While the Japanese Art Society of America now addresses all aspects of Japanese art and culture, it traces its origins to a small group of ukiyo-e print collectors in and around New York City in 1973, at a time when Parke-Bernet Galleries (later to merge with Sotheby’s) had begun to develop a market for Japanese art. The first major auction was the 1969 sale of the Blanche McFetridge estate, consisting of ukiyo-e prints once owned by Frank Lloyd Wright, followed by the 1972 sale of the estate of Hans Popper (1904–1971), a Viennese businessman who spent time working in Japan.

Programs for members and the public remain the focus of the Society. In 2017, members visited two private collections of Japanese ceramics in New York; took an excursion to Washington, DC, for the Utamaro exhibition at the Freer|Sackler; toured San Antonio for the exhibition “Heaven and Hell,” organized by member Emily Sano; and toured the Abbey Collection of bamboo art with assistant curator Monika Bincsik at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2018 programs have included a presentation on contemporary lacquer by Andreas Marks and behind the scenes visits to the Metropolitan Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. Lecture programs in New York are held at Marymount School of New York on Fifth Avenue and elsewhere.

The Society communicates with a national and international audience through its quarterly newsletter and its annual journal, Impressions, recipient of the 2009 Donald Keene Prize for the Promotion of Japanese Culture, awarded by the Donald Keene Center, Columbia University. Impressions also received Honorable Mention in the 2016 and 2017 Eddie and Ozzie Folio Awards for both design and content. Impressions is free to members of JASA (www.japaneseartsoc.org).