The foundations of the Japanese Society of Toxicology are found in the Toxicology Research Group (TRG) and the Toxic Action Research Group (TARG), which were independently created in 1975 and 1976, respectively. TRG membership consisted of veterinarians, while the TARG was geared towards medical and pharmaceutical researchers. In 1981, the two groups merged and the Japanese Society of Toxicological Sciences (JSTS) was founded as a non-profit scientific society. From its inception, the aims of the JSTS have been to promote the acquisition and utilization of knowledge in toxicology and to facilitate the exchange of information among its members, as well as among investigators worldwide. The JSTS was renamed the Japanese Society of Toxicology (JSOT) in 1997.

In support of the JSOT mission of advancing health through furthering understanding of and research in toxicology, the Society promotes the following activities:
1) Convening the annual meeting.
2) Publishing the official journal
3) Educating and certifying toxicologists
4) Conducting scientific and publicity related activities for members and the public.
5) Engaging in other programs/projects deemed necessary to support the JSOT mission.

The JSOT has five recognized member categories: General members, Student members, Honorary members, Meritorious members and Supporting members. JSOT membership, which was 943 at the Society’s founding in 1981, had blossomed to 2652 as of March 2016, consisting of 2601 members in Japan and 51 from overseas – making it the second largest toxicology society in the world.

Among its current members are 42 associates from around the world, including 15 from Korea, 11 from the USA, nine from the UK, three from Canada, and one each from China and Denmark. Member affiliations are diverse as well, including industry and contract research organizations (70%), academia (22%), government agencies (6%), and others (2%).

Tsuneyoshi Tanabe (Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University)

Fuminori Sakai (Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)
Tadashi Murano (Wakayama Medical University)
Hideyo Ishikawa (Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Tokyo)
Yoshito Omori (National Institute of Health Sciences)
Toshitsugu Oda (Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)
Masatoshi Tate (Faculty of Medicine, Gifu University)
Iwao Yanagiya (Faculty of Agriculture, Osaka Prefecture University)
Toshio Yamano (Faculty of Medicine, Osaka University)
Hidetoshi Yoshimura (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University)
Tomoji Yanagita (Central Institute for Experimental Animals)
Yuzo Tsukada (Faculty of Medicine, Keio University)
Shunichi Horiguchi (Faculty of Agriculture, Osaka Prefecture University)
Hideomi Fukuda (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
Yutaka Kasuya (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
Masayuki Ikeda (Faculty of Medicine, Tohoku University)
Yasuhiko Shirasu (The Institute of Environmental Toxicology)
Tomonori Imamichi (Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University)
Haruo Kitagawa (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University)
Ryuichi Kato (Faculty of Medicine, Keio University)
Toyoaki Hayama (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology)

Kosaku Fujiwara (Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Tokyo)
Hajime Fujimura (Kyoto Pharmaceutical University)
Kiyoyuki Kawai (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health)

1^st Tuneyoshi Tanabe (1981-1984) (Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University)
2^nd, 3^rd Fuminori Sakai (1984-1987, 1987-1990) (Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)
4^th Osamu Wada (1990-1993) (Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)
5^th Hideomi Fukuda (1993-1996) (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
6^th Yuji Kurokawa (1996-1999) (National Institute of Health Sciences)
7^th Hideaki Karaki (1999-2001) (Faculty of Agriculture, Osaka Prefecture University)
8^th Hitoshi Endou (2002-2004) (Faculty of Medicine, Kyorin University)
9^th Taku Nagao (2005-2006.6) (National Institute of Health Sciences), Kunio Doi (2006.7-2007) (Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)
10^th Yasushi Yamazoe (2008-2009) (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University)
11^th　Takemi Yoshida (2010-2011) (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Showa University)
12^th Jun Kanno (2012-2013) (National Institute of Health Sciences)

As of March 2016, JSOT’s managing structure included 20 Directors and 286 Councilors, 284 of which are from Japan and two are from overseas. The Board of Directors meets twice a year to draft the action plans of JSOT. The Council Meeting and the General Meeting are held once a year to discuss the action plans proposed by the Board of Directors.

