The JPS (The Physical Society of Japan) has a membership of some 18,000, including research scientists, teachers and engineers, within and without Japan . Its chief objectives are to publish the research output of its members and to assist in their research activities. As of 2008, 45% of its members are working in universities, 15% in private corporations and 12% in public research institutes. 14% of its members are graduate and undergraduate students.

The JPS is the direct successor of the Tokyo Mathematics Company・ Japan 's first academic association of natural sciences, established in 1877. Its birth was not so much behind that of its German counterpart, the German Physics Society, in 1845, and much earlier than the creation of the American Physical Society in 1899. In addition to being one of the global forerunners of such academic associations, its the Mathematics and Physics Journal・ had been made a European language publication from its fourth volume (1888-1891), demonstrating the earliest members' strong international orientation. With such vision and the fruits of research that it conveyed to the wider audience, it is no exaggeration to say that the Tokyo Mathematics Company was one of the leading agents of Japanese modernization.

After World War II, the Mathematics and Physics Society dissolved itself, only to be reborn as the JPS in 1946. Although the Mathematics and Physics Society and indeed the entire natural science community suffered from an unfriendly research environment before and during the war, its members continued to conduct world-class, cutting edge research, resulting in the awarding of the Nobel prize to Yukawa Hideki and Tomonaga Shin'ichiro shortly after the war. The happy news created a science fever among the Japanese nation still struggling to recover from the devastations of war, leading many young students to the field of physics. The resulting increase in the number of scientists and the generally friendly atmosphere towards scientific research no doubt contributed to the process of rapid reconstruction and growth the Japanese economy experienced hence, which would have been impossible without an expanded knowledge base.

Today, JPS is among the core institutions of physical research in Japan , which is among the world's leading nations in the field. With newly industrializing countries emerging also as research centers, there is high expectation in these countries and beyond on the positive role that JPS can play in their development. Now the JPS has signed agreements with its American, Korean and German counterparts so that members of each body could participate in other bodies and enjoy the rights and privileges of those bodies.

The JPS publishes Nihon Butsuri Gakkai-shi(Butsuri)・in Japanese to provide information on developments in physics and the physics community to its members. Its academic publication is the monthly Journal of the Physical Society of Japan・which provides an outlet for research results of Japanese researchers as well as overseas members. Also, the JPS publishes the journal Daigaku-no-Butsuri Kyoiku (teaching physics in college)・three times a year to facilitate members' exchange of information on the subject. Furthermore, important articles are collected by field of research and compiled into volumes of Butsuri-gaku Ronbun Senshu (selected works in physics)・ alongside other books related to physics.proceedings・ minutes of international conferences the JPS was involved, is another of its publications.

The JPS organizes every spring and autumn conferences and subcommittees where its members gather to present their research results and make discussions on them. For both the spring and autumn meetings, participation exceeds 5,000. In the summer, JPS sponsored lecture courses are given to the general audience, touching upon timely topics and introducing latest findings as well as explaining the basics of the subject.

The JPS discusses the direction education of physics should take, and on the basis of those discussions make recommendations and requests to relevant institutions and government agencies. It also organizes international conferences, exchanges information and cooperates with physics societies abroad as well as with international academic bodies and research institutes. The JPS thus plays an important role in the development and progress of physics both domestically and internationally.

General enlightenment is an important component of JPS activity. citizens' science lectures・ seminars on science for high school students and above, open session lectures and enjoyable science experiment labs for elementary school pupils and junior high school students are carried out every year concurrently to the conferences and subcommittees, engendering understanding of, and interest in, physics by the general audience. In particular, the junior session of the spring conference, which is a venue for high school students to present their research, the young participants gain much from their exchange with members of the physics community at the forefront of research.