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2004 Japanese Company History (Shashi) Interest Group
Annual Business Meeting Minutes
Date / Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:25 a.m. Wednesday, March 3, 2004.
Place: Royal Palm 3, Town and Courtry Resort Hotel, San Diego, CA
Participants: Tokiko Bazzell (chair), Hiroyuki Good, Kazuko Sakaguchi, Sanae Isozumi,
Michiko Ito, Yoko Okunishi, Saeko Sato, Haruyo Shinoda, Meng-fen Su, Wen-ling Lin, Naomi
Kotake, Hisami Springer, Ellen Hammond, Eizaburo Okuizumi, Atsushi Aiba, Toshie Marra,
Tomoko Bialock, Haruko Nakamura (recorder)
Introduction and Information to Share- Tokiko Bazzell, Chair
Before convening the meeting, Ms. Ellen Hammond asked about any affiliations of the Shashi
Interest Group. Ms. Tokiko Bazzell replied that the Shashi Interest Group is an informal interest
group, affiliated with AAS and anyone with an interest in the topic of Shashi, can participate inthis meeting.
Bazzell opened the meeting by announcing that she assumed the position of former chair
Maureen Donovan, who is currently on sabbatical in Japan. When she met Maureen at
Nichibunken in December 2003, she sent her best regards to everyone in the group.
Bazzell informed the meeting participants that Ms. Mitsuko Anders is no longer working in theJapan division at the Library of Congress (LC). Anders intended to create a Shashi web site at
LC and before she departed, she completed an inventory of approximately 800 Japanese Shashi
titles at LC. Bazzell contacted Mr. Ito, who assumed Anders’ position and received hisassurances that the project would continue forward.
Bazzell announced that University of Hawaii (UH) received a grant from the 2004 NCC-MVS
program for ｢Maikuro-ban Nihon no Kaishashi マイクロ版日本の会社史｣, which is available
through ILL. The University of Michigan library already possesses this entire group but it isunavailable through ILL. The NCC-MVS grant has enabled UH to acquire two of nine total setsin the group, which are ｢Ippan kikai, Denki kiki 一般機械・電気機械｣ and ｢Tetsudo, kaiun,rikuun, koku, soko 鉄道・海運・陸運・航空・倉庫｣. Bazzell encouraged the meeting participants
to seek ways for the remaining seven sets to be purchased and shared via ILL.
Hammond asked about the scope of companies covered in the entire Shash nine volume group
and Bazzell informed that there are over 2000 companies.
Bazzell presented three important points of Shashi, according to UH scholar, Lonny Carlile as:(1) Shashi represent sources of primary and secondary historical information and documentationthat under normal circumstances would not be publicly available, (2) Collectively, the Shashi in
an industry provide the micro-level resources for a comprehensive study of the evolution of a2given industry, and (3) For students of Japanese political economy interested in broader policy
studies or specific historical incidents, Shashi provide the means by which to supplement theaccounts given in conventionally used government and journalistic sources and to moreaccurately measure the impact of state policies and broader market and technological forces.
Cataloging the Shashi titles– Hisami Springer (UH)Ms. Hisami Springer highlighted points regarding the cataloging of acquired Shashi titles at UH.
Shashi often comes to the cataloging unit as a rush cataloging item and gets first priority. If its
bibliographic record does not exist in OCLC or RLIN, Springer does original cataloging. As arush cataloging item, when she receives a book in the morning, it is normally available by theend of the same day.
UH is a NACO and SACO participant and must establish authority records for companies’ names,
but Springer has not yet encountered this situation.
Additional work – some Shashi books are accompanied by microfilm, CD-ROMs and othersupplemental materials. UH handles supplemental materials on and individual, case-by-casebasis. In some cases, these supplements are not stored in the same location as the books.
Springer presented some examples of the UH OPAC records of Shashi titles (Voyager records).
Even though the records cannot be searched in the Japanese vernacular, one can see Japanese in
the record. Also, a website of listing of books by industry type is available at the UH Japan
Collection Shashi web site.
Hammond asked if there are many companies that publish Shashi in CD-ROM format. Bazzell
replied that the number of CDs was increasing. Some companies publish the content in both print
and CDs, and still others include spreadsheets and web sites containing additional information.
