[Graph] JOAS membership numbers 1999-2024

[Timoris]

Interesting to note that as of this past year, for the first time I can tell, Membership numbers have overpassed the Subscriber numbers.

Although, in the second graph, the subscriber numbers appear to have been dropping, there is an overall normalisation of both groups, which is a good thing for the Association as, not only do Members have 3 extra publications a year, but also help secure the Association's revenue.

See Previous post for more details.





From the Journal itself


(Page 38) The JOAS Report on the 35th Fiscal Year and Its Plans for the 36th Year

1) Members and Subscribers

As of March 11, [2025] the 35th term has 380 domestic subscribers, 71 overseas subscribers, 473 domestic regular members, and 93 overseas regular members, for a total of 1,017 members. In particular, the number of overseas regular members has increased by several dozens, which is thought to be the effect of the additional volume of special origami diagram materials planned and provided by Makoto Yamaguchi (JOAS Vice President) with the aim of increasing membership.

In addition to the end-of-year distribution materials, we have sent two separate volumes of origami diagram materials to all 35th term members (photo p.25). In the 36th term, we ask for your understanding of the activities of the Japan Origami Academic Society and your continued support as a regular member by subscribing to our magazine, "Origami Tanteidan Magazine." In addition, starting from the 36th term, we will be trying a new magazine gift membership. We will send "Origami Tanteidan Magazine" and "Special Member Distribution Materials" to friends and acquaintances as gifts. This type of gift membership system is also implemented by OrigamiUSA. For details, please refer to the column on the right page.

[Gerardo]

Uuuuuhh! Updated info . Things are looking up... hahahaha, at least regarding members. So what's the difference between both members and subscribers? I didn't get that. And, what happened in the year 2000? It's the only time the association had so many subscribers, and then their numbers dropped drastically.

[Timoris]

(...) And, what happened in the year 2000? (...)

Ah! Good point, I was initially missing a lot of information as no hard numbers were given. I changed the graph accordingly.

I decided to interpret with the small clues they left such as "A little more" or "5% less", or +/- doubling the gains / losses from the Membership numbers and going

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ seems about right

Although sometimes they just don't mention anything so I kept the overall numbers fixed.

As for the difference between a Subscriber and a Member,

A Subscriber is much like any Journal Subscription, you obtain a copy of Origami Tanteidan every 2 months, which contains the latest unpublished Origami diagrams from well known artists such as Satoshi Kamiya, Tomoko Fuse, Kyohei Katsuta, Gen Hagiwara, and artists that are publishing their first models. There are also articles about origami folding theory, expositions, contests... But I personally subscribe only for the pictures. *Cough*.

As a Member you also obtain 3 extra "Special issues" a year publishing at least two additional moderately complex origami diagrams that usually don't see publication for a decade, if ever. These are usually sought after models from the renowned artists that people have been wanting instructions of for years. These Triyearly special issues are new as of last year, usually they was only one gifted at the end of every season.

Additionally you can:

- Apply for the certified instructor (Fluent in Japanese only)
- Use JOAS Library (In japan) (Operations currently suspended)
- Vote at the annual meeting (I do not read Japanese and have not made use of this right.)