On the Publication of "The 60-Year History of the Keio Economic Observatory (KEO)"

In March of this year, "The 60-Year History of the Keio Economic Observatory (KEO)" (hereinafter referred to as "The 60-Year History") was compiled and published. Following the tradition of Keio University and its various institutions to commemorate auspicious events every quarter-century, this publication appeared at a somewhat irregular timing. However, this book can be described as the first attempt to document over half a century of research activities and the intellectual tradition of the Keio Economic Observatory (KEO) since its founding.

The editing and publication of "The 60-Year History" was originally proposed and called for by Professor Yoko Sano (Professor Emeritus of Keio University), who knew the early days of the institute and was its first full-time staff member. When the professor made the call, many of the professors involved with the institute had already retired or, in some cases, passed away, and clues to the past were becoming scarcer every year. I believe Professor Sano was concerned about this situation.

"The 60-Year History" consists first of "The Progress of the Keio Economic Observatory (KEO)," which describes the early days and characteristics of the institute along with a timeline. This is followed by introductions to the research characteristics of the Economics, Law, and Social Psychology/Behavioral Science research divisions, as well as essays reflecting on how researchers involved with the institute in various ways recognized problems and faced social and economic challenges within the social and economic contexts of their respective times. In that sense, this "60-Year History" is neither an exhaustive account of every event that occurred at the institute nor a chronological history describing them in order.

The reason for adopting such an editorial policy was that the purpose of publishing "The 60-Year History" was to have people involved in the institute's research activities contribute their own involvement as written accounts, to first record the intellectual traditions regarding social sciences that the institute has spun, and to take this opportunity to organize the documents and materials piled up in the institute's archives and confirm their consistency with the official records of Keio University.

Therefore, in editing "The 60-Year History," we focused on gathering as many clues as possible at this point in time, which decrease as the years pass. While it is certainly not exhaustive or strictly chronological, "The 60-Year History" contains many interesting episodes as a piece of reading material. If you have the opportunity, I hope you will take it in your hands and take a look.

Finally, I would like to add a few words about the front and back covers of "The 60-Year History."

In the center of the book's light green, matte-glossy cover, a single piece of equipment is embossed. This is the "IBM 1620" mainframe (large general-purpose computer) that the institute introduced in 1962, ahead of other faculties and research institutes. The IBM 1620 was introduced by Professor Yasuhiko Torii (former President, 1936-2019) with the support of Mr. Kichitaro Hagiwara (then President of Hokkaido Colliery & Steamship Co., 1902-2001) (see Masahiro Arai, "The Transition of the Keio Economic Observatory (KEO) and Computers," pp. 61-66 in this book; for details, see Yasuhiko Torii, "Reminiscences of Keio University" (2013, Keio University Press), pp. 425-437). The introduction of this mainframe became an important turning point for the institute to develop empirical research thereafter (the IBM 1620, which supported the early research of the institute, was donated to the National Museum of Nature and Science in 1979).

Additionally, on the back cover of the book, a mysterious table is printed in light gray across a beige background. This is what is known as a "triangular table" in input-output analysis (created in 1969 as part of the KEO Production Structure Analysis Project). An input-output table arranges transactions between production sectors in a matrix. By arranging sectors that receive supplies from more sectors at the top and sectors that supply to more sectors at the bottom, transactions are recorded in the lower-left half of the diagonal part of the input-output table ("triangulation"). The "triangular table" is a rearrangement of this into blocks for each raw material system while taking into account the technical characteristics of each sector. This makes it possible to achieve what is now called "visualization of the supply chain."