As Japan is dependent on imports for much of its supplies of food and energy resources, the need to acquire foreign currency increases when domestic demand expands. Japan needs to actively turn its focus overseas to discover sales channels where globalization has advanced rapidly in recent years, and to maintain a steady acquisition of foreign currency.

The excellent production capabilities of Japan’s semiconductor and other industries powered the nation’s miraculous recovery after World War II and turned Japan into an electronics powerhouse. However, since the start of this century, many developing countries have begun to challenge and even surpass Japan’s vaunted production capabilities. One suggested cause is that while Japan has excellent research and development and produces extremely reliable products, strategic characteristics for maintaining these advantages have been lacking.

The Japanese people are sincere, ethical, meticulous, committed to value creation, and technically skilled (craftsmanship). It has also been said that the Japanese people have a strong commitments to their companies and organizations based on a unique sense of value in which work brings meaning to their lives. Such characteristics are ideal for the further development of advanced, cutting-edge technologies, and for the succession of such technologies.

Around the world, each country will have strengths and shortcomings. By mutually compensating for shortcomings and by utilizing the strengths, the human race should go forward to realize an affluent and sustainable society. For this purpose, we need to pursue the “creation of new value,” which involves the true charm of biomedical engineering. We will greatly appreciate the readers if you understand the effectiveness of the Journal of Medical Ultrasonics from this view point and we would like to ask all medical doctors and engineers in the field of medical ultrasound around the world to submit their research work to the Journal of Medical Ultrasonics.

Hiroshi KANAI

Editor-in-Chief