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History of VSJ and JVSS
It has been more than one hundred years
since Japanese companies started producing
vacuum pumps for industrial use (Fig.1). After
the progressive development of the vacuum
industry and technology, the Vacuum Society of
Japan (VSJ) was established as “Shinku Kyokai”
in Japanese on July 12, 1958 by unification of
the Research Committee on Vacuum Technology
and the Vacuum Equipment Society. Whereas
the former started in 1950 to publish a journal
on vacuum technology named “Shinku Gijutsu”
and organise meetings on vacuum physics and
technology, the latter was founded in 1954 to
promote development and standardization of
vacuum equipment. Because of this unification,
VSJ consisted of both scientific and industrial
communities. The society was later renamed
“Nihon Shinku Kyokai” on February 6, 1971 on
the occasion of hosting the sixth International
Vacuum Congress of IUVSTA in Kyoto in March,
1974. After the success of the IVC in Kyoto and
further development of VSJ, the Industry Division
founded a separate society of the Japan Vacuum
Industry Association (JVIA) in 1985 serving
corporate members (more than 100 corporate
members currently belong to JVIA). Since then,
VSJ has annually held Japan Vacuum Show and
International Vacuum Exhibition in cooperation
with JVIA. In February 2011, the society became a
“General Incorporated Association –The Vacuum
Society of Japan” according to the amendment
of the Japanese law on the corporation system.
In response to the needs to adapt to the
rapid changes in both scientific and industrial
communities, the Vacuum Society of Japan was
unified with the Surface Science Society of Japan
(SSSJ) in April of 2018, and established a new
society named “The Japan Society of Vacuum
and Surface Science (JVSS)”, which surely
strengthens the relationship in the respective fields
and between the related communities. JVSS will
furthermore promote the activity in the field of
vacuum and surface science and technology.
Relation with IUVSTA
JVSS, the third oldest vacuum society in the
world to our knowledge, joined IUVSTA in
1968. As an IUVSTA member, VSJ hosted
IVC-6 (Kyoto, 1974), IVC-13 (Yokohama, 1995),
and ICTF-15 (Kyoto, 2011) so far, and is now
preparing IVC-22 to be held in Sapporo in 2022.
In the region of Asia and Australia, the Vacuum
and Surface Sciences Conference of Asia and
Australia (VASSCAA), officially endorsed by
IUVSTA, is organised to create a new forum to
discuss vacuum, surface and related sciences,
techniques and applications. In September
1999, VSJ hosted the first VASSCAA in Tokyo,
VASSCAA-4 in Matsue in 2008, and will organise
VASSCAA-11 in Sapporo jointly with IVC-22.
The VSJ presidents served as the chair of the
International Steering Committee of VASSCAA
until 2013.
Member and Committee in JVSS
The aims and objectives of JVSS are to promote
the advancement of vacuum technologies, surface
science and related fields. Before the unification,
VSJ had ten committees, two branches and three
sections under the control of the board of directors
headed by the President and Vice Presidents
and assisted by the Advisory Committee serving
511 individual members, 114 student members
and 119 corporate members as of 2017. After
the unification, the society was reorganised so
as to have eleven committees, five branches
and eleven sections, and serves 1,706 individual
members, 330 student members and 114
corporate members. Some of the activities of
the committees, branches and sections are
introduced below.
An important academic activity is to organise
the annual meeting of the society, which has
been held since 1960. More than 500 people
participated in the meeting in the last several
years including students and researchers from
universities, national institutes and companies.
In 2013, a joint symposium has started with the
THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF VACUUMAND
SURFACE SCIENCE (JVSS)
Yoshio Saito and Katsuyuki Fukutani