First Chairman: Eiji Itoi

Background of Academic Organization Incorporation

The Japan Shoulder Society was established in 1974 as an informal organization called the "Shoulder Research Society." In the same year, under the leadership of Chairman Hisao Endo, the first academic conference was held in Tokushima. From the 18th conference in 1991, it was renamed the "Japan Shoulder Society," a name it still holds. Informal organizations have the advantage of easy operation owing to a lack of legal constraints. However, disadvantages include assets managed by individuals' names and low social credibility. For instance, if a prominent individual suddenly passes away, the assets may become frozen and inaccessible. By obtaining legal status as a corporation, society can conduct legal activities such as asset management, increase social credibility, and strengthen its advocacy power. However, obtaining approval from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) is necessary, and this process is cumbersome, limiting its incorporation into larger major societies. The establishment of the Japanese Board of Medical Specialties, the precursor of the Japanese Medical Specialty Board, in 2003, with one of the membership requirements being incorporated, prompted academic groups to move towards incorporation. Furthermore, the enactment of the “Act on General Incorporated Associations and General Incorporated Foundations” in December 2008 significantly simplified the incorporation process, allowing the creation of new entities without MEXT's approval. Consequently, the previous corporation type, known as an incorporated association, ceased to exist, and two new types–general incorporated associations and public interest-incorporated associations–were established. Generally, incorporated associations are divided into for-profit and non-profit types. Nonprofit general incorporated associations receive almost the same tax treatment as nonprofit organizations (NPOs), and unlike NPOs, do not require approval from the supervisory authority, leading many academic societies to transition or obtain a new nonprofit general incorporated association status. The Japan Surgical Society transitioned from an incorporated association to a general incorporated association in 2010, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association became a public interest-incorporated association in 2011, and the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine transitioned from an incorporated association to a general incorporated association in 2013.

The Science Council of Japan also played a role in incorporating academic organizations. Prior to the December 2008 legal revision, in May of the same year, the Science Council of Japan issued a proposal entitled "The Role of Academic Societies in the New Public Interest Corporation System," suggesting the establishment of specialized legal entities for academic societies called "academic corporations." Unfortunately, this proposal was not adopted, leading many academic societies to obtain a generally incorporated association status. In March 2013, the Science Council of Japan reported the results of the "Survey on Response to the New Public Interest Corporation Law and Strengthening the Functions of Academic Associations," recommending that academic associations without legal status acquire it as soon as possible. This has further accelerated the trend towards incorporation.

Initiation of Organizational Reform Discussions within the Japan Shoulder Society

Following the trend of the nationwide incorporation of academic societies, voices advocating the need to revitalize the Japan Shoulder Society through the reform of its administrative system began to emerge. In 2005, to establish a cooperative relationship with the Science Council of Japan, which led to the incorporation of academic societies, the Japan Shoulder Society established an "Committee for the Study of Society System Reform" (chaired by Hiromoto Ito) and was certified as a collaborative academic research organization by the Science Council of Japan on October 26, 2005. In January of the same year, during President Shigehito Kuroda’s tenure, board members were surveyed to assess the need for organizational reform and the desired form of such reform. The results showed that nearly 80% of board members (79% of honorary members and auditors, and 78% of secretaries) acknowledged the necessity of organizational reform. A particularly high number of opinions suggested an increase in the number of secretaries, and many expressed that transitioning to a board of directors and councilors system would be unavoidable (36% of honorary members and auditors and 53% of secretaries). President Kuroda proposed that the board of directors should consider the number and selection method of secretaries. However, there was an opinion to be confirmed once again with board members regarding further discussions on organizational reform based on the survey results. Consequently, a second survey was conducted in May of the same year to inquire about board members' approval of making organizational changes a topic of discussion at board meetings and, if approved, whether to continue with the secretary system or transition to a board of directors and councilors system. As a result, 88% approved making it a discussion topic, but regarding the content of organizational reform, 61% favored maintaining the secretary system, while only 17% supported transitioning to a board of directors and council system. The results indicate a preference among many board members to maintain the secretary system while increasing the number of positions. Possible reasons for the reversal in the results of the two surveys include changes in the wording and methods of the questions, and the fluidity of the board members’ opinions. It was deemed necessary to continue deliberations, leading to the establishment of a "Committee for the Study of Society System" at the board meeting in 2006 (chaired by Kiyohisa Ogawa, with 9 committee members and 2 observers), inheriting the content of the committee established the previous year for society system reform, with members from the previous committee continuing their roles.

