Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to welcome all of you to the Symposium of Education Center for Forensic Pathology and Science at Nagasaki University School of Medicine. I would like to thank those who have traveled long distances to be here with us, especially Professor Matthias Graw from Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat in Germany. 

It is a real honor and privilege for us to host this symposium and invite our colleagues to Nagasaki.

We have recognized importance and necessity of education of forensic pathology and science in countries in which the population of elderly people is growing. In modern societies, especially in Japan, cases of elderly people dying alone at home are increasing. Most of the solitary death cases are, I believe, due to natural causes. However, some might be criminal. In this respect, I hope this symposium provides a good opportunity for us to learn new knowledge of forensic pathology and science and to discuss some of the problems we are facing with in individual countries.   

A long time ago, Nagasaki was the only port city in Japan, opened to foreign countries including Asian as well as European countries. This is the place where western style medical education was introduced in Japan 158 years ago, and young people who learned modern medicine here spread this new knowledge and techniques all over Japan.

Because of our unique history as the first international medical institution in Japan, I view this symposium as a continuation of that international tradition and I greatly appreciate the academic significance of this symposium held in Nagasaki.

I am sure you will find the topics covered in the course of the half day program interesting and informative. We hope you all will freely participate in discussions and contribute to greater understanding of some of the problems we are faced with in Asia today.

Finally, my thanks go to Professor Kazuya Ikematsu and his colleagues who are organizing the symposium

I wish you all a most pleasant stay in Nagasaki and hope you will take home with you many rewarding memories of the symposium.

Thank you very much.