The 57th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine (JARM 2020) will be held from June 11th (Thursday) through June 14th (Sunday), 2020, at the Kyoto International Conference Center. It is a great honor to have the opportunity to host this Meeting of long standing, and along with students and colleagues, I intend to do my utmost to bring it continued success through planning and operation.

As Japanese society ages more rapidly, further development and progress are expected of rehabilitation medicine and medical science, which have become ever more essential for prolonging healthy lives. 2020 is also the momentous year of the second Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Our Meeting will take place immediately before the Olympics and Paralympics, with the world already at a high pitch of excitement. I feel we can produce results second to none, while acknowledging the significance of this timing.

We have, therefore, selected for JARM 2020 the theme of “Flying to the Future in Rehabilitation Medicine.” Spinal cord regeneration therapy has begun seriously, in accordance with which we are very much aware of the importance of regeneration rehabilitation. The development of cutting-edge devices is making great strides, including rehabilitation robots, functional electrical/magnetic stimulation, brain-machine interfaces, virtual reality, augmented reality and so on. We hope to make the most of these in order to find ways to overcome the challenges of our unprecedented super-aging society, and to contribute to the future development of Japan. In this way, we aim at the further development of rehabilitation medicine in the future, and intend to work to make this Meeting a small part of this process.

This Meeting is a major academic conference attended by physicians in a wide variety of fields and professions. The preparation and operation will be designed to enable every participant to have a meaningful experience.

Kyoto in June is elegant and lovely with its many historical sites, a gourmet treasure house as well. I look forward to your enthusiastic participation in the conference and to its enrichment thereby.

Sincerely,