Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to invite you to participate in the 51st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Pediatric Surgeons (JSPS51), which will take place at the Osaka International Convention Center in Osaka from 8th to 10th May, 2014. Osaka has many landmarks dating back hundreds of years. It is very near to the world's leading tourist destinations of Kyoto, Nara, and Kobe.

JSPS has a large membership of pediatric surgeons in Asia, and is continuing to grow and thrive to welcome the 50th Anniversary. We are expecting approximately 1,000 pediatric surgeons from all over the Japan and Asia to attend the JSPS51 in Osaka. The theme of the JSPS51 is "Next First Step for Sick Children", because it is the first meeting for the nest 50 years and we must have something new steps based on past 50 years results.

In order to provide high quality of surgical care to children, it is essential that we have the highest level of education, training system and research in our specialty. Most important aim at the annual meeting is education for pediatric surgeons and trainee pediatric surgeons.

JSPS51 will have post-congress seminar as well as educational lectures, symposia, and Meet the Expert videos to provide up to date information to participating pediatric surgeons and trainee. We will invite Prof. Prem Puri for invited lecture and Prof. Agostino Pierro for educational lecture. In addition, we also invite a 2012 Nobel laureate Prof. Shinya Yamanaka for special lecture and an architect Prof. Tadao Ando for culture lecture. You can meet some other distinguished foreign keynote lecturers such as Prof. David Sigalet, Prof. Udo Rolle, and Prof. Long Li on international sessions.

I look forward to welcoming you to Osaka in May 2014.