Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
revitalize geography education. Thus, support for geography teachers and direct
impacts on students in the education system are equally important to improve the
image of the geography fi eld.
13.2
The Beginning of the AJG's Social Action Program
and Its Course Up To the Present
13.2.1
Public Events
We describe here the background of how AJG's social action program began and its
evolution to the present. Information was gathered from records of the board of
directors and news articles published in the journal
Geographical Review of Japan
.
At a board of directors meeting during the autumn AJG general conference in
November 1989, board members deliberated on holding an open public lecture at
the 1990 general conference. The holding of open public lectures was approved and
added to the association's bylaws. Since then, AJG's social action programs have
often been held at the general conference. Table
13.1
summarizes AJG's public
events during the 1990s.
The series of events in the 1990s laid the groundwork for AJG's involvement and
plans to engage the public through its social action program. The social action pro-
gram is the impetus to the implementation of geography education open public
lecture series that began in 2001.
Thereafter, the open public lectures were presented during the general conferences
in 2004 and 2005. Lectures were replaced with symposia from 2006 to 2012. Support
for public engagement was seen at the autumn general conference at Nagoya University
in 2010; as many as ten different symposia were advertised as “open to the public”.
Today, open public events are fi rmly established at AJG general conferences. However,
the number of non-members who have participated in these symposia is unclear.
In addition to efforts by the AJG, other academic associations have provided free
lectures to the public. For example, in November 1998, the Human Geographical
Society of Japan HGSJ held a 50th anniversary commemorative celebration, and an open
public lecture series was held at the Kyoto Conference Hall as part of the events.
Table 13.1
AJG's public events during the 1990s
Date
Theme
Location
Lecturer
September
1990
Geography Education: Looking
Back and Looking Ahead—Based
on practical examples
Joetsu University of
Education's attached
junior high school
Asakura Ryutaro
October 1991
The Problems of the Aging of
Society and Depopulation, and
Permanent Residency Measures:
From the Standpoint of Geography
General Welfare
Center, Matsue City
Fujita Yoshihisa,
Shinohara
Shigenori, and
others
March 1997
Open Public Invitational Lecture
Tokyo Metropolitan
University
