JSA's History
The Beginning
In 1987 Dr. Alvin Coox, noted Japanese historian, established a 4-week summer institute at San Diego State University funded by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). The institute was for American state college teachers, who had no background in Japanese studies but who had a desire to infuse some aspect of Japan into their varied disciplines.
Several participants in the 1987 and 1988 classes were interested in building on the knowledge gained from the institute. After attending several National Social Science Conferences and spending six weeks in Japan with Dr. Coox on a Fulbright grant in 1990, some of the former participants of the institute decided to establish a permanent educational association focused primarily on Japan studies.
JSA's Founding
In spring 1994, the Japan Studies Association's founders met in San Diego to draw up constitutional by-laws in order to establish the Japan Studies Association and plan for future annual national conferences beginning in 1995. In addition, the group then obtained federal tax exempt 501(c)3 status for the Association. In the second half of the 1990s JSA conducted, in cooperation with the East-West Center and the Japan Foundation, several study tours to Japan.
These founding alumni were Thomas Carneal (Northwest Missouri State University), Joseph L. Overton (Morgan State University), Philip Reichel (Northern Colorado State University) Earl Schrock (Arkansas Tech University), Peter Krawutschke (Western Michigan University), and Hisako Coox.
JSA's Activities to Present
From 1995 to the present the JSA has held its annual national conferences in San Diego, Honolulu, La Jolla, New Orleans, San Antonio, and San Francisco. Every other year the annual conference is held at Hawaii Tokai International College in Honolulu. Participants come from not only the U.S., but also from Canada, Europe, and Asia/Oceania.
In 2002 JSA hosted a 3-week level 2 Japan Institute at Honolulu Tokai International University funded by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission titled Integrating Japanese Studies into the U.S. Curriculum.
With the death of Dr. Coox, the Japan Studies Association took up where he left off. In 2003 the JSA, with generous support from the Freeman Foundation, began offering 3-week Summer Institutes on Japan. In addition, these Institutes were possible because of the generous logistical and institutional support provided by Hawaii Tokai International College in Honolulu.
Unlike Dr. Coox's program which was open only to AASCU member institutions, the JSA's Summer Institutes are open to college teachers at America's 2 and 4 year institutions, both public and private. The continuous financial support from the Freeman Foundation has allowed JSA to offer the Institutes for the past eight years.
Recognizing the need for JSA members to acquire first-hand knowledge about Japan, the Association conducted two study seminars in Japan organized and led by Fay Beauchamp (Community College of Philadelphia). The first was in Hiroshima in 2003 titled Reconsidering Hiroshima/Nagasaki, and the second was in Fukuoka and Nagasaki in 2008 titled International Crossroads at Fukuoka, Japan: East-Asian-Western Connections Past and Present. It is JSA's hope that it can continue to conduct such study abroad seminars in the future.
Since the beginning, one of the goals of JSA has been to publish an annual quality, refereed journal. Currently, JSA is publishing the Japan Studies Association Journal(JSAJ) with John Paine of Belmont University as the editor. Thus far JSA has published eight volumes of the Journal, and is currently working on compiling its ninth volume for 2010.
JSA Funding
The Japan Studies Association is grateful for the funding received for its various programs from the following organizations: