Masashi Yamazaki, M.D., Ph.D.

Congress President

Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Institute of Medicine, University of Tsukuba

This 38th Annual Research Meeting of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association is going to be held in Tsukuba on October 19 (Thurs.) and 20 (Fri.), 2023. The meeting started out in 1973 as a forum for discussion of basic research on bones and joints. Along with its growth, it was renamed the Orthopaedic Research Meeting in 1983 and the Annual Research Meeting of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association in 1986. To this day it has also become fuller in substance with each installment. This is the first time for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Tsukuba to be placed in charge of it. I consider this a great honor, and would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to concerned members of the meeting and the Japanese Orthopaedic Association for giving us this wonderful opportunity.

In Japan, orthopaedics developed in a manner that differs somewhat from the case in other countries. More specifically, it took the form of comprehensive examination of the patient’s locomotive organs, encompassing not only surgery but also conservative therapy and even prevention. This also applies to basic research; in orthopaedics as practiced in Japan, it is not rare for surgeons to directly engage in basic research in addition to their surgical responsibilities. This pursuit of research by orthopaedic surgeons holds the advantage of generating new ideas closely tied to the clinic. In this sense, I believe Japan’s orthopaedic surgeons truly deserve to be called “surgical scientists.” I would like to make this research meeting into a forum of lively discussion by such surgical scientists on the orthopaedic medicine of the future.

The meeting will be held at the Tsukuba International Congress Center, a conference venue that served as the site of gatherings including the G7 Science and Technology Ministers' Meeting and the G20 Ibaraki-Tsukuba Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Digital Economy. The venue is a leisurely 10-minute walk from Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express line, down a pedestrian path.

The theme for this installment of the meeting is “IMAGINE THE FUTURE,” which is the slogan of the University of Tsukuba. Tsukuba is a “science city” that was constructed beginning about 50 years ago, in accordance with a national policy aimed at moving some institutions and functions associated with Tokyo’s status as Japan’s capital out of Tokyo. I am hoping for enthusiastic discussions among the meeting attendees here in Tsukuba on the orthopaedics of tomorrow.

I am determined to make full preparations to welcome all of you to Tsukuba with the cooperation of students and alumni of the University of Tsukuba Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and am eagerly looking forward to seeing you at the meeting.