It is my greatest honor to serve as chairperson of the 52nd Meeting of the Japan Society of Pain Clinicians to be held for three days from July 19, 2018 (Thursday) through July 21st (Saturday) at International Convention Center PAMIR within the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa complex in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo.
　Pain is indeed a trying and unpleasant symptom to patients causing deterioration in the quality of daily lives, to which medical professionals must place the highest priority. Because of the broad-ranging adverse effects that pain causes, “how to alleviate pain” has been and still is a major concern to both patients and medical professionals. Holding this as its mission, Japan Society of Pain Clinicians was founded as a study group in 1969, became an academic society in 1985 and has grown to the society with more than 5,000 members of today while establishing the Certified Pain Clinician Program on its journey.
　Throughout this period, various academic and clinical attempts have been made on pain by researchers and practitioners from both home and abroad. Such endeavor has helped us, to a certain degree, to clarify what we have solved, what we have understood and what we still need to know.
　With the theme of “your imagination and aspiration create the future pain clinic” set for the 52nd Meeting, we have strived to build a program that serves as the platform for all participants to learn from experiences of the pioneers, sort out the knowledge of and treatment methods for pain and further develop them for the future.
　The sub-theme for the meeting has been set as “expertise and versatility”. With this, we aim to provide a place for all participants to discuss, through presentations by people of various professions, both the academic and technical knowledge that we must absorb, as well as the flexible versatility that should enable us to look at pain from various angles. I sincerely hope these attempts help our patients suffering from pain live fuller lives.
　As the first-ever female chair, I tried to make the Meeting more accessible with several ideas including “public-view” rooms where mothers with little children may watch and listen to live presentations and poster sessions that are easier for them to attend.
　I hope every participant to the Meeting will carry something home in the pocket of his/her mind. Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible very soon!