Preface
I would like to extend a heartfelt greeting to all of the sociological and social welfare studies
researchers from around the world, particularly everyone who travelled to Japan from all over theglobe in order to take part and be involved in the discussions at the 18th World Congress ofSociology in Yokohama. We in the Japan Consortium for Sociological Societies would like todeclare our enthusiastic solidarity with all of you. In addition, we would also like to present you withthis book, Messages to the World, which exemplifies the past, present, and future of Japanesesociological and social welfare studies.
The Japan Consortium for Sociological Societies was launched in April 2007 as a crosscuttingorganization linking the academic societies related to sociology and social welfare studies in theScience Council of Japan. As you are well aware, the environment surrounding academic researchhas been undergoing profound changes brought about by the advances in globalization. As academic
structures grow more diverse and fragmented, interdisciplinary fields have been expanding withoutlimit. What is more, factors like the internationalization of scholarship and the creation of new
disciplines have necessitated that researchers respond to a variety of different matters. Faced with theemergence of this sort of new research environment, the Japan Consortium for Sociological Societies
was founded in order to prompt greater collaboration and exchange between academic societies. Assuch, the Consortium has established its website and creates and distributes newsletters. In addition,
it holds a symposium once every year through the joint sponsorship of the Science Council of Japan.
The Japan Consortium for Sociological Societies had planned to publish this book, Messages tothe World, for the holding of the World Congress of Sociology in Yokohama in 2014 in order tomake people aware of the history and current state of Japanese sociological and social welfare
studies. As such, we put together an editing organization in order to accomplish this. I will avoid
discussing the details of this, as this will be explained later on by SHOJI Kôkichi, but one important
point that emerged with respect to the editing process was how to situate the events of March 11,2011 (hereafter abbreviated as “3/11”) when all was said and done. 3/11, especially the nuclear
accident in Fukushima, exposed the dark underside of modernity. Or to put it another way, it was acase of modernity’s frailties resolutely manifesting themselves in the foreground of society.
Of course it goes without saying, but this matter has raised fundamental questions concerning
the status of the sociological and social welfare studies that analyze and conceptualize society. Overand above that, it has also reopened questions concerning the position upon which sociologists andsocial welfare scholars each stand. Speaking in terms of the academic societies that constitute theJapan Consortium for Sociological Societies, it has given each of them the opportunity forself-validation and gotten them to start their own unique efforts when it comes to 3/11. Of course,
these efforts have only just gotten underway, and so the results they have achieved thus far will only
be reflected in this volume of Messages to the World in a partial manner. If you can read into thisthat Japanese sociological and social welfare studies may be questioning how to stand whenconfronted with the unprecedented and difficult circumstances of 3/11, or how to use these to1

amplify their own importance, nothing could give us more pleasure than that.
Right now in the afflicted regions, especially in Fukushima, many of the victims are forced tolive out their days in despair with no future to speak of beneath unending nuclear devastation andneoliberal restoration policies. I believe that now is the time for us to surmount the shared despair
felt with the victims and set forth an alternative body of knowledge on restoration that is rooted inguaranteeing human dignity and rights. It is my hope that this collection of messages will serve as afoothold for sharing this attempt with people all over the world.
July 2014
YOSHIHARA Naoki
President, Japan Consortium for Sociological Societies2