October 13, 2018

Japan Studies Association of Canada

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The meeting was held during the 31st Annual JSAC Conference, hosted by the Prince Takamodo Centre, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Canada on October 13, 2018.

Executive 

President: Carin Holroyd (Saskatchewan)

Secretary/Treasurer:  Norio Ota (York)

Previous Conference Organizers:  David Welch (Toronto)

Shige Matsui (UBC) Regrets

Current Conference Organizer:  Aya Fujiwara (Alberta)                                  

Members at large: 

Tom Waldichuk  (Thompson Rivers)

James Tiessen (Ryerson)

Total attendance:  39 (including Executive.  List of other attendees attached)

Minutes recorded by James Tiessen.

Minutes

1.  Agenda

Motion to accept agenda as displayed by President.  Moved David Edgington.  Seconded Fumiko Ikawa-Smith.  Passed.

2.  2017 AGM Minutes

Motion to accept 2017 AGM minutes as circulated by President.   Moved David Edgington. Seconded Ken Coates.  Passed.

3. President’s Messages

Thanked Aya Fujiwara (Alberta) and X. Jie Yang (Calgary) and their teams for organizing the 2018 JSAC conference. 

Welcomed new JSAC participants and encouraged them to become regular JSAC participants.

Thanked Tom Waldichuk (Thompson Rivers) for organizing reviews for Klaus Pringsheim Award for best student presentation  this year.

2.  Long Term Service Award

Announced that the Long-Term Service Award will be named for Dr. Fumiko Ikawa-Smith (McGill). 
Dr. Smith is a founding member of JSAC and was the Award’s first recipient in 2017.  This award is for members with at least 20 years
JSAC tenure and who have made notable contributions to the Association. 

 

 

3.  Upcoming Conferences

The 2019 Conference will be held October 3-6 at Mount Alison University, in Sackville New Brunswick.  Owen Griffith (Mount Alison)
introduced himself and encouraged people to attend.  He will host it together with Tim Reiffenstein (Mount Alison).

The President announced that JSAC organizers will provide subsidies for graduate students to attend, with higher levels for those west
of Ontario
.

Tom Waldichuk (Thompson Rivers) announced that he would host the 2020 Conference at his University in Kamloops, BC.  Since travel
to Kamloops will take considerable time and money Tom proposes to hold the meeting in the summer (August).  This too would allow
people to build a holiday around the trip.   A show of hands indicated that many would be agreeable.  JSAC will follow up with a membership poll.

4.  Newsletter

The President proposed that the Newsletter, introduced by David Edgington when he was President, be published once a year, rather
than twice, as it is now.  The room indicated agreement with this.  (There was not a motion).  It was suggested that it be published May
or June around the time of the Conference call for papers.

5.  2017 Conference Report

David Welch (Waterloo) reviewed the 2017 Conference which was held at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre.  There were more
than 50 JSAC participants, plus 75 or so local attendees.  There were 6 keynote speakers, 10 panels and 1 roundtable.  The Proceedings
are available on the JSAC Website.

6. Other business

David Edgington announced the publication of a hard copy of a digital resources project edited by Tristan Gurnow (who was an adjunct
Prof in UBC History) and the UBC Asian Library on `Meiji 150' (full details here: https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/meijiat150/)

Aya Fujiwara (Alberta) invited participants to submit papers for publication in a Conference Proceedings.

7.  Financial report (note order different than displayed agenda)

The Secretary/Treasurer showed the recent financial report stating that JSAC has $25,214.69 in its account.  He is keeping up the website. 

Responding to a question, the Secretary/Treasurer said that due to cost reasons, JSAC is unable to implement online membership payment.

The idea of gaining Not-for-profit status for JSAC, rather than having it hosted at York University, was raised.  This has been discussed by
JSAC in the past.  Without a vote it was agreed that the effort to do this was not worth the benefits associated being a NFP.

8. Adjournment

Motion to adjourn the meeting.  Moved Gideon Fujiwara (Lethbridge).  Seconded Ken Coates.  Passed.

 

Attachment:  JSAC 2018 AGM attendees (n.i. Executive)

Fumiko Ikawa-Smith                       McGill
Jacob Kovalio                                   Carleton
Gideon Fujiwara                              Lethbridge
Susan Lee                                         Toronto
Brian Pendleton                              Lagara College
Owen Griffiths                                 Mount Allison
Steve Vogel                                      UC Berkeley
Scott Harrison                                 Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Yoichi Mukai                                    Alberta
X Jie Yang                                         Calgary
Noriko Yabuki-Soh                          York
Akiko Sharp                                      Calgary
Sachiyo Kanzaki                               Quebec at Montreal
Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki                   Tsukuba (Japan)
David Edginton                                UBC
Ben Whaley                                      Calgary
Yoko Kodama                                   Calgary
Cyrus Huiyoung Qiu                        British Columbia
Shota Iwasaki                                   British Columbia
Evan Koike                                        British Columbia
David Sulz                                         Alberta
Daiyo Sawada                                  Alberta
Teri Jane Bryant                               Calgary
Saeko Suzuki                                     British Columbia
Miaoling Xue                                    British Columbia
Yu Maemura                                     Tokyo
Jess Mantell                                      Japan Foundation (Toronto)
Yuko Shimizu                                    Japan Foundation (Toronto)
Iain Macpherson                              MacEwan
Ken Coates                                       Saskatchewan
David Welch                                     Toronto
Chris Reyns-Chikuma                      Alberta
Jay Goulding                                     York