technology)
Kenichi NAKAGAMI (Prof., Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)
Secretary: Satoru MATSUBARA (Prof., Toyo University)
Vice-Secretary: Makiko TAKEMURA
Contact: http://www.ciriec.com or japan@ciriec.com(Masatomi FUNABA, Professor Emeritus, Hiroshima University）

75

THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE OF ACCOUNTING
Introduction
The Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting (JSSSA) was established on
September 6, 1986. Some of the members belonged to voluntary study groups in thiscountry. They had the common recognition that the Japan Accounting Association(JAA) did not always satisfy their academic needs. So they intended to found a society
which would be operated by and for themselves, independently from the big men of
JAA. Other researchers called them a “Critical School of Accounting” in Japan. What isa “Critical School of Accounting” ?
Conventional accounting theories had dominated the accounting discipline until the
economic and social crises in the 1970s led to the loss of their prestige. The academic
community recognized the collapse of existing paradigms and began to explore thesocial and political dimensions of accounting. Such research detected inequities in the
allocation of wealth carried out through accounting systems but excused the pursuit ofself-interest as a natural phenomenon in the market economy. Conventional orreactionary accounting theories have increasingly been subject to criticism. Especially
Critical Accounting Studies developed as an important school of accounting theories
during the 1990s in the West. There seem to be several different approaches in suchstudies, each having certain problems and not necessarily compatible with one another.
Significantly, a Japanese Critical School appeared in the 1950s, some 30 years
earlier than the critical accounting approach. In order to promote critical studies inaccounting, it may be worthwhile to reflect on the lessons of critical accounting studies
in Japan.
The critical school of accounting in Japan offers alternative perspectives tomainstream accounting. Several tendencies exist within the school, but they sharecommon characteristics in that they view accounting in the social and historical contexts.
They bear a resemblance to the critical accounting approach in the West. Although they
can be considered epoch-making theories from an international point of view as well,they have also been subject to various criticisms.
The aims of this paper are as follows: first, to acquaint the non-Japanese reader
with the critical studies of accounting in Japan, that comprise several schools, and thecontroversy among them; second, to explore a theoretical path to resolve the problems
and integrate the different methodological tendencies; and finally, to open the way forpromoting an international exchange of ideas.

76

A Historical Sketch of Critical Studies of Accounting in JapanThe study of accounting in Japan developed into a social science in the early 1930s,
no longer confined to mere discussion of accounting techniques and interpretations oflaw. The development of social science was heavily influenced by Marxian theory,
which proved to be superior to other, traditional theories in accurately analyzing thecharacteristics of Japanese capitalism then already at the stage of imperialism andmilitarism. The emergence of a social science of accounting, which included criticalperspectives on capitalist accounting, resulted from the impact of Marxian theory on
accounting research. As accounting emerged as a theoretical science, a number of newworks appeared, drawing inspiration from such works as Marx’s Capital and Rudolf
Hilferding’s Finance Capital and applying dialectics and historical materialism to thestudy of accounting techniques. These early studies focused on the analysis of a law ofbookkeeping derived from the relationship between bookkeeping techniques and the
movement of individual capital described theoretically in Marx’s Capital. But these
critical studies were interrupted during the war years because all Marxists were drivenout of the universities and the study of social sciences was subjected to severe
repression and censorship by the Emperor’s fascist regime.
After World War II those studies were resumed, forming an influential criticalschool of accounting generally known as kobetsu shihon setsu or the “individual capital
movement” approach. Another school that emerged was kaikei hoho setsu or the“accounting method-oriented” approach which sought to establish a scientificcalculation method much like the “individual capital movement” approach and toprovide alternative “constructive proposals” for accounting reform. In the post-war era,
yet another school came into being, namely jobu kozo setsu or the “socio-politicalsuperstructure” approach, comprising such variants as kaikei seido ron or the“legitimizational accounting institution” approach and kaikei seisaku ron or the“manipulatory accounting policy” approach. These new approaches set out to criticallyexamine the class-oriented or ideological aspect and exploitative functions ofaccounting institutions or policies of monopoly capital. These approaches are similar tothe critical accounting approach in the UK and the USA. Significantly, these Japaneseapproaches appeared in the 1950s, some 30 years earlier than the critical accounting
approach. These critical schools of accounting in Japan can thus be considered
forerunners of similar tendencies in the West. The following factors may be cited asreasons why critical studies appeared earlier in Japan than in the West.
First, Marxian research in Japan had accumulated a rich academic tradition
extending back over half a century. After World War II Marxist researchers who had
been driven out of the universities by the fascists returned to the enthusiastic welcome77

