The 32nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology will be held at the Nagoya Congress Center on November 21–23, 2019. This is the second time for the JASTRO Annual Meeting to be held in Nagoya; the last occasion was the 7th Annual Meeting 24 years ago in 1994 chaired by Professor Kozo Morita, Honorary Director of the Aichi Cancer Center. Thanks to the achievements of Professor Shinji Takahashi, Nagoya is known as the birthplace of conformal radiotherapy, and since 2004 high-precision radiotherapy has been established in this region and has made remarkable achievements. Among the 47 prefectures in Japan, Aichi is the prefecture in which the utilization rate of IMRT among all radiotherapy techniques is the highest.

Advances in therapeutic techniques have made it possible to cure various cancers without surgery, using not only the X-ray-based stereotactic irradiation and IMRT but also the recently developed particle beam therapy. In light of these developments, the theme of this Annual Meeting is “Curing Cancer Without Surgery: Current Achievements and Future Prospects.” I look forward to seeing presentations of the latest data on a wide range of different cancers and to hearing about the characteristics and advantages of radiotherapy (with or without drug therapy including immunotherapy) compared with conventional therapies. I hope that these presentations and discussions will lead to cancer therapies that maintain a high quality of life, which is the optimum outcome for patients.

In addition to the main topics of the cutting-edge radiotherapy techniques and combination therapies with chemotherapy and immunotherapy, this Annual Meeting will also address the long-standing theme of radiobiology and take up the issue of the effect of low-dose radiation exposure, which has lately been a theme in our department. Radiobiology will become ever more important for the further development of radiotherapy. There has also been an explosive increase in basic research showing that stimulation by low-dose radiation exposure has beneficial effects on the living organisms, and the idea that low-dose exposure may be damaging is now outdated. To spread awareness of these research results as widely as possible, we are planning to invite experts from Japan and overseas to talk about the latest discoveries.

The Annual Meeting of the JASTRO is not only a venue for exchanging the latest scientific information, but is also an important networking opportunity for members and participants. We are also planning a wide variety of communication-related events. The Nagoya Congress Center is only one station from Kanayama, the third main center of Nagoya, and the bustling Sakae/Nishiki commercial and entertainment area is just four subway stops away. I hope that participants will take the chance to enjoy Nagoya’s unique local cuisine and atmosphere. My entire department is working hard to make the Annual Meeting a great success, and we hope as many people as possible will attend. I look forward to seeing you there.