Message   Jan 2021

                         Message from President                  

                                                                                                            1 January 2021

I am honored and delighted to serve as the President of the Carcinological Society of Japan for the period 2021-2023. Our goal is to provide opportunities for association and communication among crustacean biologists from all scientific fields worldwide. In order to achieve this goal, the CSJ publishes two journals, "Crustacean Research" and "CANCER," and sponsors an annual meeting. The society also confers honors and awards to young researchers who are the authors of papers published in "Crustacean Research" and other society publications, as well as to the best oral and poster presentations at our annual meetings. 

In 2019, the 57th Annual Meeting was held at the Shinagawa Campus of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology in October 2019, under the leadership of Professors Katusyuki Hamasaki and Shigeki Dan. It was a successful meeting with 160 attendees, featuring 28 oral presentations and 38 poster presentations. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all attendees, speakers, and organizers. The CSJ Best Poster Prize was awarded to Ms. Chihiro Takakura of Nagasaki University, the CSJ Best Oral Presentation Prize was awarded to Dr. Yumi Henmi of Kyoto University, and the Best Paper Prize was awarded to Dr. Satoshi Takeshima of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.

During  the 57th Annual Meeting, International Symposium "Reproductive Biology of Barnacles" was held, chaired by Drs. Ryuta Yoshida (Ochanomizu Univ.), Kota Sawada (Nat. Res.Inst. Far Seas Fish.), Masami Tamechika (Hokkaido Univ.), and Yoichi Yusa (Nara Women's Univ.).  Keynote speakers were Dr. Jens T. Hoeg (Univ. Copenhagen) and Dr. Benny K.K. Chan（Academia Sinica）. 

In 2019, CSJ organized two symposia abroad.  CSJ collaborated with The Crustacean Society (TCS) and organized the symposium "Frontiers in Crustacean Biology, Asian Perspectives. Part II" during The Crustacean Society Mid-year Meeting (Hong Kong) at Henry Cheng International Conference Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, in May 2019.  Symposium speakers came from Hong Kong, Czech Republic, USA, Australia, Korea, and Japan.  The Meeting was a great success; 200 people from 25 countries attended.   

Furthermore, CSJ collaborated with Asian Marine Biology Symposium. We organized the symposium "Symbiosis and Parasitism in Crustacea: Diversity and Ecological Studies in Asian Region" during Fourth Asian Marine Biology Symposium at GIS NTU Convention Center, Taipei, Taiwan.  This symposium was chaired by Yumi Henmi (Kyoto Univ.) and Gyo Itani (Kochi Univ.) with collaboration by Prof. Jae-Sang Hong (Inha Univ., Korea) and his team on Upogebia and Dr. Benny K.K. Chan and his barnacle team of Academia Sinica (Taiwan). 

For all people in the world, 2020 was a very difficult year. The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious health threat and is continuing its spread across the world.  Following social distancing recommendations to avoid spread of COVID-19, we decided to shift our face-to-face annual meeting to a virtual online meeting.  I deeply thank Prof. Tohru Naruse (University of the Ryukyus) who organized the online annual meeting on Oct. 2020.

"Crustacean Research" vol. 49 was published in December 2020.  The very beautiful cover photo was taken by Mr. Akira Kawahara (Umino-Annai'nin, Chibisuke); the emperor shrimp Periclimenes imperator on a sea slug Hypselodoris kaname. Our Japanese Journal "CANCER" continues to flourish under the leadership of our Editor Dr. Yuzo Koyano (Ohta). 

CSJ is now at a turning point. We are taking responsibility for the future of the CSJ by continuing to cooperate with each other and thereby positioning the society to be a leader in the crustacean biology in Japan and Asia-Pacific area. Collaborations between CSJ and academic societies are also important.  CSJ collaboratively organized international conferences with The Crustacean Society in 2009 and International Association of Astacology in 2014.  CSJ organized symposia with Malacological Society of Japan in Shirahama and Tokyo in 2017, The Crustacean Society in Hong Kong in 2019 and Asian Marine Biology Symposium in Taipei in 2019.  

I, therefore, would like to ask all of you for your cooperation by inviting new members to join, attending to, and giving presentations at, our annual meeting, as well as submitting manuscripts to "Crustacean Research" and "Cancer" for publication.

                    Akira Asakura, 

                        President, Carcinological Society of Japan

               　     Director and Professor, Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University