I am pleased to note that the 34th Japan Conference of Radiological Technologists will be held at Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki and Shimonoseki City Lifelong Learning Plaza in Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, for three days from September 21 (Friday) to 23 (Sunday), 2018. The main theme of the conference is “Let’s promote team medical care with the nation” along with the subtheme, “The Direction of Tomorrow.” I hope that the program of the conference and lively discussions among conference participants will help you explore the path to be taken in the future.

The year 2018 when the conference will be held marks the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration. It seems a fateful coincidence that we will host the conference in Yamaguchi Prefecture, which produced many leaders of the Meiji Restoration, in this milestone year. As you may know, the ideological mentor of young people who made major contributions to the Meiji Restoration was Yoshida Shoin, a distinguished intellectual active in the closing days of the Tokugawa shogunate, whose spirit is enshrined in Shoin Shrine. For this reason, we will invite Mr. Ueda Toshishige, an honorary chief priest of Shoin Shrine, as a special lecturer to deliver a cultural lecture on the Meiji Restoration. Topics of educational lectures will include artificial intelligence and clinical works, while a symposium will be organized as the Yamaguchi program to discuss “Quality Assurance (QA) using Regional Network in Radiotherapy” based on the activities that have been carried out for this purpose in Yamaguchi Prefecture in recent years.Of special note is that the Asia Radiotherapy Symposium will be included in the conference program for the first time, which will be especially appealing to Radiation Therapy Technologist.

Shimonoseki City, the venue of the conference, is located at the westernmost part of the main island of Japan and faces the north coast of the Kanmon Straits. The conference venues, Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki and Shimonoseki City Lifelong Learning Plaza, are just ten minutes on foot from JR Shimonoseki Station, and from the upper floors of Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki, you can look down on the tidal flows of the Kanmon Straits. Adjacent to Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki is Kaikyo Yume Tower with an observatory at its top floor which commands 360-degree panoramic views of such scenic spots as: the Seto Inland Sea which is as calm as a lake; Dannoura, known for the sea battle between the Heike Clan and the Genji Clan; Ganryu Island famous for the samurai duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro; the Moji Port in Kitakyushu City across the sea; the Kyushu Mountain Range far beyond; and Hibiki Sea (Japan Sea). Shimonoseki is also renowned for its local recipes, such as fuku (blowfish) dishes and kawara soba noodles. I hope you will participate in the 34th Japan Conference of Radiological Technologists to be held in Yamaguchi Prefecture, deepen academic exchanges, and enjoy the local historical heritage, landscapes and wonderful foods together.