APSTH-JSTH joint symposium (June.4, 2009, Kokura, Japan) 07/22,2009 APSTH-JSTH joint symposium (June 4th, 2009, Kokura, Japan) President of the JSTH annual meeting this year (June 4 - 6, 2009, Kokura), Prof. Akira Shirahata has agreed to have the APSTH/JSTH joint symposium in which young investigators from the Asian-Pacific countries are to be invited to present their research work. We had 18 applicants and through critical reading by 10 experts, 4 outstanding papers have been selected (2 from China, 1 from Vietnam, and 1 from Korea). We would like to welcome them to attend the APSTH-JSTH joint symposium, and hope that many members of APSTH will come to this joint symposium.