Greetings from the JASTS President,
The Japanese Association for the Study of Taste and Smell (JASTS) wasfounded in 1991 as the predecessor of the "Taste and Smell Symposium"that started in 1967. JASTS is composed and managed by a large numberof taste and smell researchers belonging to universities, research institutes,
companies, hospitals, etc., with the aim of advancing the wide-ranging
study of the science of taste and smell from basic to applied and clinicalresearch.
JASTS leads the world's taste and olfaction research in collaboration withthe Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) in the UnitedStates and the European Chemoreception Research Organization (ECRO) inEurope. JASTS, together with AChemS and ECRO, publishes and manages
Chemical Senses, an international journal on the chemical senses.
The sense of smell has been thought to be the least important among thefive senses, but because of taste and smell disorders by COVID-19, it has
been reaffirmed in the past few years that it is a more important sense than
we have previously thought, especially in the act of eating. As a sense
deeply related to QOL, well-being, and health in our eating habits, olfactionand gustation have been attracting attention in the general public,
reaffirming the importance of the standing and research field of JASTS.
Former President Yoshihara introduced a variety of new approaches,
focusing

onthethreepillarsoffosteringyoung

researchers,internationalizing the society, and disseminating information to society.
Specifically, he succeeded in revitalizing the society despite the Coronadisaster by establishing the Young Scientists' Association, holding thevirtual JASTS seminar series, and revamping the website. I would like totake over former President Yoshihara's direction, and in addition, I wouldlike to promote the following two points.

First, we would like to strengthen our ties with foreign countries, whichhave been diluted by the Corona Disaster. In 2028, ISOT (InternationalSymposium on Olfaction and Taste), the world's largest international
conference on taste and olfaction, which JASTS, AChemS, and ECRO willtake charge of on a rotating basis, will be held in Japan. In preparation forthis event, we would like to enhance the international standing of JASTS
while strengthening ties among chemosensory researchers in China, Korea,
and other Asian countries.
Secondly, we would like to broaden the scope of the society to include not
only taste and smell, and pheromones from the external world, but also
visceral sensation and other broadly defined chemical senses in our internal
body. The nerve systems like trigeminal, vagus, and other peripheral areas
will also be targets. Furthermore, in addition to the existing exchange
between science, medicine, agriculture, and engineering fields, we would
like to actively include the humanities and social sciences in our group toexplore new avenues of research, which I believe help enhance theattractiveness of our society.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that taste and smell research may seemto be a special field of study, but it is a broad interdisciplinary field that isfundamental to the life sciences. The annual membership fee of the society
is reasonable, and we welcome the entry of many people, including not only
researchers but also companies and the general public.
April 2024
Kazushige Touhara