Member Services

Admission to the ASJ

The Astronomical Society of Japan (ASJ) is a corporation that aims to promote and advance astronomy. The society is organized by about 3,000 members who include astronomers and devotees of astronomy, and carry out the following activities:

Main Activities

• Holding a society meetings and lectures twice a year. Distributing an abstract book.
• Publishing "Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan", six issues a year, and distributing to all Full members.
• Publishing "Astronomical Herald" monthly, and distributing to all members.
• "The ASJ Award for the Discovery of New Objects / The ASJ Award for the Independent Discovery of New Object" and Support Fund for Domestic Training Programs in Astronomy (mainly for devotees of astronomy).
• The ASJ Young Astronomer Award (for young researchers under 35 years of age)
• The Hayashi Chushiro Prize (given for outstandingly original pursuits)
• The PASJ Excellent Paper Award (presented to the author(s) of the most outstanding paper(s) published in PASJ)
• The Hayakawa Satio Fund (partial financial support for overseas travel expenses for young scientists (under 35) to conduct research overseas)
• Gakujyutu-Koryu Fund (providing a subsidy for traveling expenses for student member who have registered to talk at a society meeting from the sum of the annual fees of the Supportive members.)
• The ASJ Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Amateur (given to an observer who has contributed to promote and advance astronomy by contributory observation activity.)

Memberships and Annual Fees

1. Full Member:	A "Full Member" must agree to the purpose of the society, and has a right and obligation to help manage the society,¹ and receive Astronomical Herald and PASJ. An Applicant is required to have equivalent knowledge to that of a graduate in astronomy or to have equivalent experience involving astronomy or celestial observations. The annual membership fee is 18,000 JPYen; also, a special reduced rate of 10,000 yen is available for students. A "Student" should be a postgraduate student. Only a student who has paid the fee by the end of April can become a "Full(Student) Member".
2. Associate Member:	An "Associate Member" must agree to the purpose of the society, and receive Astronomical Herald. The annual membership fee is 8,000 JPYen.
3. Cooperate Member:	A "Cooperate Member" involves the cooperation of an organization. The annual membership fee is 10,000 JPYen.
4. Supportive Member:	A "Supportive Member" is an individual or organization who has agreed to support students or young researchers. The annual membership fee is 30,000 JPYen, at minimum.

★Having a right to participate and vote at the general assembly, and obtains voting rights and eligibility for election to the groups of directors and councilors.

Application for Membership

Fill out an electric application form and submit it. A recommendation by one full member of the Society is required to apply for full membership. (If a student wishes to become a full member, it is preferable that the student's academic advisor be the recommender.) If you do not have a recommender, please contact the Astronomical Society of Japan office. The applicant will be notified when the admission has been approved by the directorate board (it takes about 2 weeks). Then, he/she is asked to pay the annual fee according to instructions which will be simultaneously sent from the ASJ office. (Please do not pay any fee before approval of admission) The shipment of publications will be started upon completion of the payment. Please note that the application for membership for the relevant fiscal year closes at the end of February (one month before the end of the fiscal year).

Payment for Annual Fee

The fiscal term is April 1 to March 31. Even if admitted into the society anytime after April 1, the full amount of the annual fee should be paid to receive all publications of that year. The fee is payable by any of the following methods:

• Bank Transfer to Japan Post Bank
  Acc.#: 00160-1-13595
  Remittee: Nihon Tenmon Gakkai
• Bank Transfer to Bank of Mitsubishi-UFJBranch: Mitaka : Acc.#: 4434400
  Remittee: Nihon Tenmon Gakkai
• Send by registered mail
• Pay at ASJ office

The membership will not be terminated without a request of the member; otherwise, the membership will be automatically renewed at the beginning of the fiscal year. Except for a new member, who is requested to pay the annual fee within two weeks after the approval date of admission, the annual fee for Full and Associate members should be paid by April 30 of the relevant year. It is highly desirable to finish the payment as early as possible, because the shipping of publications will temporarily be suspended until we have confirmed that the fee has been paid. Please note that a penalty supplement will be charged and the privilege as a student will not be applied when the fee remains unpaid even after expiration of the payment period (i.e., after May 1). We strongly recommend applicants to register "an account transfer payment" to avoid forgetting, or causing any delay of the payment (please contact the ASJ office for more details).

Others

• In case any of your personal data (e.g., address, affiliation, etc.) has been changed, please inform the ASJ office as soon as possible by e-mail or FAX or regular mail, so that we may update the database.
• For membership transferring, please submit an application form to the ASJ office. (e.g., Full --> Associate or Associate --> Full)
• In the case you wish to affiliate yourself with TENNET (the mailing list of ASJ; most mail is written in Japanese), please notify us along with your (1) name, (2) membership No, and (3) E-mail address by sending an E-mail message.
• Please read the instruction of TENNET for more detail.

Application Form

Please read and agree to the above instructions before submitting the electric application form.

Full membership　　　　Associate membership

Contact to ASJ office for further information
Astronomical Society of Japan
c/o National Astronomical Society of Japan
2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, JAPAN
TEL : +81-(0)422-31-1359 FAX : +81-(0)422-31-5487
E-mail : kaiin(at)asj.or.jp HP : https://www.asj.or.jp/