The JSOT has established five strategic Committees to accomplish the Society activities: General Affairs, Editorial, Educational, Finance and Science, and Publicity.

Board of Executive Directors (Board of General Affairs)
Editorial Committee
Educational Committee
Financial Committee
Science and Publicity Committee

The committee has two major responsibilities. The first is to strategically draw up the JSOT general action plans for the year by reviewing the plans proposed by the individual committees and preparing the subjects for discussion at Board of Directors meetings, the second is to manage JSOT membership, including nomination and approval of new councilors and members.

The official journal “Journal of Toxicological Sciences (JTS)” (Online ISSN: 1880-3989; Print ISSN: 0388-1350) was launched in 1981 to provide a dedicated forum for invited review articles and peer reviewed original papers.

In 2014, a second journal, “Fundamental Toxicological Sciences (Fund. Tox. Sci.) was launched and the editorial committee has put in place a highly efficient Web-based manuscript submission and peer review system.

The JTS has invited distinguished toxicologists from throughout the world to become Associate Editors and Editorial Board members. One of the Society’s top strategic priorities is the ongoing development of its journal. The JSOT is in the process of developing a new look and feel for the journal.

The main task of Education Committee is to stimulate the advancement of toxicology and improve the quality of toxicologists by sponsoring certification and recertification examinations, continuing education courses, and fundamental education courses. The Fundamental Education Course is held annually in agreement with scope and level of examination, and the Continuing Education Course is also held annually to offer state-of-the art information for toxicologists.

Since 1995, the Board of Directors of JSOT has seriously discussed the accreditation and certification of toxicologists in Japan. After extensive deliberations, the certification program of toxicologists was newly launched in 1997 under the control of the Education Committee. The various aspects of our certification examination are similar to those of the American Board of Toxicology. At the first certification examination in 1997, 99 toxicologists were certified by the JSOT as Diplomats of the Japanese Society of Toxicology (DJST).

The written examination has been offered every year, and 536 toxicologists have been formally approved as diplomats as of March 2016. In total, 78% of the diplomats are from industry, 14% from academia, and 8% are from various national institutes, research institutes, and foundations. The number of emeritus toxicologists is 43 as of March 2016. Diplomats can be recertified every five years based upon their active practice of toxicology, and if maintaining expert knowledge in general toxicology.

Each applicant must have had a principal involvement in the practice of toxicology, in addition to the appropriate background education. The examination covers all aspects of toxicology and toxicity testing. Certified Toxicologists should have knowledge that encompasses all aspects of toxicology, and should be able to conduct proper toxicological planning, testing, evaluations, and risk assessment (For Details, see Item 8).

The Financial Committee deals with all of the financial issues of the JSOT. The JSOT has continued to make progress in strengthening the financial foundation of the Society. Major steps are taken to set up and implement a system for monitoring ongoing financial actions and to develop future plans. In addition, the Society has considered modernizing and upgrading the budget and expenditures management process. The The JSOT has 48 supporting members, mainly employed in private industries, who have financially supported the achievement of the strategic plans of the Society.

JSOT has provided public education lectures on toxicology since 1995 at its annual meetings, and in 2006 the JSOT website was redesigned to include links to other toxicology-related websites. Our website also presents updated information in both Japanese and English for its worldwide membership. These activities fall under the auspices of the Science and Publicity Committee. Furthermore, in addition to the Best Paper Awards, each year the JSOT presents other prestigious awards such as the Toxicological Science Award and the Young Investigator Awards in recognition of distinguished toxicologists, based on the judgment of the Awards Subcommittee, which is organized under the control of the Science and Publicity Committee. Award recipients are honored at a special ceremony at the JSOT annual meeting, and their names are listed in the JSOT publications.

