The Japan Academy is an organization administered by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, dedicated to rewarding scholars having achieved notable academic accomplishments. It has a charter size of 150 members and last year's election brought total membership up to 136 members. The Academy recognizes accomplishments in academic research through awards etc., issues bulletins, engages in exchanges with foreign academies, subsidizes research of its members, holds public lectures, and engages in other activities.

The forerunner of the Japan Academy, the Tokyo Academy, was established in 1879 modeled after the Academie Francaise. Its first chairman was the renowned Japanese scholar and statesman Yukichi Fukuzawa. The Academy was renamed the Imperial Academy in 1906 and was given its current name after the war in 1947. It has operated in its current incarnation since 1956 under the Japan Academy Law.

The ceremony for presentation of letters of election to Dr. Inose and the other new members was held on December 19 at the Japan Academy. The Center held a special lecture on February 7 commemorating the election of Dr. Inose as a member of the Academy.
In the lecture, Dr. Inose spoke for about an hour, interposing numerous humorous anecdotes, on the theme of "Toward a Better Tomorrow" wherein he discoursed on how Japan picked itself up from the ruins of the war and achieved dazzling growth, the problems facing the country in the future, and the role to be played by the Center in the years to come. After the lecture, the staff of the Center gave a congratulatory party where the guests engaged in light conversation and presented Dr. Inose with flower bouquets.