The decision to establish The Japanese Pharmacological Society was made in 1926 by the meeting of a subcommittee on Pharmacology convened for that purpose at the Seventh General Assembly of the Japan Medical Congress. Its initial base of operation was broadly specified to be at a Department of Pharmacology in a Japanese University. In those days the Councilors of Society consisted of Senior Professors in Pharmacology at twenty-nine Japanese universities that boasted such departments. In those days the annual meeting of the Society was hosted by the Senior Professors in various regions.
Ever since the first meeting of the JPS held at The University of Tokyo in 1927, the annual meetings have been convened throughout Japan.
In 1941, the JPS began to publish Folia Pharmacologica Japonica as its official Japanese journal.
In 1951, the JPS issued the Japanese Journal of Pharmacology as its official English journal, later renamed Journal of Pharmacological Sciences in 2002.
In 2007, the JPS established the Ebashi Setsuro Award as the Society's highest honor. The Ebashi Setsuro Award is awarded to a distinguished member of our Society who has made a significant contribution to the progress of pharmacological research through original and epochmaking achievements. The Award was established in the memory of late Professor Setsuro Ebashi (1922-2006), The University of Tokyo, an honorary member of our Society who made remarkable contributions to life sciences. The Award presentation ceremony/lecture has been held at the annual JPS meeting every year since it was established.
The achievements of Professor Setsuro Ebashi are described in more detail in the NEWS & VIEWS section of Nature, Vol. 442 (31 August 2006), p. 996: The Physiologist who uncovered the regulatory role of calcium in cells.
