Japan Studies Association of Canada (JSAC) Annual Meeting Minutes

 

The meeting was held at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, on Saturday October 14, from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.   This was during the JSAC Annual Conference.

 

Officers present:  Carin Holroyd (President), David Edginton (Past President), Norio Ota (Secretary/Treasurer), Fumiko Ikawa-Smith, Tom Waldichuk, James Tiessen, David Welch

 

Other attendees (From signup sheet):  Yves Tiberghien (UBC), David Welch (Toronto), Evan Koike (UBC), Natasha Fox (UBC), Maxime Marcotte Bouthillier (York), Lisa Irinescu (WLU), Jess Mantell (Japan Foundation), Leighton Wilks (Calgary), Teri Jane Bryant (Calgary), Greg Wheeler (Sapporo Medical University), Sheri Zhang (Ottawa), Cary Takagaki (York), David Telfer (Brock), Astuko Hashimoto (Brock), James White (Sheffield, UK), X Jie Yang (Calgary), Shige Matsui (UBC), Brian Pendelton (Langara), Susan Lee (Toronto), Derek Hall (WLU), Sachiyo Kanzaki (UQAM), Seung Hyok Lee (Toronto), Mathew Linley (Nagoya), David Wallace (former Arbutus College, Vancouver), John Nilsson-Wright (Cambridge, UK), Masayuki Tadokoro (Keio, Japan), Scott Harrison (Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada)

 

1.  Approval of agenda

 

David Welch moved to accept the agenda.  Seconded by David Edginton.   Passed.

 

2. Acceptance of Minutes from 2016 AGM

 

David Edginton moved to accept the minutes of the 2016 AGM as circulated.  Seconded by David Edginton. Passed.

 

3.  Presidentfs address

 

a:  JSACfs President Carin Holroyd welcomed Association members to the meeting and the Conference.  She thanked David Welch who was supported by Eileen Lam of the Munk Centre at the University of Toronto for the 2017 Conference arrangements.  She also thanked the Japan Foundation (JF) and other conference sponsors, as well as the many student volunteers.

 

Carin thanked Norio Ota for his work as treasurer and work on the web site.

 

b:  On Thursday of this yearfs conference, 43 people signed up for the graduate student workshop, and 20 participated. 

 

c:  Representatives from Mount Alison University (New Brunswick) had indicated in 2016 that they would host JSAC 2018.    However it recently has become apparent that they may not be able to do this.

 

Aya Fujiwara from the University of Alberta with help from X. Jie Yang at the University of Calgary has agreed to host JSAC 2018. 

 

 d:  Thompson Rivers University (Tom Waldichuk) has volunteered to host JSAC 2018.

 

e.  A JSAC spring newsletter was published.  There will be a fall one.  Currently two issues are published per year.

 

f.  The JSAC Long Term Contribution Award was presented to Fumiko Ikawa-Smith at the2017 conference banquet on October 13.  This will be an occasional award recognizing significant contributions to JSAC over many years.

 

4.  Treasurer/Secretary report

 

a. Financial balance:  Norio Ota reported that JSAC had a balance of $25,372 prior to the 2017 conference.  JSAC would be subsidizing the conference in 2017 to a maximum of $8,000.

 

b.  JF support:  The JF has been reducing financial support for the JSAC annual conference, and this trend will continue.  From 2017 there will be no JF financial support for domestic travel to the conference.  This year JSAC allocated $400 (maximum) for each participant to travel to Toronto as a short term bridge.

 

David Edginton stated that JSAC is an important linchpin for Japan studies in Canada.  Domestic travel support is needed to sustain this group. 

 

David Edginton made a motion that the executive write a formal proposal making this case and deliver it to the Japan Foundation.  Brian Pendleton seconded.  Passed.

 

Yves Tiberghien offered to provide suggestions for the note content.  The Carin Holroyd confirmed that her discussions with the JF that funding is unlikely to be sustained because the Foundation itself is facing fiscal constraints.  Carin urged JSAC members to continue to participate in JSAC using their own sources, including Professional Development funds. 

 

5.  2016 JSAC Conference Report

 

Shige Matsui spoke about JSAC 2016 at UBC.  He thanked the participants for taking part in the conference. 

 

6.  Other business

 

a. Millie Creighton (UBC) has proposed the awarding of a JSAC book award for a memberfs publication.  At the AGM Carin distributed the communication she received from Millie, asked the group about pursuing this idea in the future.  The Executive, under short notice, had decided not to move forward on this idea.   The idea was discussed by the group.

 

While the idea was worthy of discussion it was felt that there would be limited candidate books published and judging those that do come out would be complicated for a group with JSACfs diverse expertise base.

 

David Welch moved that JSAC not create a book award.  David Edginton seconded.  Passed.

 

b.  David Welch suggested JSAC set up a Twitter feed.  The membership agreed this would be a good idea.

 

David Welch announced he would gather submissions from the 2017 conference for web publication.  The deadline is January 15, 2018.  The reference style is Chicago.

 

7.  Motion to adjourn

 

David Edginton moved to adjourn the meeting.  Yves Tiberghien seconded.  Passed.