It is my great pleasure and honor to invite you to the 6th Annual Conference of the Japan Primary Care Association to be held in Tsukuba.

The theme of the conference will be “training and nurturing of healthcare professionals in the support of people’s daily life.” Even as Japan’s society ages at a rate unparalleled in the world, its systems for providing medical care remain inadequate. Given this, the training of healthcare professionals who can support communities is urgently needed to ensure that people can live in good health and with peace of mind.

Family physicians who possess the skills and mindset needed to tackle various health issues are being looked to with great expectation by society as the persons best suited for this role. Also, inter-professional work is vital to handle various and complicated healthcare services. As an organization that includes a great many healthcare professionals in its membership, JPCA has an extremely important part to play with respect to these matters.

Our intention is to make the annual conference an opportunity for sharing ideas on what we must take action in order to train human resources capable of supporting community healthcare for the next generation.

Tsukuba is an easy place to get to, located less than an hour by train from Tokyo. Designed to be a “science city,” it is a pleasant community that boasts a splendid natural environment. I sincerely hope to see you there.