Transition to a Board of Directors and Councilors System

Based on the results of the previous surveys, the "Committee for the Study of Society System" conducted inquiries and organized the advantages and disadvantages of the secretary system and the board of directors and councilors system. In a board meeting on October 8, 2009, Chairman Kiyohisa Ogawa of the Committee for the Study of Society System reported the following. The advantage of the secretary system is that the number of secretaries is set relatively low, making it easier for an active exchange of opinions (the bylaws specify the number of secretaries as a few). However, there are disadvantages such as stagnation among secretaries, taking too long to make decisions, and a lack of continuity as the chairman changes every year. On the other hand, the advantages of the board of directors and councilors system include the ability to appoint more young talent as councilors, but there are disadvantages, such as difficulty in having open discussions due to the large number of councilors, the risk of the councilor meeting becoming symbolic, and being easily influenced by the opinions of a few directors. Subsequently, a secret ballot was conducted, and the transition to the board of directors and councilors system was approved by a majority vote (22 votes for the board of directors and councilors system and five votes for the secretary system). Therefore, the "Committee for the Study of the Board of Directors and Councilors System" was established to initiate specific discussions on transitioning to the board of directors and councilors system under the next chairman (Jun Kumagai). The Committee for the Study of Society Systems was dissolved after fulfilling its role in this decision.

On October 7, 2010, the Board of Directors and the following day at the general meeting, new articles of incorporation proposed by Chairman Keizo Morisawa of the Committee for the Examination of the Directors and Councilor System were approved. It was decided that a "Committee for the Review of Articles and Regulations" would be established to correct any deficiencies in these new articles and that the transition to the directors and councilor system would aim to be completed by the next general meeting in 2011. The first meeting of the Committee for the Review of Articles and Regulations (Chairman Keizo Morisawa, five other committee members, and two observers) was held on December 26, 2010; The following schedule was decided: The draft articles would be posted on the society's website from January 10 to February 10, 2011, for public comments from members, based on which the committee would prepare a revised draft of the articles; an extraordinary board meeting would be held in May during the Japanese Orthopaedic Association meeting to approve the draft articles; candidates for board member elections would be announced in June; and board member elections would be held in October.

However, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, making it difficult to proceed with the above schedule because of rescue, recovery, and reconstruction activities. On May 25, President Yozo Shibata sent a mass email to society members stating that the Japanese Orthopaedic Association meeting would be held online. Since an extraordinary board meeting could not be held, it was impossible to announce candidates for board members from June 1 to 30 and to hold board member elections in October, as stipulated in the draft articles. Consequently, the transition to the director and councilor system had to be postponed by one year.

At an annual meeting on October 7, 2011, the Japan Shoulder Society's articles of incorporation (one president, one to two vice-presidents, a total of 8-10 directors), board member election rules, and councilor election rules (the current secretaries would become councilors, up to 4% of the regular members) were approved and immediately enacted. As of this October 7, the 30 secretaries (Junji Ide, Eiji Itoi, Yusuke Iwahori, Masao Eto, Kenji Okamura, Jiro Ozaki, Jun Kumagai, Masao Kurokawa, Hirotaka Sano, Yozo Shibata, Naoki Suenaga, Kazuomi Sugamoto, Hiroyuki Sugaya, Katsumasa Sugimoto, Kenji Takagishi, Kazuya Tamai, Hiroaki Tsutsui, Teruhiko Nakagawa, Yasuaki Nakagawa, Hiroyuki Hashizume, Yukihiko Hata, Kazutoshi Hamada, Masafumi Hara, Kimitaka Fukuda, Koh Maruyama, Yu Mochizuki, Keizo Morisawa, Yutaka Morisawa, Kaoru Yamanaka, Minoru Yoneda) became councilors.

