Dear friends,

The 49^th Congress of SIOP2017 held in Washington DC in October, 2017, under the chair of Prof. Jeff Dome was a fantastic meeting and very well organized.

The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of SIOP2018 has learned a lot from the congress, and we will try to make good use of what it taught us to the SIOP2018 Congress to save the life of children with cancer in the world.

The SIOP2018 Congress will be held at Kyoto International Conference Center in Kyoto, Japan, on November 16^th (Fri) to 19^th (Mon), 2018, when the scenery of Kyoto should be the best in the year. Please do not forget to mark the dates in your calendar and to reserve the hotel as early as possible, because so many tourists will come to Kyoto from all over the world in such a beautiful season.

The SIOP Congress next year will be the memorial 50^th anniversary. The SIOP itself was initially born in Europe, but, for the last 50 years, it has beautifully grown up to be a really global society to include the participants and members from more than 110 countries on earth.

Our LOC of SIOP2018 will do the best to organize and host such a memorial 50^th meeting. Please come to Kyoto and bring your colleagues and friends as well as your families.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you in Kyoto next year to spend a wonderful time together.

Yours sincerely.

SIOP2018 Local Organizing Committee:

Chair: Akira Nakagawara, MD, PhD

Vice-Chair: Hajime Hosoi, MD, PhD

Secretary: Hiroki Hori, MD, PhD

Nurses Chair: Kiyoko Kamibeppu, RN, PhD

Parents Chair: Kohsuke Yamashita