On the half of the organizing committee, I am pleased o announce the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Virology (JSV) which will be held in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka, for three days from October 28th (Tuesday) to October 30th (Thursday), 2025 at ACTCITY Hamamatsu. This is the first time in 28 years that the meeting has been held in Shizuoka Prefecture, and the first time in Hamamatsu.

Pandemics of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are recognized worldwide as a major social problem, and the risk of such outbreaks is expected to continue in the future. In order to respond promptly and effectively to outbreaks and epidemics of new viral infectious diseases, it is essential to advance a wide range of virological research, from basic medical and biological sciences to clinical areas and industrial applications. To this end, the JSV meeting has a social mission, bringing together researchers from Japan and abroad to present and discuss cutting-edge research.

Hamamatsu, the host city for 2025 JSV meeting, has a dialect word “Yaramaika” that symbolizes the city's culture of valuing the spirit of challenge: “Let's take action first, rather than thinking and worrying about things”. This spirit is believed to have led to the production of world-class companies in the music, automotive, and optical industries in the city.

We sincerely hope that this meeting will provide an opportunity to gain new knowledge and inspiration through interdisciplinary research exchange and active sharing of information and opinions, and that participants will be motivated to "just try it" and "let's do it", even if it is a challenging research topic.

We would be pleased if your participation in this meeting will trigger as many new projects and collaborations that will lead to breakthroughs in virology.