We are pleased to announce that the 56th Annual Congress of the Japanese Epilepsy Society will be held at Keio Plaza Hotel (Tokyo) for three days from October 19 (Thursday) to October 21 (Saturday), 2023.

The theme of this year’s congress was defined as “Leave no epilepsy patient behind.” Epilepsy treatment in Japan has been provided by a number of departments including psychiatry, pediatrics, neurology, and neurosurgery, but it is still unclear in many regions what medical institutions offer specialized epilepsy care. In this context, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and local governments took the lead in launching the "Development of Regional Epilepsy Treatment Coordination System (Epilepsy Development Project) ” in 2018. This project aims to provide epilepsy patients and their families with comfortable local care, to facilitate cooperation between medical departments involved in treatment and access to transitional care, and to open up opportunities for collaboration not only among medical institutions but also among administrative agencies, health centers, educational facilities, and other fields, thus expanding the base of epilepsy care to literally “Leave no epilepsy patient behind.”

National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP) was designated as a national support center for the Epilepsy Treatment Project, and in 2022 the project reached the point where epilepsy support base hospitals have been designated in more than half of prefectures in Japan. An important role in this project is assigned to epilepsy treatment support coordinators. NCNP established a training and certification system to educate and train epilepsy treatment support coordinators, and also founded “Epilepsy Support Network” so that medical facilities providing epilepsy treatment nationwide are listed on the NCNP website.

Japan Epilepsy Association (JEA) was founded by the Inpatient Association of National Musashi Sanatorium (current NCNP) and the Association of Outpatients and Families of Dr. Yukio Fukuyama of Tokyo Women's Medical University. The year 2023 will mark the 50th anniversary of JEA. This Congress will be held in coordination with 50th Anniversary General Meeting of JEA to bring together epilepsy patients, their families, caregivers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders for deeper mutual understanding and better epilepsy care.