- Created in 1877 as Tokyo Sugaku Kaisha
( Tokyo Mathematics Society)

The precursor to the JPS, Tokyo Sugaku Kaisha (Tokyo Mathematics Society) was established in 1877. The centrality of mathematics in the organization is explained by the tradition in the subject the Japanese had already (Wasan, or Japanese Mathematics, was much advanced even before Japan 's westernization drive that started with the Meiji Restoration). JPS celebrated its centennial in 1977, including in its history the Tokyo Sugaku Kaisha era. The German Physics Society celebrated its 150 th anniversary in 1995, and the American Physics Society its centennial in 1999. 

- Background to the establishment of the Tokyo Sugaku Kaisha-

1877 was an important year for Japan , both in political and cultural terms. The Seinan (southwest) War, the civil war fought between the new government in Tokyo and the samurai of Satsuma, a dominion in the southwest of Japan (model of the film Last Samurai・, came to an end, and the Tokyo Imperial University, Japan's state-run prime academic institution, was created. It could be said that these two events marked the consolidation of the new government's long term policy of westernization. It was also in 1877 that Kikuchi Dairoku, Japan 's first modern mathematician, returned from his study in Britain . Already by 1875, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Meiji Japan 's best known educator, had published Bunmei-ron no gairyaku (the schematics of contemporary civilization)・ in which the meaning of Newtonian physics and physical law were discussed in positive light. The 1870s itself was an important decade in the history of physics, seeing the publication of Maxwell's textbook on electromagnetic in 1874 and the formalization of the concept of entropy in the field of statistical mechanics.

Suugaku Butsuri Gakkai (Mathematics and Physics Society)・in the pre-WWII era

In 1884, the Tokyo Sugaku Kaisha added physics in its fold as a field to be jointly studied and assist mutually and expanded and reorganized itself as the Tokyo Sugaku Butsuri Gakkai (Tokyo Mathematics and Physics Society) In 1918, in accordance with Nagaoka Hantaro's suggestion, it changed its name to Nihon Sugaku Butsuri Gakkai (Japana Mathematics and Physics Society) which lasted until the end of World War II. During the mathematics and Physics Society period, Takagi Teiji went to Germany for study (1898), Nagaoka Hantaro devised the model of the atom (1903), and the Klein-Nishina formula completed (1928). All these developments contributed to the coming of the golden age of Japanese physics, led by Yuakawa Hideki and Tomonaga Shin'ichiro.

 
The Birth of JPS

The last volume of the Nihon Sugaku Butsuri Gakkaishi (Journal of the Japan Mathematics and Physics Society) was published as a 1944 1945 double issue, which included the report on all meetings except for the normal meeting held in August 1945, the month in which Japan surrendered to the allies (the normal meeting corresponds to JPS's annual meeting, but was held every month). The volume records that on 9 November 1945 , the board of the Nihon Sugaku Butsuri Gakkai decided on the dissolution of the body, to form anew Nihon Sugakkai (Japan Mathematics Society) and Nihon Butsuri Gakkai (Japan Physics Society, JPS) This decision was conveyed to the general assembly of the Nihon Sugaku Butsuri Gakkai and given approval. Membership at the time counted 1812 phyisists, 592 mathmaticians and 178 others, totaling 2582. 

The orientation of JPS

The founding assembly of the JPS was held on 28 April 1946 . It has continued its activities up to this date, and while there were numerous developments, its basic characteristics have not changed until this day. The growth of membership throughout the years could be seen at The half century of the JPS outline of the history of the Japan Physics Soiety (after 1946) . 

JPS's Half Century

In 1995, JPS celebrated its 50 th anniversary. In 1996, its 51 st year of existence, JPS's total membership was as high as 18,513, making it among the largest of the 1,200 academic associations registered with the Nihon , Gakujutsu Kaigi. The membership of those academic associations number some 700,000. 

Establishment of IPAP

In order to make the publication and distribution of English language academic journals more efficient, JPS, in collaboration of Japan Association of Applied Physics (JAAP), established the Institute for Pure and Applied Physics (IPAP) in April 2000. The publication of the English language journal of the JPS, JPS Journal, is commissioned to the IPAP, which is also responsible for the issuing of Japanese Journal of Applied Physics and Optical Review both journals of the JAAP. Since its creation, the IPAP has proved quite up to the tasks it face, including the digitization of publications. However, in order to seek further development of the academic journals in a time when the number of outlets for academic literature is becoming increasingly limited, JPS and JAAP have decided to reorganize IPAP, which was originally a voluntary association, into an internal division of the two academic associations, the Center for Physics Academic Publication .