Members of the Zoological Society of Japan

Reported almost simultaneously with the dawn of 2020 and spreading across the globe in the blink of an eye, the novel coronavirus is currently having a devastating impact throughout Japan, and we have yet to see a way out.
Furthermore, the state of emergency has been decided to be extended nationwide until the end of May, which deeply pains me. I am sure that all members of the Zoological Society of Japan—faculty and researchers—are running around every day to maintain educational and research activities under these circumstances, and that students are facing extremely difficult situations under restrictions such as activity control guidelines at universities and research institutes. In light of the current situation where many students are suffering significant economic and psychological damage, the Zoological Society of Japan resolved at an extraordinary board meeting on May 1st to implement a measure to "exempt student members from annual dues for one year," with the aim of supporting student members who are at high risk of economic hardship.

As a result of this decision, we will exempt student members from paying the full amount of the Zoological Society of Japan annual membership dues for fiscal year 2020 (annual amount of 3,000 yen), which are required to be paid in advance by the end of June 2020. The membership dues will be refunded to student members who have already paid.

While this alone may not be enough to sufficiently ease the financial burden on our student members, we sincerely hope it will serve as a source of emotional encouragement for you, who represent the future of the Zoological Society of Japan.

Yoshitaka Oka, President, Zoological Society of Japan