History

The Japanese Rhinologic Society celebrates its 49th Anniversary this year, since the first meeting of the Rhinology Study Group, which is the predecessor of this society, was held on October 8, 1962, in Nagano Prefecture. The Rhinology Study Group changed its name to the Japanese Rhinologic Society from the 3rd meeting, and it was again changed to the present Japan Rhinologic Society from the 22nd meeting. We now have 1,953 members, and have been actively contributing to the scientific development of rhinology. We present our history of 50 meetings held in the past in the appendix, and it tells you the history of our contribution to the development of rhinology in both domestic and overseas settings. From the 1st meeting of the Rhinology Study Group to the 50th meeting of the Japanese Rhinologic Society, the contents of the meetings remind us of the considerable efforts of successive presidents and individual predecessors. We also present the history of the study group of basic rhinological problems and the study group of clinical rhinological problems. The International Rhinologic Society (IRS) was founded by Professor Cottle from the U.S. in 1965, when the first meeting was held in Kyoto. The Japanese Rhinologic Society joined this society in 1981, and expanded its field of study overseas. Here, I will introduce three major international events held in Japan. In 1965, the 1st Extraordinary Meeting of IRS, Kyoto, was held on October 19 and 20 at Kyoto Kokusai Hotel under the leadership of Prof. Teruo Takasu from Nagoya City University (President of the society). Although this was held immediately before the 8th International Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies World Congress in Tokyo (October 24-30), approximately 200 people from 20 countries participated in the meeting. In November 1976, the 1st International Symposium on Infection and Allergy of the Nose (ISIAN) was successfully held at the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, under the leadership of Prof. Ryo Takahashi from Jikei University School of Medicine, and 77 presentations were made during the symposium. In 1991, the International Congress of Rhinology ’91 (ICR ’91) was held between September 23 and 28 at the Keio Plaza Hotel, Tokyo. This congress consisted of and was mainly hosted by three societies: the IRS under the leadership of Emeritus Prof. Ryo Takahashi from Jikei University School of Medicine as President elect, the 10th meeting of ISIAN under the leadership of Prof. Shunkichi Baba from Nagoya City University as President, and the 30th meeting of the JRS under the leadership of Prof. Tetsuo Ishii from Tokyo Women’s Medical University as President. A total of 467 participants (219 overseas and 248 Japanese registrants ) from 34 countries including Japan attended ICR ’91, and this was successfully held by employing simultaneous interpretation and language moderator systems during question-and-answer sessions.