About the Society

The Japanese Society for the History of Chemistry (Kagakushi Gakkai) was founded in December 1973. It aims to foster interest in the history of chemistry and chemical technologies and to promote scholarly research in the field. The society has about 250 members, including historians, chemists, chemical engineers, and high-school teachers. It holds annual meetings, summer seminars, and occasional special symposiums.

The society publishes a quarterly journal, Kagakushi Kenkyu (The Journal of the Japanese Society for the History of Chemistry), or the abridged title Kagakushi. The journal carries articles, notes, book reviews, and news on all aspects of the history of chemistry and related fields. As of March 2023, 182 issues have been published. Annual membership, which includes a subscription to Kagakushi, costs ¥7,000 (¥3,000 for students).

President: Yoshiyuki Kikuchi

Vice president: Toshiya Kohno

Secretary in Chief: Masanori Wada

Editor in Chief: Hideyuki Yoshimoto

Editorial Board:

Kazutaka Arai, Yasu Furukawa, Kyohei Hirano, Toshiya Kohno, Riki Kudo, Masatada Matsuoka, Takeshi Ozawa, Hiroaki Tanaka, Masao Uchida, Masanori Wada, Mari Yamaguchi, Akira Yoshida

Office of the Society:

c/o Masanori Wada
Center for General Education Mie University
1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu, Mie 514-8507 JAPAN

Overseas Distributor of Kagakushi:

Maruzen Co. Ltd.
P.O.Box 5050, Tokyo International, Tokyo 100-3199, Japan

About the History of Chemistry in Japan

Yoshiyuki Kikuchi and Yona Siderer, “A History of Chemistry in Japan, 1820-1955,” AsiaChem, Vol. 2, Issue 1 (December 2021): 104-113. (PDF file) 

Kazutaka Arai, “Chemical Heritage Japan Program: Introduction to the History of Chemistry in Japan, ” Kagakushi, 48 (2021): 166-181. (PDF file)