of students. Even the Cold War purge of the left in 1950 could not dislodge Marxists
from Japanese universities. Even the accounting discipline, among the mostconservative, was influenced by Marxian research methodologies. Subsequently,
however, Marxian lost much of its previous vitality after the middle of the 1970s.
Second, the rapid economic growth of Japanese capitalism in the 1960s triggered avigorous intellectual assault on the capitalist system in the face of overaccumulation ofcapital, severe exploitation of workers, the spread of pollution and the intensification ofsocial conflicts. Critical studies of accounting were regarded as having an ability toanalyze these problems.
A Theoretical Survey of the Critical Schools in Japan
Although there are several tendencies that have historically offered differing theseson accounting as a system of calculation and as an institution, two main schools standout: the “individual capital movement” approach and the “socio-politicalsuperstructure” approach. These schools advance contrasting assertions. Theirdifferences stem from their respective views of accounting.
The “individual capital movement” approach (ICM approach)
The “individual capital movement” approach (ICM approach) is concerned with therelationship between the structure or mode of accounting calculation and the movementof individual capital which is symbolized by the formula M-C-M’. This approach
regards accounting calculation as the reflection of the circulation of individual capital.
Individual capital movement as a component of the movement of aggregate social
capital is analyzed in detail by Marx’s Capital. The ICM approach mainly draws on the
logic and methodology of Capital and is based on what might be called the“capital-theoretical” tradition.
Marx’s following observation is often quoted as a theoretical foundation for theapproach.
As unity within its circuits, as value in motion, whether in the sphere of production
or in either phase of the sphere of circulation, capital exists ideally only in the form ofmoney of account, primarily in the mind of the producer of commodities, the capitalist
producer of commodities. This movement is fixed and controlled by book-keeping,which includes the determination of prices, or the calculation of the prices ofcommodities. The movement of production, especially of the production of surplus
value, is symbolically reflected in the imagination (Marx, Capital, 1885, p. 136).
Bookkeeping, as the control and ideal synthesis of the process, becomes the morenecessary the more the process assumes a social scale and loses its purely individual78

