First of all, I would like to mention that this year, 2011, is a very important turning point for the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, Inc.
Since being acknowledged as General Incorporated Association, we have been continuing to revise our articles of incorporation. To this end, a total overhaul is now needed according to the newly implemented regulations for legal bodies, which was begun on December 1^st, 2008. As you may know, we must revise our system to meet the new regulation within the next five years. At present, our society is automatically allowed to be called an as-time limited Act on General Incorporated Association for a limited period of time lasting until 2013. At the last annual meeting of the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, Inc., the need to disband Board of Councilors and to establish Board of Representatives was acknowledged. The committee working on the articles of incorporation has been mainly striving to create a new version, directing their asking questions directly to the prime minister himself. As a result, we are now in the final stage of this task to complete it. Anyway, the new articles of incorporation should be available for acknowledgement by all the members at the upcoming 112^th annual meeting of the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, Inc., which will be held in May, in Kyoto.

By the way, what types of content would you like to see at the general assembly of the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, Inc. ? I think that the general assembly of our society may remind you of special programs, such as nominated special lectures, symposia, panel discussions, invited special lectures, and various types of free presentations as well. Personally speaking, I regard these programs as academic sessions, but such content may not be mandatory for a general assembly as a business meeting. Therefore, the so-called "general assembly" should be recognized as consisting of a business meeting that gets together all member and various academic sessions as well during the congress period of time. I would say that most of members take it for granted that the phrase, "I will attend the annual meeting this year" means that they plan to listen to the academic sessions. But this phrase has been used incorrectly, as I pointed out. In the past, the average number of on-site attendees at the general assembly (the business meeting for all members) has been about 100~150 participants, with the remainder acting as authorities delegated by the chairman. This situation has been in reality and necessary to make the business meeting successful and complete, with more than half of the members of our society attending. While decisions regarding various proceedings can be presently made by the attendance of more than half of the society's members, the change in our articles of incorporation will absolutely require the attendance of more than three-fourths of the society's members. The most up-to-date number of members in our society is 10,685, so 8,014 participants are needed to meet the requirements for attendance by three-fourths of the society's members. Therefore, we shall need to count more than 8,000 delegates in addition to the past 100~150 attendees in order to make decisions feasible. For example, at the latest general assembly, the total recruitment was about 6,000 members; so, at the upcoming general assembly in May, we must increase the number of attendees by at least 2,000 participants more than last year.

On behalf of the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, Inc., I would like to make our very best effort to succeed in changing the articles of our incorporation. So, all the members will please keep in mind the need to send a proxy to us or to attend the general assembly. During this year, we have an increasing number of undertakings, and I would like to inform you of these goals in the next issue. I am sure that my greeting here is quite exceptional, but the changes in our articles of incorporation and establishment of new system nicely meeting the new regulations should be done smoothly and successfully, to ensure our future activities as a new legal body.

Hopefully, you will understand the situation and make every effort to cooperate with it.

Sincerely yours,

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

(April 1^st, 2011)