Ms. Naomi Kotake of Stanford Univ. asked how UH was going to catalog ｢マイクロ版日本の会社史｣ which contains many different companies. Springer mentioned a finding aid for thecollection and Bazzell indicated that UH intends to include the companies in their web site list.
Report of the University of Kansas Library Shashi Web site – Michiko Ito, University ofKansas (UK) passed out handouts of the Shashi website at UK that lists industry categories. Sheacknowledged UH for the idea of the website. Instead of covering all areas, UK focuses on
Shashi in the agriculture and food sectors. Ito asked the participants to develop the NorthAmerican Shashi web sites, which may bear the Shashi interest group’s banner, or links to
Shashi collections web sites, such as the ones at UH and Ohio State University.
One difficulty for Shashi collection development at UK is cataloging the collected Shashi in atimely manner. Ito mentioned that many acquired Shashi titles are backlogged in the cataloging
department.

3Ito also mentioned UK Library's outreach efforts to K-12 schools in the community. In order tointroduce more people to Japanese culture, Ito started a library display showing products fromU.S. companies operating in Japan. Ito showed a paper placemat and the wrapping paper for ateriyaki burger illustrated with Japanese cartoon characters from McDonald's-Japan and similar
products from KFC-Japan.
Hammond mentioned that there were outreach coordinators among East Asian libraries andsuggested that Ito work with them to publish a paper to attract attention to Japanese culture
among youths. Bazzell also mentioned that many Japanese studies students were originallyattracted to Japanese studies after exposure to popular Japanese culture, such as anime andmanga characters wen they were young. Ito's efforts are worthwhile, especially in the Midwest
region of the United States.
Site visit to the Kawasaki Library’s Shashi Collection – Tokiko Bazzell (UH)
Bazzell distributed her report and handouts on her Visit to the Kawasaki Library's Shashi
Collection. For a full report, please visit the UH Shashi Collection site<http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/company/company_home2.htm>
Bazzell also mentioned that Kawasaki Library possess about 800 duplicate Shashi materials.
Since the institution is municipal, the library cannot sell those duplicate books. Thus, Bazzell
stressed that this could present an exchange opportunity between Kawasaki Library and East
Asian libraries in North America. There is no list of these duplicate materials but they are Shashi
in the science and technology sectors. The Kawasaki Library desires some materials in English
and those exchange materials do not have to be Shashi but anything about current industrial
science and technology. Bazzell asked participants to consider this opportunity and come up withideas on how exchanges might be arranged.
Bazzell distributed a copy of the Kawasaki Library’s Shashi collection database<www.klnet.pref.kanagawa.jp/kawasaki/cole.htm>, and examples of its request and thank-you
letters for Shashi donations.
Bazzell also mentioned the "Catalog of Histories of Japanese Companies and Labor Unions heldat the Kawasaki Library 神奈川県立川崎図書館所蔵・社史・労働組合史目録" and pointed outthat several libraries in the U.S. hold scattered issues of the title.
7 Wonders and 7 Mysteries of the Shashi (company histories) – Eizaburo Okuizumi,
University of Chicago (UC) made his presentation in Japanese. This English summary wascomposed by Haruko Nakamura under the supervision of Mr. Okuizumi. The concept of Shashiis unique to Japanese bibliography and publication, and there are many interesting Shashi
published in Japan. Because of this unique treatment of Shashi in Japan, there are good
bibliographies for Shashi materials such as ｢会社史総合目録｣ (a union list of Shashi from theMeiji period) and so on.

4In fact, many libraries in Japan hold considerable Shashi collections such as Kawasaki Library
川崎図書館, Hitotsubashi University Library 一橋大学, Kansai University Library 関西大学,
Tokyo Municipal Central Library 東京都立中央図書 and Ryukoku University's Nagao
Collection 龍谷大学(長尾文庫). The University of Tsukuba Tulip website also provides
information on how to access to Shashi collections, however, the website has not been updated
since 1999.
