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2006 Japanese Company History (Shashi) Interest Group
Annual Business Meeting Minutes
Date/Time: 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m., Thursday, April 6, 2006
Place: Sierra Suite E, San Francisco Marriott
Participants: Sanae Isozumi (Chair/UC San Diego), Tokiko Bazzell (recorder/Hawaii),
Maureen Donovan (Ohio State), Hiroyuki Good (Pittsburg), Yoshiko Higurashi (San Diego
State), Michiko Ito (Kansas), Izumi Koide (Shibusawa Foundation), Toshie Marra (UCLA),Akira Miyazawa (NII), Koshiro Moroya (Kanazawa Institute of Technology), Haruko Nakamura(Yale), Yoko Okunishi (NCC), Hisako Roberson (LC), Kazuko Sakaguchi (DCJ/Harvard),
Chiaki Sakai (Iowa), Asako Shiba (WUSL), Takako Suzuki (George Washington)
1. Project update and Shashi related news from Japan
Isozumi opened the meeting by announcing that in July 2005 she assumed the Shashi Group
Chair position, which was previously held by Tokiko Bazzell. She then thanked Bazzell forserving from April 2003-March 2005.
Isozumi distributed a Nikkei article on shashi (dated 3/18/06) along with a message from Ms
Katsuko Murahashi. In her message, Ms Murahashi reported on shashi publication trends inJapan, a recently published reference book, database to support shashi research, and her own
activities related to shashi. She also sent her comments on the North American Shashi Group'sfuture. She expressed her desire to see the group remain intact and suggested that the groupdevelop attainable goals. The text of Ms Murahashi's message is at<http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/company/interest.htm>
Ms Izumi Koide, Director, Resource Center, Shibusawa Memorial Museum opened her report byproviding comments on the Nikkei's article (mentioned above.) Somewhat contrary to the article,Ms Koide clarified how the idea of creating a shashi database arose (ideas shared between Ms
Murahashi and staff of Shibusawa Foundation). The project began with the shashi of companies
related to Shibusawa on which they continue to accumulate data. It may take another 2 to 3 years
to complete. Up to this point, data on 92 shashi titles (125 volumes) of 56 companies have beenentered. Prof. Haruhito Takeda of the University of Tokyo is an advisor for the project. TheShibusawa Foundation holds approximately 3,000 volumes of shashi and is adding more. Sometitles and annotations are now online. As for an updated bibliography, the Japan Special Library
Association compiles and publishes a list every two years. The Kawasaki Library and theUniversity of Kobe also provide the holding list online. Under Prof. Takeda's guidance, theShibusawa Foundation is creating a searchable company chronology and linking the chronology
to each company's lineage. Furthermore, the Foundation is developing a source directory ofprimary documents used to create shashi publications. After the meeting, Ms Koide added thefollowing information. At present, a total of 125 volumes of shashi were indexed and totalrecords in the database exceed 200,000. Shashi titles which were processed are now available
through shashi index database are now available with annotation at:

2< http://www.shibusawa.or.jp/center/shashi/shashi01.html>. She also reported that the National
Diet Library has placed higher priority than before in collecting shashi publications. The NDL
held an internal seminar on shashi last fall 2005.
2. Report on Shashi in the Mitsui Collection and NCC funded titles at the University ofPittsburgh
Hiroyuki Good reported the details of the shashi collections in the Mitsui Collection.
1. Mitsui Collection
In 2004, the valuable Mitsui Collection was donated by the Institute for Financial and) of the former Mitsui Bank. The Collection contains overEconomic Research (64,000 volumes of books and journals - 33,498 of Japanese imprints (5,712 published before theend of World War II and 27,786 are published afterward), 10,701 of Western languages imprints,over 20,000 volumes (1,391 titles 0 of Japanese and Western languages journals.

金融経済研究所

社史

1.1 Mitsui Collection contains 2,735 volumes of monographs on shashi (, companyhistory). By sample search on OCLC with 145 sample records, 47.58% of monographs onshashi are unique in the North America.
1.2 256 volumes of monographs on shashi are published before the end of the World War II,
which include 81 volumes of banks, 58 volumes of manufactures and 26 volumes offinance and insurance.
1.3 We are discussing possibility of digitalization of the pre-WWII monographs, which are
5,712 volumes include 256 volumes of shashi.
1.4 We are also discussing possibility of outsourcing of cataloging a part of the collection.
1.5 Asian Studies Center of the University of Pittsburgh offer two annual Norio Tamaki
Award of $750 each to encourage using the Mitsui Collection. Please see the website ofthe East Asian Library for detail.

2.

Nihon no kaishashi maicroban shusei group 8, kinyu, shoken, 97 reels

The University of Pittsburgh was awarded 2005 MVS Grant to acquire. It is free for ILL.
We have a plan to create a website of shashi next fiscal year.
3. Discussion: Future of our group
Isozumi led a discussion about future activities of the Shashi Interest Group. After CEAL
changed the schedule, it has become increasingly difficult to hold a business meeting; however,3

many agreed that the Group's activity is important to promote the shashi collections in NorthAmerica. Some suggested that we might share shashi-related information more efficiently andactively if a shashi blog were created. The suggestions generated were:•••Set up a shashi blog to exchange ideas and information on shashi: Maureen Donovan,Ohio State University Library, volunteered to set it up.
Exchange "success stories" on how shashi publications are being utilized. People wouldbe expected to contribute these stories on the shashi blog.
Investigate the possibility setting up a link or shashi page on the NCC Web site. Donovanand Koide shared the story of how the idea of Shashi group came out. It originated during
the NCC's 10th anniversary vision planning session in San Diego in 2000. From thebeginning, NCC was part of this concept. Ms Toshie Marra, NCC Chair, suggested thatthe Shashi Group submit a definitive proposal explaining how NCC could providesupport.