It is a great honor that the 46th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research (JSSR 2017) will be held in Royton Sapporo and Sapporo Geibun-kan in the city of Sapporo from Thursday, April 13 to Saturday, April 15, 2017.

Our main theme is “The practice of spine surgery is an art, based on science,” an allusion to the statement made by William Osler, a physician born in Ontario, Canada who laid the foundations of medical education, that “The practice of medicine is an art, based on science.” Thus, our goal for this annual meeting is to deepen our understanding of advanced clinical practices and the science that underlies them. Spine surgery in Japan has the advantage that doctors themselves are bilingual in clinical and basic medicine, which is a major reason for the good results achieved in this country compared with Europe and North America. I am very happy that we have been able to invite leading speakers on the global front line of basic research in areas such as spinal cord regeneration and spinal biomechanics to come and address us.

In response to our Call for Papers we have received 1,575 submissions, the largest number ever. The members of the Program Committee have gone through a stringent selection process to choose 1,102 of these (an acceptance rate of 69.97%), comprising 78 main topics, 503 general oral presentations, 24 English sessions (EPS and EPA), and 497 poster presentations. I would like to express my great gratitude to the many members who submitted papers, and to the committee members for their hard work in screening them. All the accepted abstracts are of high quality with excellent content, and have made me aware once again of the high level of the JSSR.

We have invited Dr. Kuniyoshi Abumi, Professor Emeritus of Hokkaido University, and Dr. Joji Mochida, the previous President of the JSSR, to give Plenary Lectures. Both have achieved world-beating results, and I am very sure that their presentations will be highly beneficial to our membership. As a Special Lecture, we have also invited Dr. Shin-ichi Kikuchi, a former President of the JSSR, to speak on the future direction we should take. The program will include 11 Invited Lectures, all given by speakers invited from overseas. All are world leaders in their fields, and I would like to thank the many people who have helped in the selection of speakers. Sponsored seminars will include three morning seminars, 16 luncheon seminars and nine evening seminars. Symposia will cover the up-to-date topics of lumbar interbody fusion (LIF), correction surgery for cervical deformity, and health checks in the general population, and there will also be a panel discussion addressing medical-biological engineering collaboration in spinal biomechanics. I am looking forward to discussions that will make a significant contribution to the development of spinal and spinal cord medicine. Debates will also be held on four topics that will be useful in actual clinical practice, and video lectures under the title “Know the tips of experts” will provide information on actual surgical procedures that will be of use to many spinal surgeons. We have also arranged for a report of the Clinical Economic Study of Drug Therapies for Chronic Lower Back Pain, a committee-led project, as well as a symposium on the current status of board-certified specialist spinal and spinal cord physicians.

It has been many years since this meeting was last held in the Hokkaido or Tohoku areas. Sapporo, in the lands of the north, is the site of Sapporo Medical University, where I spent my student days, and as such is my second home. It boasts both majestic natural scenery and a modern urban environment, and as a world-class tourist destination the city is well equipped to offer sophisticated hospitality. We have also taken care to make the most of the distinctive character of Akita Prefecture. We are taking over the Sapporo Geibun-kan coffee shop to serve famous confectionary from Akita Prefecture, so please do try some. The Welcome Reception will also include a surprise from Akita that is sure to astonish all those in attendance. In addition, we will also be serving a range of local saké brands from Akita, which is known as the home of saké. I hope you will take the opportunity to taste as many as you wish, raising your spirits in the process.

For Akita University’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery, part of the first new national university to be established post-war, to take responsibility for organizing such a long-established meeting is a great honor for which I am extremely grateful. My colleagues and I have been working as one to ensure that it will offer you all memories that will last a lifetime. I am looking forward to see as many of you as possible at the meeting.

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