We are an association of scholars and researchers focusing on Japan. Japanese studies is now well established as a field of research and an academic discipline, but for many years researchers in Europe did their work in more or less splendid isolation, separated by linguistic or national barriers or by academic conventions and traditions. While this rich heritage of differences has been a source of constant stimulation and inspiration, we have strongly felt the need to form contacts and exchange information, and it was for that purpose that the European Association for Japanese Studies was formed in 1973.