Volume 12, Number 3 | Fall 2017

Conference Report 1
The 66th Annual Congress of The Japan Society ofAcupuncture and Moxibustion in Tokyo

Sayaka Toda

The annual congress of the Japan Society ofAcupuncture and Moxibustion was held, with morethan 2500 participants, on June 10th-11th atUniversityofTokyo,

wherealush

green

environment offers a little oasis in the middle of busy
Tokyo. The theme of this congress was “Japanese
acupuncture, proud to present to the world, — a
progress to establish ‘Tokyo declaration’ ”. Tokyodeclaration was once written in 2011 to specify theadvantages of Japanese acupuncture at the annualcongress, which was mostly cut down due to theGreat East Japan Earthquake.

This time, with thescientific evidences, this congress was aimed toverify and reaffirm the characteristics of Japanese
acupuncture.

The congress president’s speech
2-day congress started with the speech

by Mr.

Takayosi Ogawa, the adviser of the Japan Society ofAcupunctureandMoxibustion,

following

theopening ceremony, which seized the audience’s avid
attention with expectations. The topic of the speech
was Oriental medicine versus Western medicine —Which medicine is more of a root treatment? —. Mr.
Ogawa started with questioning regarded therealities and problems of the current medical system
in Japan, where excellence of western medical
doctors with high technologies proliferated thoughweighing now heavily on Japanese finance and aging
society, and distressing patients with side effects. He
highlighted

theefficacyoforiental

medicine

discussing

itsholistic

consideration,

relative

inexpensiveness, and safety to support that oriental
medicine is more of a root treatment in that sense,and guided the audience to expect the main
discussion about the future of acupuncture held in
the following day.
Theopening

ceremony

washeldin

Yasudaauditorium, a historically famous building in theuniversity. In the opening remarks, the chair of thecommittee, Mr. Soji Toriyabe described that thiscongress was meant for investing the efficacy ofacupuncture with “scientific perspective”, which
turned out to exceed our expectations.

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Keynote speech
Keynotespeech

Hisamitsu,

thewaspresentedbychairofSociety

Japan

TadashiofAcupuncture and Moxibustion. He focused on
physiological mechanisms of acupuncture treatment
and its latest progression. He specifically presented
his marked studies that prove clinical conditions on

The Journal of Kampo, Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine (KAIM)

Volume 12, Number 3 | Fall 2017

traditional medicine. One of his basic studies found

On top of the current states and issues, thethat acupuncture promotes blood flow in the cerebral

importancecortex locally by activating the brain cholinergic

characteristics

neurons, decreased function of which can be due tohighlighted in the symposium 3.

aging.

supportThere is an objective data on scientific effects ofphysiologicalpalpation that induces secretion of hormones in themechanism will surely be a key to further studies forbrain. Before all, we should not disregard the factmany acupuncturists in Japan.

that hands-on treatment creates satisfactions on

Hisscientificacupuncture

approaches

treatment

withtoofpalpation,ofone

Japaneseof

theacupuncture,

noted
waspatients that is clinically significant and beyond
science.

Symposium
Symposium offered 4 different topics;
1. Current states and tasks for acupuncture

Seminartreatment on refractory nervous system diseases

Seminar was one of the most popular sessions in this

2. Cancer treatment and acupuncture —current

congress, attracted large crowds of people. The

state and development on acupuncture treatment fortheme of the seminar was a current state ofcancer patients, what we can do for cancer patientsacupuncture treatment for pregnant women, whereand their family

discussed acupuncture treatment for pregnant

3. Do you utilize palpation in the practice? —women with minor complaints, from morning

Scientific views of palpation, one of the noted

sickness to skin conditions, and the roles andcharacteristics of Japanese acupuncture

possibilities on acupuncture treatment for each

4. How we can develop our clinical studies regarding

trimester. Many male acupuncturists showed theiracupuncture —as a real medicine, and to study

much interests in the topic and engaged in active

acupuncture scientifically

discussions.

The symposiasts raised some issues in each session

Special lecturesand discussed the importance of acupuncture as anSpecial lectures were the latest topics given byintervention in the medical field. One of thespecialists from each area of the study.

symposiasts mentioned that MDs specialized in

1. Physical symptoms on neurological disease by Prof.

nervous system have well understandings onNobuhito Saito, Director of University of Tokyo

acupuncture that the acupuncturists are welcomed

Hospital.

in the hospital settings. Although, the fact that

2. Individual variation and variation of geneacupuncture is used for treating refractory nervous

expression by Asso.Prof. Hironao Numabe fromsystem is not yet widely known, thus, the publicity

Tokyo Medical University Hospitalis needed. In the discussion, the symposiasts

3. Neurologic regenerative medicine on iPS cellemphasized the needs for predefined scores to createtechnology and application of the study by Prof.

guidelines of acupuncture intervention, compilation

Hideyuki Okano.

of case studies and high quality RCTs to verify theAfter the talks, Prof. Furukawa, a member of House

efficacy of acupuncture.

Symposium 4 wasof Councilors, Mr. Ogawa, Prof. Kawakita from Meiji

presented to specifically give lectures in relation toUniversity of Integrative Medicine, and Mrs.

those needs, case study compilation, high quality

Kitagawa from Kyorindo clinic joined the main

RCTs and meta-analysis.

discussion, presented with the theme of “Incoming ofhealth care, future of acupuncture”. Acupuncturists’

The Journal of Kampo, Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine (KAIM)

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Volume 12, Number 3 | Fall 2017

current concern against the latest development ofFirst and foremost, there is an urgent need forwestern medicine and technologies was raised that

acupuncture to establish the scientific evidences,

those medicine becomes a fear to the traditional

starting with case gathering, then studying highmedicines. In the discussion, the panelists all agreed

quality RCTs. This congress clearly highlighted thethat the importance of acupuncture complementing

strong needs for those requirements, in that sense,

thethis congress would be a progress to the Tokyo

western

medicine,workingwithKampo

medicine, supporting patients’ self-decision, anddeclaration.

further involving to nursing care, to become a chosen
medicine. In order to accomplish those goals, there isan urgent need for acupuncture to be supported
scientifically.
Oral presentations and poster presentations
The theme of the presentations was diverse, manycase reports related to nervous system, cancer
patients and nursing care, and fertility treatment
and pregnancy.
Several of them were studies from Korea, and otherinternational topics were also presented. Each venue
was packed with full of people.
Posterpresentations

werealso

diversewithinteresting topics. Ones that caught the eye werestudies trying to verify traditional/classical theories
scientifically.
Thereare

many

other

speciallecturesandpresentations offered in a two-day congress withpacked schedules, though hopping between eachvenue was unexpectedly time consuming.
A rapid advance in medical technologies such as iPS
technology or genetic treatment reaches almost to
the “God’s field”, which may become a threat to thetraditional medicines. That is what Mrs. Kitagawa
shared her thoughts to the audience.
Prof. Okano reassured the audience saying thedevelopment of high-technologies must not exclude
the others but just to support people’s lives. Also, inthe discussion, there was an opinion that if
acupuncture is scientifically proved, data can beoptimized for AI technology. As such, bright futurewould come to oriental medicine field.

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The Journal of Kampo, Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine (KAIM)