The Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists (JSPP) was established in April 1959, and the first issue of the Society's international journal, Plant & Cell Physiology (PCP), was published in 1960. The Society has experienced remarkable growth over the past fifty years, supported by continued efforts to broaden the scope of science covered by the JSPP and to internationalize JSPP activities. In addition to following the advancement of many different biological sciences, the JSPP has developed primarily to explore the multidisciplinary field of plant science—the broad study of plant function and its application to agriculture and industry.

      Plant science is now at another turning point: recent advancements in rapid whole-genome sequencing, various “-omics” and visualization technologies, informatics, and easy access to various bioresources are just a few of the conditions that have opened up the possibility for new interdisciplinary studies involving diverse plant species. In addition, plant science is facing increasing demands from and responsibilities to global issues such as food shortage, environmental change, and demands for biofuels from non-food materials.

      The JSPP is committed to expanding its contribution to the development of plant science while simultaneously carrying out its responsibilities as an internationally active society in the field. As the elected President of the JSPP for 2008 and 2009, I will put forth my best effort to continue development of the Society, along with Secretary General Masayoshi Maeshima and other members of the Steering Committee.

      In order to increase public awareness of the importance and fun of plant science, the JSPP established the Public Relations Committee in 2002 and initiated new activities such as organizing open seminars for citizens, posting various questions from the public about plants to our homepage along with our answers, and issuing our opinion on GMOs. Last year, the JSPP published six books in Japanese: a series of five books containing easy-to-understand explanations of recent advancements in various fields of plant science and one book which collected the public's questions about plants with answers from our homepage. These books received favorable reviews.

      Owing to the continued efforts of past editors, PCP, which is published with an online service in cooperation with the Oxford University Press, is a highly regarded international journal with a continuously increasing impact factor (reaching 3.324 in 2006). In cooperation with Nakanishi Printing Co., we recently decided to provide PCP in full color, along with more reader-friendly page layouts, at no extra charge to authors from Volume 50, 2009. Starting in 2008, a new Editor-in-Chief, Makoto Matsuoka, is responsible for PCP in collaboration with editors and editorial boards including many prominent plant scientists from abroad. Matsuoka plans to publish a special full-color issue of PCP soon.

      In addition to publishing PCP, the JSPP strives to enhance its international activities. The JSPP maintains close ties with the American Society of Plant Biologists, a relationship that has resulted in several joint meetings. In the near future, we also seek to develop closer relationships with counterpart societies in Asian countries such as China and South Korea . Furthermore, an increasing number of foreign plant scientists, in addition to foreign graduate students and post-docs staying in Japan , are attending the JSPP's annual meetings. At the 49 th Annual Meeting held in March of this year in Sapporo , we asked presenters to use English words in their poster presentations and PowerPoint figures, and a significant number of presentations followed these guidelines. Moreover, the JSPP's Young Overseas Joint Research Fellowship (the JSPP Fellowship), established in 2006 with funds donated by Dr. Nam-Hai Chua , has already supported the international collaborative research of several graduate students and post-docs.

      In 2009, the JSPP will mark its 50 th anniversary and PCP will publish memorable Volume 50. We are planning to hold a commemorative international symposium at the 50 th Annual Meeting in Nagoya in March 2009, and publish special memorial issues of PCP. On behalf of the JSPP Steering Committee, I look forward to the active support of all of our members during further development of the Society.