The Japanese Cancer Association, holding its annual general conference last month in Yokohama, created its first committees to conduct presentations and question-and-answer sessions entirely in English.
Aimed at internationalizing the association, which consists of 16,000 cancer researchers and medical practitioners, about one-sixth of the some 250 sectional committees are now conducted in English and the number will rise after next year, association officials said.
About 4,800 people took part in the three-day general confab, with English presentations from about 140 foreign guests and domestic researchers.
"We would like to turn our association into one in which researchers from Asia and Oceania can easily participate and to make it the core of research in this region," said Takashi Tsuruo, chairman of the general meeting and head of the Cancer Chemotherapy Center of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research.
Even at other meetings that did not require speaking English, slides were explained in English and translated excerpts of presentations were made available.
Although the overseas participants reacted favorably to the English presentations and discussions, some Japanese participants were left perplexed. One researcher who read from a prepared text was unable to answer questions in English and required help from a colleague.
"Reading and writing English is no longer good enough," the researcher said later. "I will have to learn to speak (the language)."
Next year's general conference will be held in Nagoya in collaboration with the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology and some of the joint sectional committees will be conducted entirely in English.
A rising number of medical societies in Japan have adopted the language in their magazines and for presentations at conferences so the results of their research can be recognized internationally.
English is now the official language at some medical associations, among them the Japanese Circulation Society.