FIFTY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF JAPANESE GEOGRAPHARS

Abstract

The fiftieth anniversary of the Association of Japanese Geographers was celebrated on the 30th April, 1975 in Tokyo. On this occasion, the author delivered a memorial lecture on a historical overview of the development of the Association. The Association was established in 1925 for the purpose of promoting geographical research in Japan, only 49 members being then enrolled under the leadership of Professor Naomasa Yamasaki. Its inititial activities were to hold occasional meetings and to publish a monthly serial, “Chirigaku-Hyoron” (Geographical Review of Japan), mostly, in Japanese with English abstract. In the course of half a century since its establishment, the Association has continuously developed in its scale and activities. The number of members has increased up to 3000 including 50 foreign geographers. Among them, three foreign geographers, Prof. F. Ruellan, Prof. M. Schwind and Prof. H. Boesch were nominated as honorable members of the Association in recognitino of their eminent works in Japan as well as distinguished contributions to the Association at the time of the fiftieth anniversary. The Association now holds monthly discussion meetings, commission meetings and biannual large conferences with more than 500 attendants from all over Japan. In addition to the monthly serial, the Association publishes abstracts of papers submitted to the conferences, guide books of excursions, special issues of “Geographical Review of Japan”. More than 50 copies of the “Geographical Review of Japan” are sent to oversew geographical institutions in exchange. In the spring conference of 1975, 153 papers were read in eight sectionary meetings, a symposium on quantitative geography was held and five parties of excursions were organized.