Annual Report of the ASJ Council for 2000

The Society has been through some tumultuous times this year, but fortunately we have had an energetic President in Dr. Erich Berendt, Professor of Linguistics at Seisen University, and have also had some good friends who have come to our aid. As reported last year, when we were having to move out of OAG Haus, the Association for the Promotion of International Cooperation (APIC), through the good offices of Executive Director Mr. Hiroyuki Yanagitsubo, offered us space in their office in Nishi-Azabu and the use of the lecture hall in their Plaza for International Cooperation for our lectures. But unfortunately fate soon struck another blow, when changing circumstances in APIC meant that we again lost our office space. Once again Mr.Yanagitsubo helped us out by introducing us to Music for Youth, who themselves were looking for another organization with whom they could share an office; we were welcomed enthusiastically by their founder, the late Miss Eloise Cunningham, and their President, Mrs. Sayoko Arai, with the result that our office is now conveniently situated close to the American Embassy and Tameike-Sanno station. 

One part of the move from OAG Haus concerned finding a home for the past issues of the Transactions and Basil Hall Chamberlain's translation of the Kojiki. Here our benefactor has been Yushodo Co., Ltd., whose former President, now Chairman, Mr. Mitsuo Nitta, has always been an enthusiastic supporter of the Society and has reprinted historic volumes of the Transactions. Yushodo now have all our past publications, with the rights to their sale, and are actively planning to sell sets of the Transactions to university libraries and other such institutions, with 50% of the turnover from the sales going to the Society. At the same time they will encourage these institutions to become institutional members of the ASJ, so as to continue receiving the Transactions as they come out. The final episode in the move from OAG Haus came right at the end of the year, when they asked us to move our library books so that they could redevelop the space; here again Yushodo have provided temporary storage of the books until a new home can be found for our library. 

For our monthly meetings we have resorted to a number of venues. Our Annual General Meeting, a scintillating occasion at which the speaker was our Patron, H.I.H. Princess Takamado, was held in the Canadian Embassy, with a reception being given afterwards by the Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Leonard J. Edwards and Mrs Edwards. Then from February to September we met in the APIC Plaza in Hiroo. In October we held a joint meeting with International House, in their lecture hall; at this meeting Dr. Hisaaki Yamanouchi spoke on the latest work of Kenzaburo Oe, and Mr. Oe himself was present. Dr. Yamanouchi is a close friend of the author's, having helped to translate his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, and Mr. Oe's attendance, and personal reflections about his work, gave an added lustre to the occasion. Finally, the November and December meetings were held in Seisen University. 

Apart from the lectures, the Society also continued to offer members the opportunity to participate in cultural events. Dr. Hiroko Nishida, chief curator of the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, gave two guided tours of special exhibitions: "Koimari and Kakiemon Wares from the Yamamoto Collection, Part II" on March 25th, and "Blue-and-White and Celadon Wares" on September 16th. Mrs. Shigeko Tanaka from the Fine Arts Committee was indefatigable in obtaining complimentary tickets to exhibitions at certain museums, notably the Shibuya Shoto Museum; other tickets were donated by such places as the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, the Setagaya Museum and the Ikebukuro Tobu Museum. Other events attended by members were the launching on October 23rd of Fr. Neal Lawrence's fourth book of tanka poems, Blossoms in Time, and performances of Elizabeth Handover's play "Women and Socks" at the Pocket Theatre, Nakano, October 11th-14th. 

This year also saw the publication of Vol. 14 of the Transactions, which included contributions by younger scholars, Michael R. Auslin, Robert D. Eldridge and David Wright,as well as veteran Japanologists like Charles M. De Wolf, for a total of eight major articles. A further reduction in costs was achieved by the policy of appending end-notes to articles rather than footnotes. 

The speakers at the monthly meetings and the titles of their papers are as follows: 

Jan. 24  H.I.H. Princes Takamado  Lulie the Iceberg: Some Thoughts

   (Annual General Meeting)  on the Environment 

Feb. 21 Dr. Robert D. Eldridge  The Japanese Government, the San

        Francisco Peace Treaty, and the

Disposition of Okinawa, 1945-52 

Mar. 13 Dr. Charles M. De Wolf  The Game of Go in Japanese Literature 

Apr. 17 Mr. Robert I. Hellyer  Japanese Green Tea: An American

        Beverage in the Late 19th Century 

May 15 The Rev. Dr. Neal Henry  The Unforgettable Alice Kurusu,

Lawrence, O.S.B   Wife of a Diplomat 

Jun. 12 Dr. June Compton   The Role of Women in Kyogen 

Sep. 18 Prof. Sei'ichi Yamaguchi  Westerners around Kawanabe Kyosai  

Oct. 16 Dr. Hisaaki Yamanouchi  Kenzaburo Oe: In Search of a

(Joint Meeting with Inter-  Spiritual Saviour

national House) 