character (ibid., pp. 137-138).
According to this approach, the principal object of accounting research is the
structure or mode of recording and calculation in accounting (i. e. the accounting
method) which, in turn, is governed by an economic law of individual capital movement.
Hence the main objective of accounting research will be to identify a law of accounting.
And the main function of accounting is defined as the control function of the process ofcapital movement which Capital describes. Of course, this control function relates not
only to the process of production but also to the overall process of realizing surplus
value for the capitalist. Accounting researchers identifying with this school haveinvestigated theories and techniques of bookkeeping including theories of accounts,
depreciation and capital gain. They tend to advance a measurement theory which is
supposed to be conceptualized from accounting techniques. This school identifies asocial aspect of accounting within accounting or calculation techniques that reflectsurplus value-oriented movement of capital.
The “socio-political superstructure” approach (SS approach)On the other hand the “socio-political superstructure” approach (SS approach) is
concerned with the political, ideological and economic role of accounting within
capitalist society. As its name suggests, accounting phenomena are regarded as a factor
in the socio-political superstructure which is created by the economic base and in turninfluences the base. And accounting phenomena are defined to include accounting
institutions, accounting policy and accounting theory and practice. Some influential
authors insist that every accounting phenomenon, such as accounting theory, practice or
technique, is institutionalized within a social relationship. Used in such a context, theirconcept of accounting institutions, as well as that of the socio-political superstructure, isdefined broadly.
The SS approach is founded on the theory of historical materialism which analyzes
the structure and movement of society using the economic base-superstructure
framework. The economic base means the whole relations of production or the
economic structure of society. And the superstructure means both the legal and politicalsuperstructure and the ideal superstructure. According to this framework, the economic
base including class struggle is the fundamental factor of society and creates thesuperstructure which supports the base or the ruling class. The superstructure sustains
the interest of the ruling class and legitimizes the status quo of class society through theform of law, politics, religion, culture and ideology, Within this framework the SS
approach focuses on accounting as part of the superstructure, while the ICM approach
focuses on accounting as an element functioning inside the economic base. Additionally,79the SS approach is based on the “monopoly-theoretical” tradition which argues that theactual state of accounting can be analyzed not by the logic of Capital but by the theoryof monopoly capitalism or imperialism.
The SS approach argues that accounting in monopoly capitalism inevitably
involves arbitrariness and falsity in order to rationalize unequal economic relations. And
they regard accounting institutions, accounting policy and other actual facets ofaccounting as the principal object of accounting research. The main objective of thisaccounting research is to analyze the functions and forms of accounting as part of thesocio-political superstructure supporting the capitalist economy and individualcompanies, and to carry out empirical studies on the relationship between accounting
and the capitalist socio-economic system. Advocates of this approach have branched out
to form several sub-groups with different emphases. But a broad consensus among them
defines the main functions of accounting as follows:
The first is that of promoting capital accumulation. Most of the surplus value
accruing from capital movement is inevitably reinvested without being distributed toshareholders, employees or the state. Accounting, which incorporates a system ofcalculation for distributing profit or resources, becomes an apparatus for promoting
capital accumulation especially at the stage of monopoly capitalism. For example, mostallowances, provisions and reserves along with some expense items are in fact profit
disguised as expense to elude distribution and hence promote capital accumulation.
The second is that of rationalizing or legitimizing unequal distribution of income.
The manipulation of capitalist profit is legitimized by accounting institutions andaccounting theory. It is an ideological function, which is the main function of thesocio-political superstructure. Additionally accounting institutions not only rationalize
the interests of individual capital but also legitimize or protect the capitalist social order.
Accounting researchers identifying with this school have analyzed roles of accounting
institutions in which they include company law, accounting principles, standards andother conventions, and accounting theory. They have also provided empirical evidence
that accounting institutions and policy in Japan as well as in the US and Germany havecontributed to the development of their capitalist economies. Compared with the ICM
approach which focuses on the control function of accounting, the SS approach throws
critical light on the more class-oriented function of accounting. There are several
tendencies that fall under the SS approach umbrella; the “legitimizational accounting
institution” approach, the “manipulatory accounting policy” approach and the “criticalfinancial analysis” research, which is an application of the two former tendencies.

80The two main schools described above have influenced accounting studies in Japan.
The thinking underlying the ICM approach apparently sharing common concerns withthe theory of Max Weber was partly accepted by conventional schools. It resembles
Werner Sombalt’s thesis that the development of capitalist economy has been produced
and supported by rational techniques symbolized by bookkeeping. Conventional schoolsthat were influenced by German accounting theory before World War were able tounderstand the formula M-C-M’ provided by the ICM approach as part of bookkeeping
theory or measurement theory. The ICM approach can be expected to contributesignificantly to the development of a scientific measurement theory. But this approach is
not as effective in critically analyzing the actual state of accounting.
In contrast to the ICM approach, the SS approach has contributed to the critique ofcapitalist accounting. The SS approach resembles the critical accounting approach andother critical studies in the West. It is important to make a comparison with the criticalaccounting approach and to develop critical research of accounting internationally.
Today’s Development of Critical Studies in JSSSA Conferences
We have presented the main themes and discussions in annual conferences fromthe 1st conference (1986) to the 15th conference (2000), which seemed to include atheoretical development of critical studies (Information Bulletin of the Union of
National Economic Associations in Japan, No.20, 2000). In this paper we introduce
today’s development of critical researches after 2001.
16th Conference, October 4-6, 2001, Komazawa University
Main theme: Changes of Accounting in the 21st century: theoretical issues of accounting
as a social science
Speakers and their themes:
Tony TINKER, “The Logic of Critical Accounting Praxis: A Marxist-Hegelian bridge
between East and West”
Takashi OGURI, “Functions of accounting and Accounting Regulation”
Hidetoshi YAMAJI, “Social Science (Accounting) and Situated Subjectivity: In relation
to the Development of American Accounting Theories”
Junji ISHIKAWA, “Today’s Value-Based Accounting and the Transformation of
Capital/Income Caluculation”
Yoshiaki JINNAI, “The Contemporary Mode of Capitalist Accounting and the Problemsof Accounting Theory”

