About Us

  1. Our Mission
    The Japanese Society of Neurology (JSN) is an academic association of clinical neurologists and neuroscientists. It aims to contribute to the development of neuroscience and neurology and work for the treatment and care of patients with neurological diseases, with mutual cooperation not only among members but also with individuals involved in related academic and practical fields in Japan and abroad
  2. Our Society
    As of May 2016, the society had 8,500 members, the majority of whom were neurologists and 5,400 of whom were board-certified neurologists. The President is Dr. Ryosuke Takahashi, Professor of Neurology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine.
    JSN publishes two official journals: Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology), which is published monthly in Japanese with English abstracts since 1960, and Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience, which is published bimonthly in English since 2013. JSN holds an annual academic meeting for all members together with the assembly of delegates once a year. Seven regional branches exist under JSN, and each of them holds local meetings two to four times a year.

    Table
    November 1960: The World Federation of Neurology (WFN) approved JSN as an official member.
    1961: The 58th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology (JSPN) approved JSN as the successor of the Neurology Division of JSPN.
    1967: JSN started a committee for the examination of board-certified neurologists.
    1970: 2,374 members
    June 1975: The first board examination was conducted, and JSN approved 43 board-certified neurologists.
    June 1975: The government approved neurology as an official field for medical practice.
    1980: 4,054 members
    1990: 6,359 members
    2000: 8,171 members
    2000: JSN decided to publish guidelines for the treatment of major neurological diseases by 2002, and committees for each guideline were organized.
    2002: Guidelines for the management of stroke, headache, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were published. Revised guidelines were published in 2010.
    2010: The 50th anniversary of JSN was held in Tokyo, and a book titled "50 years of Japanese Society of Neurology (Societas Neurologica Japonica)" was published. JSN had approximately 8,000 members and 4,500 board-certified neurologists.

    International Affairs hosted by JSN
    October 1962: The first Asian Oceanian Congress of Neurology was held in Tokyo (President: Shigeo Okinaka).
    September 1981: The World Congress of Neurology (WCN) was held in Kyoto (President: Shibansuke Katsuki). The number of participants was 2,666, including 1,177 domestic members and 1,489 overseas participants from 66 countries.
    1991: The 8th Asian Oceanian Congress of Neurology was held in Tokyo (President: Yasuo Toyokura).
    2007: The first meeting with the Korean Neurological Association was held in Nagoya.
    2008: The first Japan Korea Joint Symposium was held as part of the Annual Meeting of JSN that was held in Yokohama.
    2009: The Taiwan Neurological Association joined the joint symposium when the 4th Joint Symposium was held in Seoul. The East Asia Neurology Forum by the Neurological Societies of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan was started.
    September 2013: WFN elected JSN as the host of the 23rd WCN in 2017 (WCN2017) in Kyoto.

  3. History of Japanese Neurology and JSN
    The Era of Japanese Society of Neurology and Psychiatry (1902 1959)
    1902: The Japanese Society of Neurology and Psychiatry (JSNP) was founded by Kinnosuke Miura (Professor of Internal Medicine and Neurology, the University of Tokyo) and Shuzo Kure (Professor of Psychiatry, the University of Tokyo).
    1935: JSNP changed its name to the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology (JSPN) because the majority of members were psychiatrists.
    1953: At the 50th Annual Meeting, JSPN approved separation of the society into a Psychiatry Division and a Neurology Division.
    1959: Leading neurologist members from both JSPN and the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine had a meeting to discuss a new society of neurologists, and they made the decision to create a new society as the official branch of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) in Japan.
Birth of JSN
At the 5th Neurologist Association Meeting held on November 9, 1959 in Tokyo, it was decided that the JSN Annual Meeting would be held the following year. Each year since 1956, physicians involved in clinical neurology have held the Neurologist Association Meeting while the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine was in session. However, in 1959, after the 4th Neurologist Association Meeting was held during the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine, the 5th meeting was held in November of the same year. It was decided that an independent academic organization called the Japanese Clinical Neurology Society would be established as the Japanese branch of WFN. Shigeo Okinaka, a Professor of internal medicine at the University of Tokyo, was selected as the Japanese branch representative. The WFN Chairperson Ludo van Bogaert offered his congratulations on the establishment of this Japanese branch. Charles M Poser, a Medical Executive Officer, came to Japan as a representative of WFN to give a special speech at the meeting and personally delivered the message of congratulations from the Chairperson van Bogaert. Thus, a specialized academic society in the field of neurology was established independently from JSPN and the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine as a branch of WFN, which is an international neurology society. This became the starting point for the subsequent development of neurology in Japan and is an extremely significant event.
The 1st meeting of JSN
Once JSN was established, the 1st Annual Meeting was held in Fukuoka in the April of 1960 and was chaired by Shibanosuke Katsuki, a professor of internal medicine at Kyushu University. Approximately 500 individuals attended this meeting. In addition to 31 general presentations, Motoo Aki gave a special speech titled "The historical basis of clinical neurology," and Shigeo Okinaka gave a speech titled "A free discussion focusing on multiple sclerosis." At this meeting, many senior physicians responsible for the subsequent development of neurology in Japan were in attendance, and very lively discussions were held.
At its establishment, JSN comprised a total of 396 members.
In addition, the English name of the society was determined to be JSN, and its logo was Societas Neurologica Japonica, which was written in Latin.
On December 20, 1960, JSN was officially recognized as a member of WFN, and a document signifying this was received.
Establishment of a bureau and publication of a bulletin
In October 1960, when the 1st Annual Meeting was held, the inaugural issue of the bulletin Clinical Neurology was published.
From the Japanese Society of Clinical Neurology to JSN
The 2nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of (Clinical) Neurology was held in 1961 in the auditorium of the main building of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tokyo, and it was chaired by Shigeo Okinaka, a Professor of internal medicine at the University of Tokyo.