Nov. 13 Mr. Patrick Carey   The Tokaido: Changing Perceptions of

Japanese and Foreign Travellers,1691-1990 

Dec. 11 Dr. Matthew M. Hanley  Kipling's Imperial Gaze and Japan:

The Letters from Japan in the

Context of his Life and Work 

The number of new members showed a very slight increase over the previous year, although the total number of members was lower, the figures being 25 and 345 as against 22 and 394. To broaden the membership, Dr. Berendt has, with the support of the Council, initiated a "millennium membership campaign", and this is already bearing fruit. An attractive new membership application brochure has been produced, with wording in Japanese as well as English, and it is hoped that all members will use this to reach out to their friends and colleagues. The rate for individual membership has been kept at its present level of ´10,000 p.a.; at the same time, the Council decided to bring the dollar membership rate in line with the domestic rate, and to double the institutional subscription. 

The names and nationalities of this year's new members are as follows: 

Prof. Sayoko Arai, Japan   Dr. Peter Robinson, U.K.

Reiko Ariyoshi, Japan   Dr. Matthew M. Hanley, U.S.A.   

Dr. June Compton, U.S.A.   Prof. Paul Osamu Takahara, Japan

Prof. Masako Horiuchi, Japan  Dr. Aiko Utsugi, Japan 

Dr. Yuriko K. Kite, Japan   Emiko Watanabe, Japan 

David Maenaut, Belgium   Robert M. Wilson, U.K.

Sarah Mason, Australia   Akihiko Yahata, Japan

Prof. Peter MCMillan, Ireland  Prof. Sei'ichi Yamaguchi, Japan  

Masaki Morisawa, Japan   Dr. Hisaaki Yamanouchi, Japan

Robert Morton, U.K.   Dr. Masashi Yasumoto, Japan

Akira Nishikawa, Japan   Harumi M.S. Yonemoto, Japan    Edmond L. Papantonio, U.S.A.  Prof. Kyozo L. Yonemoto, Japan          Prof. Motoko Yoshioka, Japan 

Sadly we have to record the death of Miss Eloise Cunningham, who passed away at the grand old age of 101, and also of Mr. Peter Gaskin, former principal of St. Mary's International School. 

There was an infusion of new blood into the Council, which, as it happens, also served to redress the balance between the sexes. Mrs. Doreen Simmons became Assistant Corresponding Secretary and Miss Mihoko Horiguchi our Librarian, while Mrs. Eileen Kato and Mrs. Yumiyo Tokugawa joined as Council members. Thanks to Mrs. Simmons' computer, the monthly Bulletins are now in a format befitting the IT age; not only can the monthly Bulletin be made ready for the printer in one process, but the relevant announcements and reports can be put on our web site (maintained courtesy of Prof. Barry Duell of Tokyo International University) and sent electronically to the editor of the Transactions.  

In response to Prof. Anesaki's initiative, Mr. Mark Ford voluntarily provided his professional management skills to the Council, to help it examine the challenges, strengths and possible new directions open to the Society. We are grateful for his expert guidance. After discussions within the Council an action committee was formed to determine what was practicable in the near future, and a report was prepared. Some of these proposals included a financial and budgetary review, the need for new financial resources, the need for more diverse publicity and effective communication of the Society's activities, a membership drive, and better distribution of our publications. These initiatives are, to some extent, already under way: the Bulletin has been revamped and can in future be distributed electronically to those who wish it; the membership campaign has started; and Yushodo's undertaking of the distribution of the Transactions has greatly simplified the process. We have every confidence that the degree of progress indicated by these steps will be heightened in the coming year. 

The majority of the Council's monthly meetings were held in a conference room kindly provided by Yushodo, but the first two were held in Nihon Daigaku Kaikan; then in June Dr. Berendt entertained us at his residence, and in November we met at Seisen University. We suffered one setback at the end of the year when we lost the services of our office secretary, Mrs. Noriko Iriyama, who had originally come for one year and stayed for five. She ably and devotedly did all that was necessary to keep the Society in good running order, often going beyond the call of duty. We were especially indebted to her and her husband this year in taking the initiative to introduce us to Mr. Yanagitsubo of APIC when we were in need of new premises. She will indeed be greatly missed. 

The Society has now completed 128 years as a unique association covering a broad range of specializations and interests related to the study of Japan and Asia, and providing an international meeting ground not just for academic specialists but also for other interested professionals. The Council has striven to maintain the high quality of papers presented at the meetings, while also having regard to the need for them to appeal to a wider audience, and pledges to continue to work, with the assistance and support of all of the membership, to ensure that the Society moves with the times while retaining its integrity.