I am Kazuhiko Koike, President of the Organization of Japan Digestive Disease Week (JDDW). I would like to express my appreciation to all of you for your generous support for the scientific activities of JDDW. On behalf of the Organization of JDDW, allow me to guide you through JDDW 2023.

JDDW 2023 will be held over four days from November 2 (Thu.) to 5 (Sun.), 2023, at Kobe Convention Center. As in previous years, the first three days will be dedicated to the general program, and the Educational Lectures will be organized on the fourth day. JDDW 2023 will be a hybrid event, in which presentations will generally be expected to be given onsite. The Educational Lectures will be distributed in an e-learning format and made available for on-demand streaming.

The Presidents of JDDW 2023 Meetings and Congress are as follows: Professor Sumiko Nagoshi of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Saitama Medical Center will host the 65th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology; Professor Akiko Shiotani of the Department of Gastroenterology at Kawasaki Medical School will host the 106th Congress of the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society; Professor Mitsuo Shimada of the Department of Digestive Surgery and Transplantation at Tokushima University Graduate School will host the 27th General Meeting of the Japan Society of Hepatology; Professor Hideki Ohdan of the Department of Gastroenterological and Transplant Surgery at Hiroshima University Graduate School will host the 21st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery; and Professor Toru Hiyama of Hiroshima University Health Service Center will host the 61st General Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening.

Professor Sumiko Nagoshi was elected as Chairperson of the Steering Committee at its first meeting on April 8, 2022, and is working with the other Presidents to prepare for JDDW 2023. This is the first time for a female Steering Committee Chairperson at JDDW, which has a 31-year history. It is also expected that the conference will be a different kind of sensibility than before.

The Integrated Program for JDDW 2023 will feature six topics: “Treatment of obesity-related gastrointestinal diseases,” “Gender differences in gastrointestinal care,” “Collaboration between therapeutic endoscopy and surgery,” “Systems for clinical research support and implementation,” “Gastrointestinal clinical practice based on bioinformatics,” and “New diagnostic modalities in gastroenterology.” The Seminar on Medical Issues will discuss the forthcoming reform of physicians’ working style in Japan under the title, “Is the ‘Year 2024 Problem’ an opportunity?” The Program for Women in Gastroenterological Field will focus on the topic, “The use of social media to sustain and support women physicians’ careers,” and the Medical Staff Program will examine two topics: “Efforts in new forms of hospital-hospital and hospital-clinic collaboration” and “Multidisciplinary collaboration in palliative care.” We have a full program with 13 Symposium themes, 11 Panel Discussions, and 22 Workshops as well as 12 Special Lectures and 18 Invited Lectures from overseas.

At the beginning of 2023, the 8th wave of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV Omicron strain is finally coming to an end in Japan, and the government has a plan that the class of SARS-CoV infectious diseases will be changed to category 5. Although there are still uncertainties, I hope that many of you will visit Kobe for JDDW 2023, and that it will be a fruitful academic meeting that you will be able to communicate with. We hope that many of you will be able to participate.

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