The 3rd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of (Clinical) Neurology was held in 1962 in Nagoya and chaired by Susumu Hibino, a Professor of internal medicine at Nagoya University. At the Annual Meeting held the following year, the name of the society was changed from the Japanese Society of Clinical Neurology to JSN, which remains to this day.

12th World Congress of Neurology (WCN)
The 12th WCN that was held in Japan was a turning point in the early development of JSN.
WFN, which was formed in 1957, has held WCN once every 4 years.
The 12th WCN was held from September 20 25, 1981 at the Kyoto International Conference Center. The Crown Prince and Princess (current Emperor and Empress) were in attendance at the grand and solemn opening ceremony that was held in the Main Hall of the Kyoto International Conference Center on September 20. Thereafter, a welcome party was held in the garden of the conference center. The Crown Prince and Princess also attended the welcome party and shared a pleasant conversation with neurologists from Japan and abroad.

As shown in the Table, the academic program from the following day comprised four main themes, 10 symposiums, and nine early morning seminars in addition to over 1,250 general presentations and exhibits by 64 companies and three institutions. A total of 2,666 individuals attended the event, including 1,177 from Japan and 1,489 from 66 countries worldwide. Prominent leaders in the field of clinical neurology came to Japan from around the world to give academic presentations on cutting-edge knowledge each day, leaving a very strong impression on Japanese neurologists who attended the event. Furthermore, 15 satellite symposiums on related fields were held during or outside of the sessions at the 12th WCN, all of which were enthusiastically received.
Therefore, the successful conclusion of the 12th WCN led to high acclaim for the level of professionalism of JSN, which had undergone remarkable development over the 20 years since its foundation, from countries belonging to WFN.

Table The 12th World Congress of Neurology (WCN) Planned Program
Main Theme 1 Cerebral hemisphere differentiation in humans
EIC 1981-12 WCN
Joint Symposium		 Left and right differences in the cerebrum and epilepsy onset
Main Theme 2 Cerebrovascular disease
Main Theme 3 How neurotransmitters and neuropeptide dysfunction are related to neurological disease
Main Theme 4 Viral infections of the nervous system
Symposium 1 Cerebrospinal fluid research, particularly methodology
Symposium 2 Headaches, migraines
Symposium 3 (Fulton Association) Developmental neurobiology
Symposium 4 Extrapyramidal disease
Symposium 5 Neurological poisoning
Symposium 6 Multiple sclerosis
Symposium 7 Neuropharmacology
Symposium 8 Neuroimmunology
Symposium 9 History of neurology
Symposium 10 Neurology education
Early morning seminar RD Adams
Early morning seminar N Geschwind
Early morning seminar JN Walton
Early morning seminar LP Rowland
Early morning seminar I Gamstorp
Early morning seminar F Seitelberger
Early morning seminar PK Thomas
Early morning seminar S Refsum
Early morning seminar JW Lance

