It is my great pleasure to announce that we will be hosting the 46th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine at the Kyoto International Conference Center and Grand Prince Hotel Kyoto. In the past, this meeting has been held in Kyoto only once by our 41st President, professor Yoshihito Ujike in 2014. I can recall the excitement and energy of that conference and feel tremendously responsible as the second host in Kyoto. The field of intensive care medicine is still new, and has only recently come to be recognized as an academic discipline. Thus, I have chosen “For the Next Generation” as the main theme of this event.
For the sake of continuity of this field, I strongly feel that it is imperative to collaborate with other academic societies, such as the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine, the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists, the Japan Pediatric Society, the Japanese Circulation Society, the Japanese Respiratory Society, the Japan Surgical Society, the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Japanese Society of Respiratory Care Medicine, etc. on the basis to promote multi-disciplinary relationships. It is likely that efforts to globalize our society will also continue, and we expect to welcome many participants from our Asian neighbors such as Korea and Thailand together with our Western partners.
“What can we do for the next generation?” This was the question that I posed when I asked the Scientific Program Committee to plan the contents of the 46th meeting. I hope our discussions how we could advance the field of intensive care medicine and enhance our techniques as well as technologies will permit us to create a robust bond that will continue throughout generations. Since the effective utilization of accumulated data is also vital to consider for our future, we will also be hosting a post-conference Datathon-Japan after this annual meeting.
The Kyoto International Conference Center has recently completed a new facility that can accommodate our growing society. I look forward to welcoming you and hope you will enjoy Kyoto’s spring blossoms during your stay.

Satoru Hashimoto, MD
President, The 46th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine