In beneficent warm and sunny late fall weather, 375 neuro-ophthalmologists enthusiastically gathered in Tokyo for the 16th International Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (INOS) meeting, 3rd Asian Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (ASNOS) Meeting, and 44th Japanese Neuro-Ophthalmology (JNOS) Meeting from November 29 to December 2, 2006. The first three days belonged to INOS and the fourth to ASNOS and JNOS. The venue was the famous Zojoji Temple, the burial grounds of the Tokugawa shoguns, a tranquil medieval refuge in the center of a furiously bustling modern Tokyo.
Adjacent to this magnificent Buddhist shrine, where incense burned and Buddhist monks quietly scurried about their chores, the conference chambers brought together attendees from 31 countries, including 214 from Japan, 64 from other Asian countries, 54 from Europe, 34 from the Americas, 4 from the Middle East, and 2 from Africa.
The Japanese hosting committee put in an astounding organizing effort. Masato Wakakura, MD (Tokyo) was the lead, and he was amply supported by Waki Fujie, MD (Tokyo), Satoshi Ishikawa (Tokyo), Kazuo Mukuno, MD (Yokohama), Osamu Mimura, MD (Nishinomiya), Motohiro Kiyosawa, MD (Tokyo), Satoshi Kashii, MD (Osaka), Kenji Kitahara, MD (Tokyo), Akio Tabuchi, MD (Kurashiki), Shotai Kobayashi (Matsue), Takagi Mineo (Niigata), Takehiko Bando, MD (Niigata), Hideki Chuman, MD (Miyazaki), Takashi Fujikado, MD (Osaka), Masato Hashimoto, MD (Sapporo), Hiroshi Ishikawa, MD (Tokyo), Yuzo Nakao, MD (Osaka), Kazuo Nakatsuka, MD (Oita), Yoshitaka Yamagata, MD (Nishionmiya), Shuichi Yamamoto, MD (Chiba), Hiroshi Yoshida, MD (Tokyo), Takeshi Yoshitomi, MD (Akita), Haruki Abe (Niigata), Hitoshi Ishikawa (Sagamihara), Ohde Hisao (Tokyo), Akihiro Ohira (Tokyo), Ko Sahashi (Aichi), Keigo Shikishima (Tokyo), Takashi Utsumi (Takatsuki), and Hiroko Yamamoto (Nagoya).
The INOS program extended over 3 full days and included more than 60 platform presentations and 226 posters. Major thanks are due to symposium organizers Neil Miller, MD (Baltimore, MD), Randy Kardon, MD (Iowa City, IA), May-Yung Zen, MD (Tokyo), David Zee (Baltimore, MD), Colin Barber, MD (Nottingham, UK), Takehito Bando, MD (Niigata, Japan), Avinoam Safran, MD (Geneva, Switzerland), Pinar Aydin, MD (Ankara, Turkey), Kazuo Mukuno, MD (Yokohama, Japan), Osamu Mimura, MD (Nishinomiya, Japan), Jonathan Horton, MD, PhD (San Francisco, CA), Motohiro Kiyosawa, MD (Tokyo, Japan), Mineo Takagi, MD (Niigata), and Christopher Kennard, MD (London, UK).
Particularly notable were presentations of current evidence for the efficacy of thrombolysis in central retinal artery occlusion, results of intensive study of a Brazilian cohort of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, experimental evidence for a retinocollicular melanopsin pathway affecting the pupillary reflex, a recapitulation of the work of Kenji Ohtsuka on the physiology of the near reflex, a creative hypothesis for the pathophysiology of saccadic intrusions, investigation of a giant registry of Japanese patients with myasthenia gravis, a review of the contribution of Tatsuji Inouye to visual cortical mapping, and a display of neuroanatomy using 7 T MRI in Japan.
To open the ASNOS/JNOS part of the meeting, Satoshi Kashii, MD (Osaka) organized a program entitled Walsh in Asia, modeled after the annual North American Frank B. Walsh Symposium. A call had gone out to Asian neuro-ophthalmologists to submit cases in the traditional Walsh format. The selection committee consisted of Andrew Lieberman, MD, neuropathologist, Sachin Gujar, MD, neuroradiologist, Wayne Cornblath, MD, and Jonathan Trobe, MD, neuro-ophthalmologists, all from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Seven submissions (from Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan) were selected for presentation. With lively give-and-take between speakers, audience, and moderators, and kibitzing and cajoling from visiting North American neuro-ophthalmologists, the first-ever Walsh in Asia was rated a major winner.
Before the Walsh in Asia program began, Jeff Burde accepted a recognition award on behalf of his father Ronald Burde, MD, for Dr. Burde's long dedication to teaching neuro-ophthalmology in Japan. The award acknowledged the Ronald Burde Study Group, founded over a decade ago in Japan, under whose auspices the Walsh in Asia program will be sponsored in the future.
To supplement the academic activities, the organizers had prepared a magnificent social program including sessions on Japanese flower arrangements, holiday decorations, wedding dress, hina dolls, origami, and tea ceremonies. The Buddhist monks from Zojoji Temple gave a concert of gagaku, Japanese sacred music and dance dating from over 1,400 years ago. There was a whistling concert in the temple itself, rides in jinriki-sya, the human-powered transport called rickshaw in English, a performance of Noh, traditional Japanese theater, and a tour of the mausoleum of the Tokugawa shoguns. The box lunches, a Japanese specialty, were always a surprise and an adventure.
By the time the meeting had drawn to a close, it was clear that a new standard had been set for the organizers of the next (17th) INOS meeting, which will be held at the Silverado Resort in Napa, California, on June 7-12, 2008. The next (45th) annual JNOS meeting will be held in Osaka, Japan, on November 30-December 1, 2007, and the next (4th) ASNOS meeting will be held in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 16-18, 2008.
Jonathan D. Trobe, MD
University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Satoshi Kashii, MD
Osaka Red Cross Hospital, Osaka, Japan
© 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.