Okuizumi encouraged people to see many of those collections with their own eyes and to use
Shashi in interdisciplinary studies. He introduced a book ｢Shashi no kenkyu 社史の研究｣ (byMs. Katsuko Murahashi), which was highly praised by the former president of Shiseido Co. Ltd.
and Dr. K. Tourk, a professor in the Chicago area. Prof. Tourk often uses Shashi materials in hisresearch. At the last seminar held at the University of Chicago, he presented a comparative studyentitled Quality Changes in the Factors of Production During Colonial Period: Effect on
Post-Independent Growth in Egypt and Korea. For this research, he used Shashi materials andacknowledged Mr. Okuizumi’s assistance in the use of Shashi materials.
For his own research on Re-examining of SCAP/ GHQ / CCD Documents and Annotated
Biblography and Contents of Educational Journals in Occupied Japan, 1945-1949 in 戦後教育史研究, Okuizumi was able to fully use Shashi-related information. He obtained a larger view ofthe local and prefectural level publishing industries during that period.
One can also look at the history of Japanese-American movements in Shashi. For example,Shikago Shinpo シカゴ新報 and Rafu Shinpo 羅府新報 provided their Shashi information alongwith the development and promotion of Japanese-American communities and companies inNorth America.
A challenge to accessing Shashi is the lack of distributed bibliographic information on Shashi.
For example, ｢清水建設二百年｣ (Two hundred years of Shimizu Cooperation) is a very
interesting Shashi that was recently published. This title contained good historical documents
and new research by well-known scholars, as well as by its editorial staff members. However,there are still no records on WebCat and/or RLIN.
Shashi is not easy to define. Often the term Shashi refers to a book format, book style,not-for-sale and gray literature. Moreover, Shashi appear in many formats such as pamphlets,
serial articles and brochures. Indeed, the definition of industries in Shashi also can be broadenedin the academic world. For example, we can view histories of collective/groups, organizations,labor unions and associations as Shashi. In this sense, Shashi can be in variety of formats,making the definition of Shashi diverse. For instance, ｢三菱社誌｣ (Historical records ofMitsubishi Company) uses the character“誌”for their Shashi, instead of “史”.
He also mentioned some interesting Shashi during the colonial period in Japan such as Shashi ofChosen Ginko 朝鮮銀行、Chosen Shokutaku Ginko 朝鮮殖産銀行、Chosen Shintaku 朝鮮信5託(株)、and Chosen Kinyu Kumiai Rengokai 朝鮮金融組合連合会.
Ms. Yoko Okunishi announced the availability of the history of Rafu newspaper, Rafu Shimpo
100, and Japanese American National Museum Annual Dinner Brochure 2003, which contains aspecial issue on Japanese business in United States. One can contact Yoko (yokunishi@janm.org)
to purchase Rafu Shimpo 100 for $25.
“Shashi Forum” and messages from Ms. Katsuko Murahashi and Ms. Izumi Koide
Please see the web site <http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/company/company_home2.htm>
for Message from Ms. Katsuko Murahashi on Shashi Forum and Message to Shashi Interest
Group Meeting in March 3, 2004, by Ms. Izumi Koide, Shibusawa Memorial Museum. English
translations were done by Tokiko Bazzell.
In Ms. Koide's message, participants learned good news from Japan's Resource Center forResearch on History of Entrepreneurship of the Shibusama Memorial Museum. In April 2004,
the Shibusawa Memorial Museum launched an ambitious project to create a comprehensive
database "like an encyclopedia and like a directory, which leads users to untangle information
one after another." They are planning to widely disseminate this database once it is completed.
The Shibusawa Memorial Museum encourages researchers to provide suggestions andinformation as to how they utilize Shashi information.
Closing: Bazzell requested that the participants consider two issues affecting Shashi collections
for the next meeting.
As Ms. Koide and Ms. Murahashi will be working on the Shashi Database, the Shashi Interest
Group members should cooperatively gather information on how Shashi is actually being usedby researchers so that the information can be shared for the development of user-friendly indexes
for the new database.
Think about how institutions in the U.S. can exchange duplicate Shashi titles between Kawasaki
Library in Japan.
Maureen Donovan will complete her research in Japan and return to Ohio State this year. Bazzell
stated that she would return the chair to Maureen. Springer acknowledged Bazzell’s excellent
contribution to the group and suggested that she co-chair the group with Donovan. Bazzell would
convey the group's suggestion to Donovan.