NCC News: News

In Memory of Mr. Ikuo Sasakawa

It is with great sadness that NCC marks the passing of Mr. Ikuo Sasakawa, who contributed so much to the Japan Studies librarianship field. Former NCC Chair and Librarian for Japanese Collection, UC Berkeley, Toshie Marra, wrote the following letter in commemoration:

Dear Colleagues, 

Longtime Japanese Studies librarians in North America may recall Mr. Ikuo Sasakawa, who worked as Associate University Librarian of the University of Tokyo Library and served as Director of Secretariat of the Japan Association of National University Libraries (JANUL) in 2000s. I am terribly sorry to share with you the very sad news that Mr. Ikuo Sasakawa passed away on May 30, 2021. 

I remember Mr. Sasakawa well through my service as Chair of the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC). In April 2006 NCC awarded him a Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of his distinguished leadership in improving communication and information access between the United States and Japan. One of the specific contributions of Mr. Sasakawa recognized on the certificate was “promoting face-to-face communication between US and Japanese librarians.” In fact, his contribution as such did not stop then. In September 2006, with his strong support, the University of Tokyo Library hosted an important business meeting sponsored by JANUL, NCC, CEAL, and the Private and Public University Library Consortia, in which as many as twenty-seven librarians and scholars from Japan and US participated. Indeed it was one of the rare opportunities for librarians from the two countries to meet “face-to-face” and discuss several issues of common interest, for which we owe a lot to Mr. Sasakawa.  

Mr. Sasakawa will be greatly missed.

To read more about Mr. Sasakawa and his acceptance of the NCC Award in 2006, please see https://www.nii.ac.jp/CAT-ILL/gif/news/20060407/NCC-certificate-e.html