Although delayed by one year, on April 1, 2012, the board member election was announced, with the period for submitting board member candidates from June 1 to 30. On October 4, at the councilor meeting, all nine board member candidates (Eiji Itoi, Yozo Shibata, Naoki Suenaga, Kazuomi Sugamoto, Kenji Takagishi, Kazuya Tamai, Hiroaki Tsutsui, Yukihiko Hata, and Minoru Yoneda) were approved. Subsequently, Eiji Itoi was elected as first president through a mutual election. Additionally, nine new councilor candidates (Toshitake Aizawa, Hiroyasu Ikegami, Teruaki Izaki, Masafumi Goto, Katsumi Takase, Mitsuru Nagoshi, Hiroshi Hashiguchi, Kenji Hayashida, and Tadanao Funakoshi) were approved for confidence voting and all were elected as councilors. On October 6, at a general meeting, the president, directors, and nine new councilors were approved, officially starting the director and councilor systems. Dr. Hiroaki Tsutsui and Dr. Kazuya Tamai were appointed vice presidents.

Path to Incorporation

Under the new director and councilor system, the incorporation process proceeded as follows. At the first board meeting on October 6, 2012, the establishment of a new "Articles and Regulations Examination Committee" for incorporation was approved, and Yozo Shibata was entrusted with selecting members. At the first meeting of the Articles and Regulations Examination Committee (supervised by Director Yozo Shibata and chaired by Yasuaki Nakagawa, with four other committee members and one observer) on January 16, 2013, it was confirmed that the Japan Shoulder Society met the conditions for incorporation (as set by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology: over 1,000 regular members and assets exceeding 20 million yen). The work to revise the current articles to meet the requirements for incorporation has begun. On February 6, at the board meeting, it was decided to officially commission accountant Toru Karasawa, who had been consulted as needed, for incorporation work because of its specialized nature. Mr. Karasawa promptly prepared a draft of the articles of incorporation, which was presented at the second meeting of the Articles and Regulations Examination Committee on April 10. Based on this, the committee finalized the details and prepared a committee draft.

At an annual meeting on September 27, 2013, incorporation as a general association was approved. With incorporation, three points were approved: 1) changing the fiscal year from "July 1 to June 30" to "August 1 to July 31," 2) reducing the number of new councilor recommendations from three to two, and 3) changing the election of annual meeting presidents from "electing up to two years in advance" to "electing up to three years in advance." In April 2014, the draft articles were made public, and based on public comments, revisions were made. The final draft was approved at the extraordinary councilor meeting on May 24, completing the preparations for incorporation.

On August 1, 2014, the Japan Shoulder Society transitioned from a voluntary organization to a general incorporated association through official registration. Having corporate status allows for social recognition as an organization and legal protection. Consequently, the councilors became representatives, and the councilor meeting held the day before the conference became the general meeting of members, where all important matters related to society's operations were decided. While the traditional general meeting no longer existed, it was decided to hold an "informational meeting for members" on the first day of the conference to provide updates on society’s operations, as eliminating direct communication opportunities with general members was deemed inconvenient (implemented from 2014 to 2021). Owing to the increased administrative workload accompanying the incorporation, the secretariat, previously located within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Gunma University, was outsourced to an external entity. At a general meeting of members in October 2014, it was officially decided to outsource to ISS Corporation.

Subsequent Developments

Following successful incorporation, as of September 2023, the Japanese Shoulder Society, the oldest shoulder society in the world, continues to grow, with a current membership of 2,363. Due to the increase in membership and the number of committees, it was deemed impractical to limit the number of representatives to "within 4% of the regular members" as stated in the articles. Therefore, at the 2022 general meeting, the representative number was revised to "4% to 8% of the regular members" (currently, with 1,629 regular members, the number of representatives is between 65 and 130). With the expected continued increase in membership, it is hoped that increasing the number of representatives will ensure that members' opinions are adequately reflected in the society's operations. Special thanks are extended to the Articles and Regulations Examination Committee, chaired by Yasuaki Nakagawa, for their tireless work, especially during the short period from public comments to the final drafts of the articles.