At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the country was unified under the Tokugawa family after years of civil unrest. The following years were ones of unprecedented peace and prosperity, prompting an increase in artistic, cultural and social development. ... The greatest growth was in Edo (modern Tokyo), the city established by the first Tokugawa shogun as his new capital. By 1720 Edo had more than a million inhabitants. The period of self-imposed national isolation came to a dramatic end in 1853 when four American battleships arrived in Edo Bay. The US demanded that it be allowed to trade with Japan, with the result that ports were slowly re-opened to foreigners. In 1868 external pressure combined with growing internal unrest and led to the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogun and the restoration of the Meiji Emperor.

In addition to providing reports and proposals in response to government inquiries, in 1911 the Academy established the Imperial Prize to recognize and encourage superb creative research. At the same time, the Academy convened general meetings in which the latest scientific advances were introduced and reported. Compiling such state-of-the-art information, it issued bulletins and published papers and disseminated them. While working in these ways to contribute to the promotion of science, the Academy also joined the Union Académique Internationale (UAI) [in October 1919] and set about on a vigorous program to promote international academic exchange, thus taking upon itself the weighty role of representing Japan's academic community both at home and abroad.

... to serve as the body to have specific responsibility for dealing with the various international matters of interest to Japanese science.

At war's end, the Imperial Academy felt that it had the right and the duty to see to it that the war-bloated National Research Council was either replaced or reshaped. Moreover, at least some members of the Academy realized that they were themselves seen as being superannuated folk who had in large measure lost touch with the world of active scholars; accordingly, plans were initiated to enlarge the Academy's membership in order to bring in a substantial number of younger, more active, scholars. In March 1946, entirely at Japanese Initiative, a 'Reorganization Committee' of thirty people was formed; ten members were from the Imperial Academy, ten from the National Research Council and ten from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. These thirty people had as their objectives (1) to eliminate overlapping functions of the three organizations; (2) to strengthen the Imperial Academy by increasing its membership; and (3) to revise or reorganize or integrate the research activities of Japan. This group found it possible to reach agreement quickly on the following plan:

(i) Dissolution of the National Research Council;

(ii) Enhancement of the activities of the Imperial Academy by increasing the size of the Academy; the proposed scheme envisaged electing 150 new members for limited terms; those already belonging to the Academy, who were elected for life, would remain members;

(iii) Appropriate revisions of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, giving it responsibility for carrying out plans developed by the Imperial Academy.

The Japan Academy shall be established for the purpose of extending preferential treatment to distinguished scholars in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements and, in compliance with this law, of performing activities deemed necessary for the advancement of science and learning.

(i) Awarding Prizes to specially excellent treatises, works, or other scientific achievements.
(ii) Editing and publishing Transactions and Proceedings containing papers presented or introduced by the Members.
(iii) Executing other activities that would be appropriate for the Japan Academy to perform in order to encourage academic researches.

In 1974, the Academy's newly constructed Assembly Hall was inaugurated. In January 1979, a ceremony to commemorate the Academy's 100th anniversary was held in the Hall in the presence of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. In addition, the 100th award ceremony of the Imperial Prize and Japan Academy Prizes was commemorated in 2010. This juncture spurred the addition of new components to the Academy's program as Japan's centre of profound scholarship, including holding public lectures and conferring such new awards as the Duke of Edinburgh Prize and Japan Academy Medal.