Ikuya Nonaka, MD
Chair, Local Organizing Committee
Dear Colleagues,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 15th International Congress of World Muscle Society from October 12 to 16, 2010 in Kumamoto, Japan. Putting all bias aside, I believe that Kumamoto is the best place to have the meeting in Japan, not to mention the fact that autumn is the best season in Kumamoto. Because I have spent most of my full life in Kumamoto, from high school to medical school and early medical training, indeed I can say that Kumamoto is the best city to welcome you.
Kumamoto City, the prefectural capital of Kumamoto Prefecture, is located in the center of Kyushu Island. It is a small city populated by around 700,000 people, thus access from all hotels to the venue (Kumamoto Citizen Hall) is within 10-15 minutes by walk or few minutes by tram, which only costs 150 yen (one Euro) for one trip. Kumamoto city, which is also known as the City of Forests, is blessed with several fascinating natural scenic places as more than half of the land is still untouched natural forests and grasslands. It is also famous for the Kumamoto castle, one of the three best castles in Japan and is closely located to the venue. When you feel a bit tired in studying, you can walk to the castle for relaxation and to get further energy. Reaching the city itself entails a long but exciting trip from Narita airport to Kumamoto via Haneda or other local airports, giving you some opportunity to travel to other places in Japan.
I am extremely grateful for the dedicated efforts of all the committee members involved in the preparation, organization and administration of this congress. I am also pleased to acknowledge the contributions from our sponsors and other organizations in pursuing this congress.
I am confident that the congress will provide all the delegates with a good opportunity to share ideas and cutting-edge knowledge, fostering not only scientific collaboration but also camaraderie. I wish all the delegates a wonderful time during a stimulating and fruitful congress.
Seishi Kohyama
Mayor of Kumamoto City
It is my privilege to welcome the world’s cutting edge researchers to our city for the 15th International Congress of the World Muscle Society. On behalf of the citizens of Kumamoto city I would like to warmly welcome you all and thank you for allowing our city to host this event.
Kumamoto City is a city blessed with abundant nature located in the south of Japan. To the east lies the largest volcano caldera on earth at Mount Aso; to the west stretches the bountiful Ariake Sea. One of the blessings that nature has given us is our cool, clean groundwater. This groundwater provides all of our 680,000 citizens with clean tap water and was selected by the Ministry of the Environment as one of the 100 Exquisite and Well-conserved Waters of Japan and is highly appreciated.
In addition, we are also proud to possess one of the three most famous feudal castles in Japan, Kumamoto Castle, which had the highest number of visitors of all the castles in Japan in 2008.
Since the founding of Kumamoto University, there have been a great many medical and research organizations created in our city. By hosting this international conference we believe that with the medical and research staff members and a variety of individuals from different areas, the members of this conference can touch the foremost line on muscle disorders and make great contributions to the development of life sciences.
We are pleased to welcome guests and customers from over 30 different countries. Please enjoy yourselves and our city during your stay.
We look forward to your visit in October of 2010.
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