MATHEMATICAL SOCIOLOGY IN JAPAN.

The article deals with the development of mathematical sociology in Japan and introduces the articles featured in the 1989 issue of the Journal of Mathematical Sociology. A burgeoning of interest in mathematical sociology may well be traced back even to prewar Japan. A study of the structure of Japanese families by Teizo Toda in 1937 is such an example. In that study, Toda showed by examining census data that the distribution of types of families was determined by the age of first marriage of those involved, although he did not use a model building method explicitly. However, it was not until the mid-1960's that mathematical sociology was pursued as such. Around 1970, the Tokyo University Press published a set of sociology textbooks of eighteen volumes including one volume titled Mathematical Sociology edited by Yasuda. This was the first book in Japan which had the title of mathematical sociology as such. In the 1970's, there emerged more than a few semi-formal societies scattered within the nation for the study of mathematical sociology, which were unified into a nationwide semi-formal society formed in 1980. A dozen of active core members and about two more dozens of scholars and students had regular meetings twice a year by coming together for a few nights. Mathematical sociology in Japan has plunged into a specialty stage in the sense that a formal society, the Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology, was set up and an official journal was newly published.