President of the 35th annual meeting of JASTRO Yasushi Nagata (Department of Radiation Oncology, Hiroshima University)

I am pleased to announce that the 35th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology (JASTRO 2022) will take place in Hiroshima. This will be the first time in the 35-year history of JASTRO that the annual meeting will be held in the Chugoku area. After the pandemic forced us to hold both the 2020 (Sapporo) and 2021 (Sendai) meetings online, we hope to have a physical congress for the first time in 3 years since Nagoya in 2019. While we look forward to seeing you all in person and experiencing the thrill of a real-life meeting, we also intend to embrace the strengths of the online format that has served us so well for two years.

The theme for the upcoming meeting will be “A Million Hearts as One: The Present and Future of High-Precision Radiotherapy.”

“A Million Hearts as One” is an inscription on a stone monument erected by the medieval warlord Mori Motonari when he expanded Yoshida Koriyama Castle into a large stronghold. The monument was a substitute for a human offering to ensure the completion of the difficult project.

The calligraphy on the stone is shaped in a way so the words can be read as “One Day, One Strength, One Heart.” The connotation is that if the locals put together their strength and their hearts on the same day, they can accomplish anything. We chose this phrase for its relevance to the importance of teamwork in radiotherapy, which is a collective effort by radiation oncologists, dental radiologists, medical physicists, radiological technologists, nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, and administrative personnel.

Japan has led the world in high-precision radiotherapy, from conformal radiotherapy to CT simulators, stereotactic body radiotherapy, IMRT, IGRT, IGBT, particle-beam radiation therapy, and artificial intelligence. To understand the current situation, identify issues, and estimate the future, we wish to include displays and demonstrations of devices and machinery as well as hands-on practice of treatment protocols.

We also wish to look beyond Japan’s international position and instead emphasize our relationships – the Federation in Asia of Radiation Oncology (FARO), European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), our trilateral framework with China and South Korea, and our collaboration with Taiwan among others – accepting international participants and promoting international exchange programs as much as possible.

The venue for JASTRO 2022 will be RIHGA Royal Hotel Hiroshima and NTT Cred Hall, plus the spacious Hiroshima Green Arena to allow plenty of space for attendees. Hiroshima in November is beautiful with autumn foliage, and culinary delights with fresh Setouchi ingredients await you. Everyone on the organizing team is looking forward to hosting you in Hiroshima. See you at JASTRO 2022!