system(GIS), and related spatial sciences. 
JSPRS has approximately 1,100 members, 
issues its journal six times a year, and holds 
academic conferences twice a year. JSPRS is an 
Ordinary Member of the International Society for 
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) 
and the Asian Association on Remote Sensing 
(AARS). 
The Remote Sensing Society of Japan (RSSJ) 
was founded in 1980. It covers all aspects of 
remote sensing. RSSJ has approximately 1,300 
members, issues its journal five times a year, 
and holds academic conferences twice a year. 
The Geographic Information Systems 
Association (GISA) was founded in 1991. 
GISA has approximately 600 members and 
issues its journal twice a year. 
There are many other societies which are related 
to remote sensing. They include the Society of 
Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), the 
Japan Society of Hydrology and Water 
Resources (JSHWR), the Japan Society of Civil 
Engineers (JSCE), the Oceanographic Society of 
Japan (OSJ), the Association of Japanese 
Geographers (AJG), etc. 
4.2 Universities 
Photogrammetry, remote sensing and GIS are 
usually taught by a few faculty members in each 
university respectively. In the field of remote 
sensing, however, some universities have more 
remote sensing researchers. They include 
University of Tokyo, Chiba University, Tokai 
University, and Kanazawa Institute of 
Technology. 
4.3 Governmental organizations 
Geographical Survey Institute(GSI) is a national 
mapping agency of Japan. Its activities during 
1992-96 is described in the following chapter. 
Most remote sensing satellites such as MOS and 
ADEOS are launched by the budget of Science 
and Technology Agency (STA), while the budget 
44 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B6. Vienna 1996 
for JERS-1 was from STA and Ministry of 
International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the 
budget for GMS series is from Meteorological 
Agency, Ministry of Transport. 
The actual launch of satellites is performed by 
the semi-governmental organization, National 
Space Development Agency (NASDA) under 
SIA. NASDA has a large committee, "Earth 
Environment Observation Committee", which 
consists of a little more than 400 scientists from 
universities and institutes. One feature of this 
committee is that it includes many remote 
sensing scientists and natural scientists for 
global change studies. The main objective of the 
committee is to clarify scientific needs for earth 
observation and to establish the methodology of 
the actual observation process. This committee 
will be moved from NASDA to Earth System 
Science and Technology Organization under 
Japan Resources Association in 1996. 
There are many governmental research institutes 
conducting remote sensing research, most of 
which are located in Tsukuba, one hour from 
Tokyo by train/car. 
They include: 
- National Institute for Environmental Studies 
(NIES) under Environment Agency 
- Geographical Survey Institute (GSI) under 
Ministry of Construction 
- National Institute for Earth Science and 
Disaster Prevention (NIESDP) under STA 
- National Institute of Agro-Environmental 
Sciences (NIAES) under Ministry of 
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 
- Forestry and Forest Products Research 
Institute (FFPRI) under Ministry of Agriculture, 
Forestry and Fisheries 
- National Institute for Resources and 
Environment (NIRE) under MITI 
- Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ) under MITI 
- Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) under 
Meteorological Agency 
- Communication Research Laboratory (CRL) 
under Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications 
4.4 Foundations 
  
   
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