It is a very great honor indeed to have been appointed as the Congress President of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology.

As the theme of this congress, I have chosen “IMAGINE THE FUTURE – Let's Talk about the Future of Cancer Treatment.” I chose it because when I was thinking about what sort of conference I want this to be, I had a vision of the students and young clinicians and researchers who will be our successors holding frank discussions with a view to the future.

We engage in everyday clinical practice that emphasizes evidence obtained from the results of research studies, whether basic or clinical, but there are still many issues with current standard therapies. Although discussions of clinical trials and therapeutic outcomes past and present are a vital part of any academic conference, they are not the be-all and end-all, and I would like this Annual Meeting to be an opportunity for us to focus on medium-term and long-term strategies, discuss the form the healthcare for which we are responsible will take in the next five, ten, or even a hundred years, and think about the direction in which we should be moving as medical professionals to ensure a high-quality future. What I would like us to discuss is not just patient happiness, but what we – medical professionals, researchers, educators, and corporations in this field – should be doing in the changing society of the future. This means considering the challenges that we face in order to achieve fulfillment, success, and happiness of everybody involved in cancer treatment and radiotherapy in particular, and discovering clues for their resolution.

“IMAGINE THE FUTURE” is actually the philosophy of the University of Tsukuba. The phrase includes the ideals of “reform” and “new challenges,” as the university aims to be as open and forward-looking as possible. It is we ourselves who must shape the future of cancer therapy. I hope that in their final slides, the presenters will show us the directions in which they believe we should be moving, the measures necessary to resolve the challenges we face, and their own dreams and aspirations – irrespective of whether or not these are achievable or can be supported. This is how we will move from imagining the future to creating it.

The entire staff of the Department of Radiation Oncology of the University of Tsukuba is working as one to arrange the Annual Meeting, and I hope that JASTRO members will also propose their own suggestions for the program. Although it seems that conference attendance has been declining since the COVID-19 pandemic, I intend to plan this Annual Meeting to make it an event that everyone will feel it will be great fun to attend in person.

For the first time in some years, the meeting will be held in Tokyo, and I look forward to seeing many of you there.