Brethren all, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Thank you for attending this annual Installation of the Officers of the MGL of F&AM of Japan.

I would like to take this opportunity to briefly review the background and current situation of Masonry in Japan. It began when the Masons came from foreign countries, when Japan's national isolation period ended about a century and a half ago. But due to some political problems within the Government at that time, a "Gentlemen's Agreement" was arranged between Japan and Masons which allowed the Masons to hold Lodge meetings, but prohibited Japanese from being accepted into the Craft, and any direct contacts with the public. This situation continued until the end of the Pacific War.

As a result, the Japanese people had no opportunity to know the true nature of the Craft until 1945, unlike the Masonic tradition in other countries. During this time of "Masonic Darkness" in Japan, Masonry was a target of severe and negative accusations by the Japanese militarists with continuing propaganda against Masonry.

A new era commenced for the Craft after the War, and in 1950 the restrictions against Japanese becoming members of the Fraternity ended. Nevertheless, the bad image and preconceptions of Masonry which had been disseminated over the years, remain deeply in the people's minds. These prejudices against Masonry have been transmitted from generation to generation to the present time. As a result, it is presumed that more than 95% of the Japanese people are either completely ignorant about the true nature of Freemasonry, or currently view us with suspicious eyes.

Roughly speaking, a half of our Lodges are located within or near the US Forces bases and most of their members are either military or base employees. The remainder are in the civilian community. There are about 2,000 members in 15 Lodges, and the Japanese members are around 10%. The total number of the members under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Japan has gradually decreased during the last decade, due mainly to declining of the number of new members. Furthermore, we cannot deny the possibility that a major portion of the US Force members may have to leave Japan some day in the future. No one knows when, but it is possible.

However on the other hand, I am not too pessimistic for our future, as long as we prepare ourselves for it in time. Japan's population numbers about 130 million people. They tend to be industrious and most of them are good people. At least 30% of them could be potential Masonic candidates, only if they became aware of Masonry's true nature.

The obvious conclusion to improve the situation is that our major efforts should be directed into an intensive educational campaign for all non-Masons, especially for Japanese.

Ideally, the use of the mass media would be the most effective measure for the program, but it would be too costy for us. The realistic measures would be:

In addition to the various media interviews, which we have carried out in the past, major TV stations shall be invited to the public installation of the Grand Lodge, or even to the Blue Lodge installations, if the members of the Lodge so desire.

The other measure of the Educational Campaign is Orientation Lectures to non-Masons by members of our Blue Lodges. All Lodges are urged to aggressively join this campaign, for both Japanese and non-Japanese. In the past, many educational materials have been available in English, but for Japanese, only pamphlet type items were available. Now for the very first time, a book of Masonic history in Japanese language will soon be available to all Lodges. This book can be used as a guideline or textbook for lecturing Japanese. It is scheduled to be published next month.

In addition to the Educational Campaign, it would be worthwhile to re-evaluate the current system of degree conferrals. The traditional "proficiencies degree-by-degree" system appears to pose barriers for increasing members. In Japan's busy economic world, many applicants are considered to have problems to find time to concentrate on memorizing the degree proficiencies. Instead of going through proficiency for every degree, a modified system could confer the degree by observing the conferral conducted for a representative of the candidates, much like the Scottish Rite conferrals. We know that this system is successful for some other Grand Lodges, but this does not mean that it would be good for Japan. In order to determine whether or not we should adopt or accept a modification of this system for Japan, we need to carefully study its merit and demerits as well as the applicabilities of the sysytem for Japan.

For the possibilities of adopting such a system for Japan, an Ad-Hoc Committee will be chosen to study its Pros and Cons to include legal matters required for adoption of the new sysytem, the status of the new Master Masons, their qualifications for voting, being appointed Lodge officers, etc.

If the Committee's recommendations are favorable for the new system, steps must be taken for Constitution revision. Then you the Brethren, you will be the ones who will make the final decision whether to accept the new system for the future of our Craft in Japan. The final decision will be in your hands.

I think I have talked too much. This is the end of my installation address. Thank you very much for your patience.