We are pleased to announce the 34th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology will be held in the fall of 2021. This is the year that Yamagata University had long planned to open the Heavy Ion Radiotherapy Facility. The Horizontal Irradiation Room will begin operations in February, and the Superconducting Rotating Gantry Irradiation Room will begin operations in August. It is a great honor to be President of the conference during this memorable year.

The main theme of the 34th JASTRO Meeting is "If you try, it can be achieved: New developments in Radiation Oncology". The phrase, “"If you try, it can be achieved”, " is part of a waka poem that Yozan Uesugi, the 9th feudal lord of the Yonezawa domain in Yamagata, showed to his vassals. I hope this conference will be a good opportunity for all participants to ponder various challenges in the spirit of "-If you try, it can be achieved-".

Under normal conditions, we would inform you regarding the meeting dates and venue location. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not yet decided whether the 34th JASTRO Meeting will be held as an on-site, online, or hybrid conference. This will be determined as soon as possible, and we expect a decision to be made sometime early this year at the latest. Your patience would be much appreciated.

If the conference is to be held on-site, it will take place at the Sendai International Center between the 12th (Friday) and 14th (Sunday) of November, 2021. This will be the third time the conference will be held in Sendai City, -following the 5th Annual Meeting by President Sumihiko Sakamoto and the 19th Annual Meeting by President Shogo Yamada. As both meetings were held while I was in Sendai-, I was able to assist, and still have good memories preparing for the meeting, the exciting social gatherings, and the passionate discussions. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of holding the meeting on-site is that participants are able to get more out of in-person discussions and hands on experience with the exhibited equipment. From this point of view, we are aiming to hold the conference locally.

However, the impact of COVID-19, is currently unpredictable. There is news that promising vaccines have been created, but at the time of this writing, there are few published vaccine studies, and there have been reports of vaccine shortages in the supply chain. As the safety of all our participants are our most important priority, we will continue to prepare for the conference while assuming the possibility of holding the meeting online. In the event it is held online, I would aim to organize the meeting to take full advantage of the merits of an online conference. We look forward to your participation!