8117th Conference, October 4-6, 2002, Kagoshima University
Main theme: Group Management and Accounting
Speakers and their themes:
Motonobu TOKUMAE, “Japanese Style Group Management and Accounting Regulation”
Takemi ONO, “Two Aspects in the Relationship between ‘Management and Corporate
Group’ and ‘Accounting for Consolidation’”Hideo SUENAGA, “Deficit on the Consolidated Tax Return System”
18th Conference, September 17-19, 2003, Rikkyo University
Main theme: Japanese Accounting Standards and the Changes of Corporate Structure
Speakers and their themes:
Katsuhiro MATSUMURA, “Changing Financial Structure of Corporations and the‘Accounting Big Bang’ in Japan”
Hiroshi SUZUKI, “New Accounting Standards Connected Closely with Reforms ofManagement of Business Enterprises”
Shigeru WATANABE, “Information Disclosure System in the Period of Corporate
Reorganizations”
19th Conference, September 20-22, 2004, Meiji University
Main Theme: The Corporate Social Responsibility and Problems of Accounting
Speakers and their themes:Atsuo MUKOGAWA, “The Development and Problems of Sustainability Reporting”
Ikue NONAKA, “Accounting for Society vs. Accounting for Investors”
20th Conference, October 21-23, 2005, Meiji University
Main theme: Nature and Direction of Institutional Change in Accounting
Speakers and their themes:
Hideki FUJII, “Accountability, Empirical Evidence and Bounded Rationality”
Junji ISHIKAWA, “The Standpoints of the Conceptual Framework for Financial
Accounting of Japan: From Four Basic Theory-Viewpoints”
Kazushige SHIMA, “Accountability View in Japanese Institutional Accounting”
In Japan, the critical schools of accounting have long criticized Japanese accounting
theories and regulation, and have tried to develop alternative forms and methods ofaccounting regulation. However, now that we are encountering the growth of global
macro-accounting regulation that gradually displaces national accounting regulation, it
is imperative that we reform global macro-accounting regulation to constrain the violent82manifestations of globalization and to control global capitalism. In order to effectreform of global macro-accounting regulation and, by extension, of global capitalism,
we should strengthen collaboration among international critical schools of accounting
and jointly develop alternative theories and strategies. For our part, we have pointed out
some historical lessons drawn from the Japanese experience by analyzing the ICM and
SS approaches. By resolving problems found in these approaches, we may integrate thetwo and formulate a new approach.
(Takashi OGURI, Komazawa University)

