Key FactorsHEALTH & MEDICINE
LEARN ABOUT GROUNDBREAKING MEDICAL RESEARCH IN A NATION
SWITH ONE OF THE LONGEST AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCIES ON THE PLANET.
Background
Japan is a global leader in health. Its universal healthcare system offers good, affordable care to approximately 125 million people, and the average life expectancy is one of the longest in the world. The foundations for these achievements were laid in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when, with strong support from the government, Japan made rapid progress in medical research. For decades, it has been the source of one medical breakthrough after another.
Recent News
In 2018, Tasuku Honjo won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for showing "how different strategies for inhibiting the brakes on the immune system can be used in the treatment of cancer." Shinya Yamanaka took the same prize in 2012 for "the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent." These cells, known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, are already being used in trials to treat everything from Parkinson's Disease to hereditary hearing loss. Achievements like this show how Japan's cutting-edge research is having a direct effect on the health and well-being of people across the globe.
Meetings & Events
Japan's expertise contributes to the country's outstanding reputation as a reliable host of international medical conferences. One such event was the 2017 World Congress of Neurology, where more than 8,000 leading scientists and policy-makers convened in Kyoto. Another very successful event was the 2018 Human Genome Meeting, where attendees from around the world gathered in Yokohama, a city adjacent to Tokyo.
Chair, Local Organizing Committee (HGM 2018)
Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Kobe will host the World Congress of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics in October 2019. Takaaki Chin, Chair of the Local Organizing Committee, points out that it is "a golden opportunity to call the attention of stakeholders worldwide to the excellent technology and devices developed in Japan."
Destinations
Medical conferences are held in diverse locations across the country. One such example is Kobe, home to the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster, a science park where nearly 350 institutes, corporations and universities work at the cutting edge of medical research. Events held here can expect large numbers of attendees, exhibitors and sponsors.
