I am very pleased to inform you that the first meeting of Japan Foregut Society (JFS) was a great success at the Kioi Forum in Tokyo on 11/11/2023, thanks to all of you including all board members of GI, surgery and ENT who understood the concept of JFS and have collaborated with us from the beginning, all physicians who attended in person and virtually, all volunteers and staffs at the Kioi forum who significantly helped us to smoothly run the meeting, AND all industries who financially supported JFS and made this dream team real. Again, I would like to express the sincerest appreciation and thanks to all of you!

Also, I would like to thank Dr. John Lipham, first president of American Foregut Society, who came to Tokyo, and both Dr. Sebastian Schoppmann and Dr. Joerg Zehetner from European Foregut Society, who virtually joined us from Europe even with a significant time difference. I believe that you guys made the first JFS more meaningful and significantly contributed to the international activity of JFS.

I expected JFS to be a place where everybody can discuss and network regardless of specialties or experience levels without any hesitation. Since this successful first meeting of JFS, I have realized how important it is to share the up-to-date information from each specialty and collaborate together to treat this challenging foregut disease such as GERD and LPRD. Anyway, it was so fun to be together!! I was actually very impressed by the fact that the younger generation did not have any language barrier or hesitation to discuss. I am sure that JFS could be a group to send the message with Japanese wisdom to the world.

As presented in the educational seminars, esophageal physiology testing such as high-resolution manometry and impedance-pH testing is essential to evaluate and treat GERD and LPRD, however not only the understanding of esophageal testing but also health care system in Japan have been a factor to prevent its general acceptance and access. We would like to work together to contribute to change this challenging situation so that we can improve the quality of GERD and LPRD therapy for patients who have been suffering. Additionally, I am sure that one of JFS’s missions is to share the correct information of our prominent knowledges and technologies such as PCAB and endoscopic therapy, which are made in Japan, with everyone in the world.

I believe that everyone was well connected with each other for the future collaboration. JFS will continuously provide up-to-date information on our website and plan to establish the platform of online forum to discuss any difficult and interesting cases soon. We will make a continuous effort to keep JFS more active and meaningful. Please bring your colleagues to join us so that we can continue to grow and become more active! Team up!

Thanks to everyone's support, the first Japan Foregut Society (JFS) meeting was a great success. I would like to express my gratitude to the friends/colleagues who supported us, the companies that provided support, and the members who participated in the meeting either in person or online amidst their busy schedules, and who enlivened the meeting with lively discussions.

JFS focuses on upper gastrointestinal functional diseases, including refractory gastroesophageal and laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (GERD/LPRD), and aims to be a platform for discussing optimal patient care (diagnosis and treatment) across the boundaries of internal medicine, surgery, ENT and etc. With your support, we hope to expand our activities so that necessary information reaches not only medical professionals but also patients suffering from these diseases.

This time, representing the American Foregut Society (AFS), Prof. John Lipham from the United States joined us in Tokyo despite his busy schedule to share various knowledge. Listening to why an organization like the AFS was necessary in a GERD-prevalent country like the U.S., and hearing about the challenges faced in establishing the AFS, I felt that different countries face the same issues. From the European Foregut Society (EFS), we received online lectures from Prof. Sebastian Schoppmann (Austria) and Prof. Joerg Zehetner (Switzerland). 

We at JFS aim to expand our activities not only in Japan but also in Asia and the rest of the world. For the first JFS meeting, we received video messages of encouragement and congratulations from friends around the world, which we will gradually share on our website and social media. Please take a look if you are interested. Thank you very much for this time. Let's meet again at the second JFS!