83

SOCIO-ECONOMIC HISTORY SOCIETY
As the number of members is increasing (1,410 in July 2006), the interests andapproaches among the members have diffused. This trend has come to make it difficult
to raise a general theme for the Annual Conference. On the contrary, panel discussionsorganised on the basis of a voluntary proposal by a group of members have increased
since 1990s. As a result the length of the general theme session of the Annual
Conference has been shortened. Over recent years panel discussions are held in themorning of one day and the general theme session is held in the afternoon.
The diffusion of interests has been reflected in the general themes of the Annual
Conferences in recent years. The theme of the 71st Annual Conference, held at
Wakayama University in 2002, was The Economic History of Information: State,
Market and Enterprise. According to Masaaki TAKASHIMA (Wakayama University) andKanji ISHII (Tokyo Keizai University), the theme had been neglected for a long time ineconomic history, because the political function of information was more emphasizedthan the economic function. As the number of studies on the economic effect of
information technology, however, had increased in the last two decades, it became
possible to analyse the impact of electric communications such as telephone andtelegrams on society. Kazuko FURUTA (Keio University) classified information into two
types: Type A consisted of “on-the-spot information” including tacit knowledge. Type B
consisted of general market information such as price, volume of arrival and stock andso on. Though the variation of markets in history related to the combination of these two
types of information, the information of type A was more important to understanding
each society. In China it was acquired and shared through the network of merchantsfrom the same native place. Kazuhiro OMORI (Surugadai University) stressed thatJapanese medium- and small-sized companies took the initiative in collecting
information on overseas markets in the interwar period. Local trade and manufacturers’
associations were established in the areas where manufactures for export such as cotton,silk, knitwear and ceramic ware were produced. These associations transmitted productinformation and received market information in cooperation with trade organizations
and government. ISHII indicated that the importance of the information of type A wasalso applicable to Japanese cases.
The general theme of the 72nd Annual Conference, held at Tokyo Keizai University
in 2003, was The Role of Merchant Capital in Industrialization. The theme was at firstglance quite a traditional one in research on economic history. According to Kanji ISHII,an organizer of the session following the previous year, the theory of Hisao OTSUKA on
the role of merchant capital, however, had to be re-examined, because the feudal84merchants could be linked with the development of modern industries, contrary to his
theory. ISHII examined the financial activities of moneychangers in Kyoto, Osaka and
Edo during the late Tokugawa and early Meiji periods, and demonstrated that theysurvived the economic disorders at these periods and began to give financial support tothe movement toward industrialization. Takafumi KUROSAWA (Kyoto University)
surveyed the case of Switzerland from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries,
and drew a similar conclusion that merchants were closely concerned with Swiss
industrialization as organizers of production and financial supporters.
The general theme of the 73rd Annual Conference, held at Osaka City University in
2004, was Land Scarcity and Industrious Revolution: a Comparative Study of Early
Modern Economies”. As Mario OSHIMA (Osaka City University) pointed out, the earlymodern period could be no longer considered the period of bifurcation which wasdecisive for any region to industrialize. It had to be grasped that every region had torespond to the land scarcity that characterized rural society and agriculture at that period.
“Industrious revolution” (Akira HAYAMI) was a Japanese type of response withincreased labour input. OSHIMA proposed that a comparative study in consideration of
the concept could provide a new approach to the understanding of the early modern
period. Atsushi AOKI (Osaka University) found the four-character words representing
the land scarcity especially after the Sui and Tan Dynasty period in formal Chinese
history and extracted a notion that peasants were industrious under the land scarcity
from the agricultural advisory documents of local governments in the Nansong Dynasty
period. Akihiko ETO (Kurume University) re-examined the factors and timing ofJapanese land development in the 17th century, and stressed that the construction of
castle-towns and mining developments which had increased demand for food stimulated
cultivation. It made progress in a short time and was also influenced by commercial
links and the arrival of an epidemic from Asia. Contrary to the common perception,
Japan was already faced with the scarcity of resources such as land, cattle and fuel inthe middle of the century. Takashi IIDA (Keio University) indicated that thediversification of rural society and the rapid increase of cottagers progressed ineighteenth-century eastern Germany and the intensified competition for landdeconstructed blood relationships in rural communities.
A new program for the Society was the special lecture which was initiated at theAnnual Conference in 2004. The first lecture was given by Osamu SAITO (Hitotsubashi
University, President of the Society). Its title was “Two kinds of pre-modern economic
growth: Japan in a comparative perspective”. In early modern north-western Europe real
wages declined while output per capita increased. By contrast, there was no gap
between wage growth and output growth in Tokugawa Japan. In both cases, “Smithian85

