Dear Members:

It is my great pleasure to have a cordial new year greeting this year as well. I do hope you will make this year 2014 a happy one with your family.

First of all, this year 2014 should be hopefully a revolutionary one with a couple of big impacts for the ORL Society of Japan, according to the dramatic circumstantial and political changes among medical associations in Japan. As you know, the Japanese Association of Medical Science, which has been regarded as a subordinate organization of Japan Medical Association, will become independent and newly named, because of various reasons. Based on discussions with the investigative commission of Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, "Japanese Board of Medical Specialties" is going to start as a neutral association to provide evaluation and certification on programs for board-certified doctors or residents. These newly released issues are considered to be extensively related with the dramatic changes in the society as a whole.
It is taken for granted that the ORL Society of Japan Inc. is also warranted to innovate itself in accordance with the state of the society as a whole or demands from citizens or members of the ORL Society of Japan. Successive Boards of Directors have been managing our society to meet with the corresponding each period of time and change of demand. Of course, our current Board of Directors has been also trying to reform our society. I would like to accelerate such reforms even more for this year.
As being declared in the Articles of Incorporation, "This incorporation aims to contribute to the development of the culture and the promotion of health of the Japanese people, by conducting research, investigations and undertakings in otorhinolaryngology", so the ORL Society of Japan could be easily misunderstood as a society which focuses only on the academic subjects. Actually speaking, we have also made our efforts for the undertakings associated with social medicine, including reimbursement of health care. However, I have a little bit of regret that our efforts have not been enough to cover the social aspects. Therefore, we are now considering possible changes of the business corporation of the ORL Society of Japan in this fiscal year, to extend our undertakings with a much wider range of viewpoints.
I am sure that the upcoming Board of Directors will perform their undertakings under the new business corporation. To accomplish these obligations, it is essential to cooperate with not only the regional societies of the ORL but also the ENT Associations. We would be grateful for your continuing cooperation.
As already mentioned, the ORL Society of Japan has an increasing number of undertakings to be completed well. Due to the increased fiscal expenditure, the ORL Society of Japan's financial situation has fallen into deficit on a single-year basis for the past several years. Although we have made every effort to cut the budget by reducing the number of the committee members, using conferences by transmitting electric mails, and so on, these efforts have been stretched to their limit. So, I would like to propose the raise of the annual membership dues at the next annual meeting, as I told at the last annual meeting.
We would be grateful if you would understand our tentative situation and accept our proposal.

Sincerely yours,

Toshiaki Yagi, MD,
Chairman, Board of Directors
The Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, Inc.

(January 6^th, 2014)