(EXTREMELY IMPORTANT) JUCA Emergency Meeting

[Tatsuya Imai]

Dear JUCA members,

Thank you for being a member of JUCA. I'm Koji Fuse, the current president. It's my second presidency.

Anyway, I'd like to hold a JUCA meeting to decide on the future of JUCA. My Zoom address is https://unt.zoom.us/j/9801940889. All EC members except for one will attend it. Please look at the following times to see when you need to join:

  *
Japan time: 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21
  *
U.S. Eastern ST: 11 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20
  *
U.S. Central ST: 10 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20
  *
U.S. Mountain ST: 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20
  *
U.S. Pacific ST: 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20

While some of us would like to reboot JUCA, scholars' dwindling interest in our association doesn't bode well for its future. In fact, two EC (Executive Committee) positions, First Vice President and Second Vice President, have been vacant (https://sites.google.com/site/japanuscommunication/executive-committee_1). Therefore, it's the decision time for the future of JUCA.

If two people, whether EC members or not, step up to nominate themselves for First Vice President and Second Vice President and fill those positions, then we can continue our association. They must be able to attend NCA fairly regularly to help with conference planning and management, such as NCA Convention Central, promotion of the association and paper submissions, Top Paper Awards, on-site pictures, donations, membership drives, social, etc. I'd like the First VP (primary conference planner) to perform those duties for two years and the Second VP (secondary conference planner) for four years before becoming the president of this association. Therefore, I'll step down in November 2028. My role will be to help them with their duties and boost scholarly interest in this association because managing a small association like us is much harder than a big division, which has a strong membership base, many session slots, funding from NCA, and priority over us. Anyway, we will continue to fill additional positions if they become vacant. All new EC members will be officially confirmed during the business meeting this year (although it's more like a formality without strong opposition).

If JUCA survives, then we will immediately proceed to discuss the name change of this association. "Japan-U.S." has been problematically restrictive and possibly turning away scholars. We have been accepting papers as long as they involve Japan, not just Japan and the United States, so our association's name must reflect that. I already discussed this issue with NCA staff, and a name change is very easy. The following list provides possible names, but you're free to suggest any name.

  *
Japan Intercultural Communication Association (JICA)
  *
Japan Intercultural Communication Society (JICS)
  *
Japanese Association of Intercultural Communication (JAIC)
  *
Intercultural Communication Association of Japan (ICAJ)

Accordingly, EC members will hold another meeting before November 2026 to discuss a constitutional revision, which will be proposed to the members of this new association during this year's business meeting.

On the other hand, if no one steps up, then we will pull the plug on this association for good. The final year will be 2027, JUCA"s 25th anniversary. Miyahara-san served as the president of JUCA for 12 years, but he will retire in March 2026. Takai-san has helped JUCA, alongside with me, for a very long time, but he will retire in March 2027. I can't manage this association by myself anymore. As the only active founding member of JUCA right now, I think I'm the best person to end JUCA if we must.

As you understand, this meeting is extremely important. I hope that many JUCA members will join us and two people will eventually step up to save this association as First and Second VPs!

Cheers.

------------------------------
Koji Fuse, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Public Relations
Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Academic Advisor
Sycamore Hall 216
Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism
University of North Texas
1155 Union Circle #311460
Denton, TX 76203-5017
940-369-8083
Koji...@unt.edu<mailto:Koji...@unt.edu>
https://journalism.unt.edu/people/koji-fuse-phd
https://journalism.unt.edu/
------------------------------

[Fuse, Koji]

今井さん、

次回お送りいただく際に、ちょっとだけ以下のように手直しして頂けますか？この部分がちょっと分かりずらいので出来れば直していただきたくお願いします。もし星印がダメなら、ハイフォンでも結構です。

  *　Japan time: 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21
  *　U.S. Eastern ST: 11 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20
  *　U.S. Central ST: 10 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20
  *　U.S. Mountain ST: 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20
  *　U.S. Pacific ST: 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20

  *　Japan Intercultural Communication Association (JICA)
  *　Japan Intercultural Communication Society (JICS)
  *　Japanese Association of Intercultural Communication (JAIC)
  *　Intercultural Communication Association of Japan (ICAJ)

よろしくお願い致します。

布施宏二

------------------------------

Koji Fuse, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor of Public Relations 

Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Academic Advisor 

Sycamore Hall 216 

Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism 

University of North Texas 

1155 Union Circle #311460 

Denton, TX 76203-5017 

940-369-8083 

Koji...@unt.edu 

https://journalism.unt.edu/people/koji-fuse-phd 

https://journalism.unt.edu/ 

------------------------------

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From: Tatsuya Imai <tatsuya...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2026 16:15
To: japan-us-communic...@googlegroups.com <japan-us-communic...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [EXT] (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT) JUCA Emergency Meeting

 

[Tatsuya Imai]

[Tatsuya Imai]

[Tatsuya Imai]

[Tatsuya Imai]