How we came and grew

  1. Paving the way for a neurology specialist system
    Since its founding, JSN has established a committee for clinical neurology training standards (chair: Shigeo Okinaka, later replaced by Yoshigoro Kuroiwa) and has been engaged in the research of clinical training for neurology. As a result, at the 1966 Annual Meeting, the committee for clinical neurology training standards proposed the establishment of a neurology specialist system, and a subcommittee was formed within this committee to investigate a neurologist certification system. During the following year (1967), a certification subcommittee with Yoshigoro Kuroiwa as its Chairperson was newly established, and a full-scale investigation into the possibility of establishing a specialist neurologist certification system was launched. It took time until the actual certification work began, and, in 1974, the specialist neurologist certification system was implemented. Meanwhile, in order to develop postgraduate standards for the training of neurology specialists, a postgraduate training subcommittee (chair: Yoshikuni Mizuno) was established in January 1997 within the certification subcommittee, and this committee investigated the goals for the postgraduate training of neurology specialists. As a result, the postgraduate neurology research goals that were created by this subcommittee were announced in the June 1998 bulletin.
  2. Expansion of the field of neurological treatment
    Along with the standardization of clinical neurology departments and the establishment of the specialist neurologist certification system, the treatment and research conducted by neurologists has increased dramatically, while, at the same time, new treatment methods for numerous neurological disorders that were previously considered refractory or untreatable have been developed. However, while these new treatment methods are being continuously developed, many aspects of the medical insurance system in Japan are not entirely appropriate for the dissemination and promotion of these new methods throughout society. Since its establishment, JSN has been proactively engaged in activities to socially resolve the various problems associated with neurology treatment. At the second Annual Meeting of JSN in 1961, a committee for improving the treatment of neuropathies (Chairperson: Masao Kase) was established, and, after changing its name to the Treatment Improvement Committee in 1979, it has continued its activities to this day. Recent achievements include the addition of neurological treatment performed by a neurologist to the national health insurance coverage system under the 2008 revision of medical costs.
    With diversification in the treatment of neurological diseases, increasing social demand for the creation of guidelines on the basis of evidence-based medicine has led to the establishment of an ad hoc committee for the creation of treatment guidelines for the six major diseases (Parkinson's disease, chronic headache, epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, dementia disorders, and stroke) by Nobuo Yanagisawa, who is also the Chairperson of this committee, in 2000. As a result, treatment guidelines for the six major diseases were published over the period from May 2002 to May 2003. Since then, these guidelines have been revised or are currently under revision.
  3. In 1967, when the Neurological Society Glossary was created, the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences asked that glossary committees be established for each subcommittee in order to unify medical terms. A glossary subcommittee (Chair: Masao Kase) was also established in the Japanese Society of Neurology, and the first neurological glossary containing 1,209 terms was completed in 1975. In 1985, the glossary subcommittee was once again established, and the 2nd edition of the neurological terms glossary was completed in May 1993, with Keizo Hirayama as the Chairperson. The 3rd edition of the neurological terms glossary was completed in April 2008, with Shoji Tsuji as the Chairperson.
  4. As the Japanese Society of Neurology has become more internationalized and presided over the 12th WCN in 1981, it began organizing or jointly organizing numerous international academic conferences. The main events are listed in Table 6. Members of the Japanese Society of Neurology held the position of Chairperson for each of these international conferences, and many top-level experts from around the world gathered and engaged in the discussions. (Table 6).
  5. Japanese Society of Neurology logo restrictions and honors system
    At the 1987 Annual Board Meeting, the logo currently in use was selected from among multiple candidates by a Board of Director's vote, and the Board of trustees and general members at the Annual Meeting approved the proposed logo. Since 2002, two honors systems have been in place at JSN, and these honors are presented at each annual meeting. The first of these is the JSN Prize, which is awarded to JSN members who have made remarkable achievements in one of the two fields of research or treatment. The second award is called the Narabayashi Prize, which is based on a donation from a distinguished JSN member Hirotaro Narabayashi; it is awarded to an individual who makes remarkable achievements in research on motor impairments primarily associated with basal ganglia function and dysfunction.
  6. Certification of training facilities
    In order to improve the certified educational facilities for training specialists (postgraduate training), a policy was issued for the certification of educational and training-related facilities at the 36th Annual Meeting in 1995, and certification work was initiated in 1996. At the 49th Annual Meeting in 2008, the facility certification standards underwent drastic changes, and a policy whereby the facilities were divided into three types (educational facilities, semi-educational facilities, and educational-related facilities) was issued.
  7. Medical instructors
    As part of the efforts to establish trust in Japan's specialist physician system, the Japanese Board of Medical Specialties (later certification and assessment institution) recommended the introduction of a medical instructor system for educational facilities as a system for training specialists belonging to each society. At the 49th Annual Meeting in 2008, a decision to introduce medical instructors was made by JSN.

Activities

  1. Providing Best Neurological Service: Board Examination and Guidelines

    Frontiers in Neurological Researches and Our Role in the Community

Welcoming International Attendees