Editorial
We are pleased to present Volume 8, Issue 1 of the Japanese Journal of Archaeology, theoﬃcial English language journal of the Japanese Archaeological Association. With thisissue I have taken over the chief editorship from Koji Mizoguchi. I would like to take thisopportunity to thank Professor Mizoguchi for his exceptional contribution in establishing
the Journal, and am delighted that he will continue to be closely involved in its development
in his role as trustee of the Japanese Archaeological Association.
As Professor Mizoguchi stated in the Editorial to Vol. 7, Issue 1, one of the objectivesof this journal is the internationalization of Japanese archaeology. This issue features
two articles that are the products of another new initiative that is designed to further thatobjective. These two are English summaries of books awarded Japanese Archaeological
Association Prizes.
The article by HIROSE Satoru, entitled ‘The Production of Haniwa and State Formationin Japan’ is a translated summary of his book, Kodai Ōken no Keisei to Haniwa Seisan.
Dōsei-sha, Tokyo (2015). Hirose’s work demonstrates that detailed observation of minutefeatures of artifacts allows him to approach craft organization of the Kofun period during
which Japanese society evolved toward statehood. He ties his discussion on change in craft
organization to aspects of state formation in early Japan.
The article by NAKAKUBO Tatsuo, entitled ‘Interregional Interaction Strategies inthe Early State Formation of Ancient Japan’ is a translated summary of his book, Nihon
Kodai Kokka no Keisei Katei to Taigai Kōryū. Osaka University Press, Osaka (2017). He
successfully argues that various patterns of interaction with China and the Korean peninsula
contributed to early state formation in Japan. His work is distinguished from works of othernative Japanese archaeologists specializing in Japanese archaeology by his citing many
English language sources.
Publication of the article by TAKASE Katsunori, ‘Time period determination of theKuril Ainu’s major withdrawal from Kamchatka’ is timely because his article contributes
to the archaeology of the indigenous people of northern Japan. Takase’s scholarship is also
distinguished in Japanese archaeology because he is successful in the application of naturalscientiﬁc methods. In Japan, there is little or no overlap between high school and university
curricula in natural sciences and social sciences, which often makes it diﬃcult for Japanesearchaeologists to take an interdisciplinary approach.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the work of the Japanese ArchaeologicalAssociation, stopping most of the work at the Japanese Archaeological Association Oﬃce
in April and May, 2020, which resulted in the delay in the publication of the Archaeologia
Japonica. For the reason, this issue does not include the reproduction of the English
summaries of the current issue of Archaeologia Japonica, which will instead appear inJAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 8 (2020): 1–2

Ken’ichi Sasaki

Issue 2 of this volume.
It is my hope that this journal will continue to contribute to the internationalization ofJapanese archaeology.
Ken’ichi SASAKI
Chief Editor
Tokyo, December 2020

© Japanese Archaeological Association2