Message from President                  

                                                                                                April 2024

The 2023 Annual Meeting (61st Meeting) was held at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (Shinagawa) and was a great success, with the participation of around 140 attendees. Approximately 30% of the oral presentations this time were delivered by participants from overseas, including Israel, Italy, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, indicating a growing international presence at our annual conference each year. I extend my profound appreciation to Professor Katsuyuki Hamasaki (Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology), Dr. Tetsuya Sanda (Fisheries Research and Education Agency) and the organizing committee members for their unwavering dedication and endeavors.  My gratitude is also extended to all participants, presenters, and coordinators whose active involvement significantly enriched the 2023 meeting.

 

During this meeting, the international symposium entitled "Conservation Study on Crayfish and Invasive Alien Decapod Species: A Case Study on Species from the Mediterranean Region" was conducted. The symposium was organized by Dr. Tadashi Kawai (Hokkaido). I extend my sincere gratitude to him and the esteemed international speakers, Professor Amir Sagi (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel), Dr. Gianna Innocenti (University of Florence, Italy), Dr. Elena Tricarico (University of Florence, Italy), Dr. Shai Avraham Shaked (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel), and Dr. Sharon Moscovitz (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel), for their invaluable contributions. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge the symposium-related presentations delivered by Mr. Hiroyuki Yamada (Pacific Consultants Co., LTD) and the high school student team from Odate Homei High School, Akita. 

Further, special talk was given by TCS President, Prof. Benny KK Chan (Academia, Sinica) entitled "The Crustacean Society and its possibility to collaborate with carcinologists in Japan".  He is a chairperson of TCS Summer Meeting in Taiwan, and I hope many members of our society attend to the TCS Meeting. 

During this meeting, various awards were presented by the society. In recognition of his longstanding contributions to our society, the title of Honorary Member was conferred upon Dr. Kooichi Konishi (National Research Institute of Fisheries Science). Additionally, the newly established Education Contribution Award was presented to Mr. Hajime Chokki (Oi-cho, Ashigarakami-gun, Kanagawa), who primarily contributed to elementary school education through the use of crustaceans as teaching materials, and to the late Mr. Nobuaki Niwa (Kobe-shi, Hyogo), who primarily contributed to high school biology club activities using crustaceans as research materials.　　Additionally, the Best Paper Prize was awarded to Dr. Shuji Kondo (Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Shinagawa) for his outstanding research contribution, which earned him for his publication in our official journal "Crustacean Research."  Notable awards were given to Shinya Morishita (Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Shinagawa) and Tomoaki Konno (Hokkaido University) for receiving the CSJ Best Oral and Poster Presentation Prizes, respectively.  Congratulations to all the awardees for their remarkable accomplishments.

This time, the first Crustacean Collection Event was organized by the Young Researchers' Group, which took place in Misaki on the Miura Peninsula facing Sagami Bay. We received full cooperation from the Misaki Marine Biological Station, School of Science, The University of Tokyo.   They conducted dredge collection on their ship, the "Kanrin-Maru" of MMBS.  We express our heartfelt gratitude to all staff of the Misaki Marine Biological Station (Director: Prof. Toru Miura) and to Dr. Naoya Ohtsuchi (Otsuchi Coastal Research Center, The University of Tokyo), Dr. Naoto Inui (Misaki Marine Biological Station), and Yuzo Ohta (Sanin Kaigan Geopark Museum of the Earth and Sea) for organizing this event.

Volume 52 of "Crustacean Research" was published in December 2023. I thank from the bottom of my heart to Prof. Tohru Naruse (Universith of the Ryukyus) who was in charge of editing this journal. Volume 52 of "CANCER" was published in August 2023, which continues to thrive under the guidance of our esteemed editor, Dr. Yuzo Ohta.

We've received good reports from Professors Susumu Ohtsuka and Kaori Wakabayashi at Hiroshima University about the upcoming International Conference on Copepoda. This important conference will take place in Hiroshima, Japan, from June 2nd to June 7th, 2024. Make sure to keep an eye on the official website (https://icoc15.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/home.html) and follow the official Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates.

Internationalization is a central policy for us. With recent progress in crustacean biology research across Asia, now is the perfect time to create an Asian-Pacific consortium focused on advancing crustacean biology. Leading this effort, the Carcinological Society of Japan plans to establish this network. To make this vision a reality, we'll host a series of international symposia where respected researchers in Asian crustacean biology will be invited to share their research findings.

With this goal in mind, a series of symposia called "Frontiers in Crustacean Biology: Asian Perspectives" is being organized. 

The first symposium took place during the 55th annual meeting of the Carcinological Society of Japan in 2017. The second was held in May 2019 at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, coinciding with The Crustacean Society's mid-year meeting. In 2023, the third symposium took place alongside the 10th International Crustacean Congress in New Zealand. The fourth symposium is scheduled to be held during the TCS Summer Meeting at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, in May 2024.

Finally, I kindly ask everyone to join in by inviting new members, presenting at our annual meeting, and submitting manuscripts to our journals "Crustacean Research" and "CANCER."

 

                    Akira Asakura, 

                      President, Carcinological Society of Japan

               　    Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University