The Japan Information Access Project evolved from a private U.S. citizen's efforts in 1991 to organize an informal American delegation to the Third International Conference on Japanese Information in Science, Technology and Commerce held in France.

Because of budgetary constraints, the U.S. government was unable to send an official delegation to this conference, which is used by the Japanese government to gauge Western interest in Japanese science and technology information. Working closely with the U.S. Department of Commerce's Asia-Pacific Technology Program, Japan researcher Ms. Mindy L. Kotler raised $15,000 to cover partially the costs to commission 12 U.S. academic papers and send nine representatives to the conference.

In the course of her fundraising efforts, Ms. Kotler spoke with more than 300 scholars, government officials, scientists, corporate managers, trade and professional association executives, foundation executives, librarians, and journalists. All acknowledged the need for a consistent effort to study and understand how Japan generates and holds science, technology, and policy information. All recognized the need for an unbiased clearinghouse of Japanese information sources that could evaluate the usefulness of these sources. Many saw a need for a resource that could assist the U.S. government in identifying the problems of access and communicate these problems to the Japanese. And all agreed on the need for greater access to information as a prime component of American competitiveness with Japan.

Following these discussions, Ms. Kotler founded the Japan Information Access Project. In the Fall of 1991, the IEEE Computer Society, the largest nonprofit professional organization of computer scientists, offered the Project office space for one year to judge interest in such an enterprise. On July 14, 1993, the IRS approved the Project's application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, which is retroactive to the Project's founding on October 16, 1991.