1958 March President Yasunari Kawabata is elected as a vice president of International PEN
The telegram from the General Secretary of International PEN informing
Yasunari Kawabata, the president of Japan P.E.N. Club, that he had been
elected as a vice-president of International PEN.
1960 June Japan P.E.N. Club issues a statement protesting the approval for ratification of the Japan-US Security Treaty
1961 Japan P.E.N. Club sends a telegram to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev protesting the resumption of nuclear testing by the Soviet Union
1965 March Japan P.E.N. Club awards the top prize in the Japan P.E.N. Club Literature Awards in Commemoration of the Tokyo Olympics to English poet James Kirkup.
October Kojiro Serizawa is appointed the fifth president of Japan P.E.N. Club
1966 February The anniversary of the founding of Japan P.E.N. Club (November 26) is established as "P.E.N. Day"
1967 March "The History of the First Thirty Years of Japan P.E.N. Club" is published
1968 December Yasunari Kawabata is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature
1969 February President Kojiro Serizawa becomes a member of the Nobel Committee for Literature
1970 April Modern Writers Calligraphy Exhibition
P.E.N. Day social gathering in 1966
1972 November The International Conference on Japanese Studies "which Taught the World about Japan" is held in Tokyo and Kyoto. 620 people attend from 39 countries
The International Conference on Japanese Studies began on November 18, 1972 at the Hotel Okura in Akasaka, Tokyo, hosted by the Japan P.E.N. Club and supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The opening ceremony at the Kyoto International Conference Center
At the opening of the conference the fifth president of the Japan P.E.N. Club, Kojiro Serizawa, made the welcoming speech. "People say that the Japanese language is a difficult language for other people around the world and it is true that you will not be able to master Japanese and study the Japanese culture, which is also said to be inscrutable, if you are not a true friend of Japan. In this country we say that "there is no joy greater than a friend making a rare visit from far away" and I am truly thrilled to see so many of the true friends of Japan gathered here today from all around the world, so I would like to begin by thanking our guests who have travelled so far to be here today."
1973 November
"The Proceedings of the International Conference on Japanese Studies" are published
1974 February
Japan P.E.N. Club sends a telegram of protest to the Soviet government in response to the arrest of writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
November
Mitsuo Nakamura is appointed the sixth president of Japan P.E.N. Club
1975 May
Tatsuzo Ishikawa is appointed the seventh president of Japan P.E.N. Club
1977 January
Japan P.E.N. Club issues a statement in response to the prison sentence given to Korean poet Kim Ji-ha
July Kenji Takahashi is appointed the eighth president of Japan P.E.N. Club
1978 April
Japan P.E.N. Club establishes the Guest Member system to support writers suffering under political oppression
May Kim Ji-ha and others are given guest member status
1979 April
Publishing of anthologies edited by the Japan P.E.N. Club begins
1980 September
Statement about the Establishment of the Act on Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs
1981 May
Yasushi Inoue is appointed the ninth president of Japan P.E.N. Club
Wrtiters in Prison Day in Japan
1981 October The first "Day of Writers in Prison" forum (thereafter held once every year)
Writers in Prison and human rights committee of the Japan P.E.N. Club
Activities of the W.i.P.C of the Japan P.E.N. Club 1981 to 2010