The 46th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (JOSSM) and the 12th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Orthopaedic Society of Knee, Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine (JOSKAS) will be held as a joint meeting over the three-day period of December 17–19 at the Kobe International Conference Center. It is a great honor for us to host both meetings in the Olympic year of 2020, which will be a memorable year for Japan.

The Annual Meeting of JOSSM was first held in 1975, and has since continued for almost half a century. JOSKAS was first held in 2009 as a result of the constructive merger of the Japanese Arthroscopy Association and the Japan Knee Society. The late Professor Masaki Watanabe was the president of both these two predecessors at their establishment in 1975. Both JOSSM and JOSKAS are thus societies that share the same long history.

JOSSM was established with the aims of contributing to the advancement and popularization of sports medicine in the field of orthopaedic surgery (musculoskeletal medicine) and engaging in the prevention and treatment of sports injuries. The aims of JOSKAS are to encourage the publication of the results of basic and clinical studies concerning arthroscopy, the knee, sports medicine, and related fields, and thus to contribute to the development of orthopaedic surgery.

The theme of this JOSKAS-JOSSM Combined Meeting is “Beyond 2020 – Harmony and Progress.” “Beyond 2020” of course refers to the Tokyo Olympics, and means that these will not be the final goal of our discussion of sports medicine, which will take a longer view. “Harmony and Progress” express our determination for JOSSM and JOSKAS to go forward as partners in bringing about constructive change. Both JOSSM and JOSKAS have grown into large academic societies whose memberships include doctors, physiotherapists, trainers, and others. Opportunities for the members of both societies to meet at a single event and discuss the treatment and prevention of motor system disorders in the same arena are comparatively few. I think this will also be a good opportunity for our younger members, who will be the leaders of the next generation, to consider the future of our societies. The first half of the conference will focus mainly on issues that have been discussed at JOSKAS, and we intend to put together a program including many international symposiums and panel discussions with invited foreign speakers. The program for the second half will focus on discussing the prevention of sports injuries in motor organs and initiatives with the aim of returning to competitive sport.

In addition to the annual JOSKAS Seminar, the meeting will also include the 18th JOSSM-KOSSM (the Korean Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine) Combined Meeting(*) and 19ème Réunion de la Société Franco-Japonaise d’Orthopédie (congresse president: Dr. Tadayuki Hoshi), The22th German-Japanese Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (congresse president: Dr. Masashi Neo)(*). Participants in JOSKAS and JOSSM are cordially invited to attend all these meetings as well as the JOSKAS Seminar (only lectures are available).

Because of the large number of participants, my department is unable to host the meeting in our home prefecture of Aomori, but we intend to give the conference something of an Aomori flavor. I sincerely hope that as many people as possible will attend the meeting and engage in lively debate.

* the 18th JOSSM-KOSSM and The 22th German-Japanese Soceity for Orthopaedics and Trauma were canceled due to the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak around the world.