In 2010, the Japanese Society for Science and Technology Studies (JSSTS) held a joint conference with 4S in Tokyo. For 4S, this was the first ever held outside of North America and Europe, and 938 members from 35 countries gathered on the campus of the University of Tokyo (Image 1, Fujigaki 2011). Among them, 674 came from outside of Japan: one-third from North America, one-third from Europe, and one-third from Asia. The number of participants from Africa and Latin America was small, but this Tokyo meeting was outstanding in terms of the number of Asian participants.
This 4S/JSSTS joint conference is said to have been one of the triggers for the internationalization and di-centralization of 4S. Indeed, 4S was subsequently held in Buenos Aires in 2014, and in Sydney in 2018. In this essay, as program chair of the joint conference, I will set out the negotiation process with the 4S council and the preparation process in Japan.
