“Nihon Koujin Club” and Its Activities with reference to Social Cooperation and Continuing Development of Engineers

Abstract

“Nihon Koujin Club” and its activities are reviewed with reference to social cooperation and continuing development of engineers. Nihon Koujin Club was the first Japanese association of working-engineers (“koujin” in Japanese) established in 1920. At one time, more than 5000 engineers from various fields of engineering registered as the member of the club. Nihon-Koujin Club carried out various activities such as examinations to qualify professional engineers, enlightening activities for engineers' ethics and improvement of working conditions and so on. Proposals to governments were sometimes made one of which was that on engineering education. When it started, Nihon Koujin Club had an ambition to exchange information together with international counterparts such as The British Association of Scientific Worker. Unfortunately the direction of the club has deviated from its original purpose due to historical circumstances of nationalism of those days. Nevertheless its activities could be appreciated as an early stage of movement of engineers in Japan. The modern activities related to social cooperation or continuing development of engineers can be traced back to the activities of Nihon Koujin Club.