growth” ―an economic growth based on division of labour and market competition ―was found. But in Europe the rate of economic growth was higher and the income
disparity was wider than in Japan. A background of this contrast was the persistence ofthe peasant family in Japan, which could adjust to the development of the market
economy. In addition the development of mercantile and agricultural capitalism waslacking almost entirely in Tokugawa Japan.
The 74th Annual Conference, held at Hitotsubashi University in 2005, took as its
general theme The European Catch-up to the East. It has been generally recognized that
the European economy did not take a lead over the Asian economy from the beginning.
A lot of technological inventions were rooted in Asia. According to Yoshitaka SUZUKI(Hitotsubashi University), the intent of the session was to find new historical facts andto seek new frameworks for the explanation of European catching-up in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. SAITO had evolved his special lecture of the previous year andrelated “two patterns of Smithian growth” to the theme. He speculated that the upperand especially upper-middle layers in society gathered wealth for the final demand
beyond the daily necessity due to a widening gap between wage growth and output
growth in early modern Europe, and it could be a prerequisite for the catching-up with
Asia. SUZUKI examined the process of imitation and substitution in European
manufacturing industries. The manufactures of cotton, silk, porcelain and lacquer ware
were inferior to the equivalent Asian goods in the light of technology and quality in theseventeenth century. Asian goods flooded into Europe from the early seventeenth
century and European manufacturers tried to imitate them. About a century after
European goods were superior to Asian goods in the light of the price and quality. The
decisive reason for the successes was the transformation of raw materials in Europe.
Raw cotton, for example, came from the West Indies instead of the Levant from theearly eighteenth century, which made it possible to produce warp yarn from cotton in
Europe too. B. LEMIRE (University of Alberta) surveyed the long history of India’s
cotton trade with Asian, African and European areas, and reconsidered its impact on
European industrialization and modernization. In the sixteenth century the British elite
and upper middle class in large cities and coastal cities had already accessed Indian
cotton. Asian goods led to profound changes in European material culture andultimately to the advent of popularized fashions in a consumer society. The fashion
system in Europe transformed dress, decor and the economy. Though many theorists
and historians have regarded fashion as an intrinsic European phenomenon, the Asian
impact, especially the pivotal role of Indian cotton should be remembered. An aim of
the theme was the re-examination of the early modern period in view of global history,
which is common with the general theme of the year 2004. An assumption of Asian
permanent backwardness should be revised, but Asia stimulated and suffered the86catching-up of Europe during the early modern period.
P．HUDSON (Cardiff University) was invited from the United Kingdom at theAnnual Conference in 2005. The title of her special lecture was “Choice and habit inhistory”. It reflected the present situation of economic history as a discipline. Economic
history and the positivistic research approach became less popular under the growing
bifurcation between mathematically oriented economics and linguistically oriented
cultural history. She tried to explore the new way of integrating the two approaches byconceptualising human economic behaviour. Modern economic theory regards humannature and motivation as fixed, and does not take account of man as a social being. On
the contrary human behaviour should be understood within the social and culturalenvironment. Numbers, however, are foremost a language and should not be rejected.
There are problems that quantification shares with narrative or qualitative approaches.
Tracking back her personal journey with economic history, HUDSON expounded herviews persuasively that economic behaviour and the rest of life were not dissociable andeconomic history and cultural history or two above-mentioned approaches could not bebifurcated.
Finally it deserves to be mentioned that the publication of Japanese Studies in
Economic and Social History, edited under the auspices of the Society, has begun. In theearly 1990s the plan was formulated and a contract with the Oxford University Press
was closed in 1996. In 2005 the first volume, Japan, China, and the Growth of the AsianInternational Economy, 1850-1949, edited by Kaoru SUGIHARA (Kyoto University), waseventually published. The volume consisted of four parts: Part I “Chinese Merchants
and the Japanese Cotton Industry”; Part II “The Rise of Economic Nationalism inChina”; Part III “China’s Internal Integration in International Perspective”; Part IV “TheGrowth of China’s Contacts with Taiwan and Southeast Asia”. The theme originatesfrom the common session of the Society’s Annual Conference on the trading world ofAsia in 1984, and was also related with the themes of the general sessions in 2004 and2005.
The second volume, The Role of Tradition in Japan’s Industrialization: Another
Path to Industrialization, edited by Masayuki TANIMOTO (University of Tokyo), waspublished in 2006. The volume includes four parts: Part I “Introduction”; Part II“Tradition in Industrialization”; Part III “The Modernization of Traditional Industries”;
Part IV “Industry and Regional Community”. The volume reflects a tendency of recent
studies on economic history of modern Japan and stresses the role of indigenous
industries in Japan’s economic development. The series consists of five volumes for the
moment, and another three volumes are scheduled to be published.
(Satoshi BABA, University of Tokyo)87