A JSOT certification program for toxicologists, based on annual closed book examinations, was launched in 1997, with the content and level of examination questions selected to be comparable to those provided by the American Board of Toxicology. At the first DJST certification examination for in 1999, 148 toxicologists were certified. As of June 2014, 454 toxicologists have been formally approved. Furthermore, as of March 1, Forty three Emeritus Diplomats of the Japanese Society of Toxicologists (EDJST) were certified. Approximately 80% of the Society’s diplomats are from industry, 12% from academia, and 8% from other fields. Diplomats may be recertified every five years provided they remain in active toxicology practice and maintain an expert level of knowledge in general toxicology.

To promote public education in toxicology, JSOT has organized a lecture for public during each year’s annual meeting. Scientific experts are invited to give a lecture on a popular and important topic related to clinical medicine and drug therapy.

JSOT Award, which was instituted in 2006, is presented to recognize individuals with long and distinguished careers in toxicology at the national and international level. Achievement in academia or industry may also be recognized. The names of the awardees are listed below:

2007 Takemi Yoshida (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Showa University)
2008 Kunio Doi (Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Tokyo)
2009 Ikuo Horii (Pfizer Inc.)
2010 Shuji Tsuda (Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University)
2011 Akira Naganuma (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University)
2012 Sunao Manabe (Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited)
2013 Yasushi Yamazoe (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University)
2014 Jun Kanno (National Institute of Health Sciences)
2015 Chiharu Toyama (Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)

This award, which was instituted in 2013, is presented to individuals who are not JSOT members, but who have long and distinguished careers in toxicology at the international level. The nomination committee nominates one candidate every year.

Morinobu Endo (Prof. Shinshu Univ., Japan)

The JSOT Achievement Award is presented to the members of the Society who are younger than 40 years old and who have made significant contributions to toxicology. The JSOT Achievement Award was first awarded in 2007.

2007 Mayumi Ishizuka and Tsuyoshi Nakanishi
2008 Naoki Kiyosawa and Gi-Wook Hwang
2009 Tamio Fukushima, Yasuyuki Fujiwara, and Mitsuyasu Tabo
2010 Yaichiro Kotake and Toshinori Yamamoto
2011 Takeki Uehara, Takashi Ashino, and Kazuyoshi Kumagai
2012 Tomoki Kimura and Yasuhiro Shinkai
2013 Tautomu Takahashi and Koichi Goto
2014 Yoshinori Okamoto and Wataru Yoshioka
2015 Jin-Yong Lee and Hitomi Fujishiro

This award, which was instituted in 2010 to foster the young toxicologists, is presented to JSOT members who are younger than 40 years old and who have made distinguished technology advancements in toxicology. The nomination committee nominates no more than three candidates for this award yearly.

2011 Yuki Inoue, Morihiko Hirota, and Katsutoshi Ohno
2012 Takafumi Kimoto, Kaori Abe-Tomizawa, and Kazuaki Nakamura
2013 Takayuki Abo, Satomi Onoue, and Kenji Taki
2014 Kou Omura, Takashi Toyama, and Tomoki Fukuyama
2015 Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Takuo Mizukami, and Akihito Yamashita

Based on the judgment of the Educational Committee, the JSOT bestows its Best Paper Awards (Tanabe Award) upon the authors of the best scientific papers appearing in the official journal of the Society, the Journal of Toxicological Sciences. The Editorial Committee is responsible for nominating candidates of the Best Paper Awards.

All society members who have published an excellent or promising (original article) in JTS (regular issue) are eligible for this award. In principle, up to four research papers may be selected for recognition each year. However, if none of the papers published are judged to be especially worthy of recognition, no award will be bestowed.

The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of awards per each year.

1995 (2)
Sekio Nagayama, Tsuyoshi Yokoi, Yasuro Kawaguchi, and Tetsuya Kamataki

Takashi Mitamura, Atsushi Yamada, Hisao Ishida, Shiro Fujihira, Kaname Ohara, Hideyo Noguchi, and Yasuhiro Mine

1996 (2)
Minoru Tamagawa, Jiro Morita, and Ichiro Naruse

Yoshihiro Futamura

1997 (1)
Harushige Ozaki, Kazuyuki Kurata, Akira Horinouchi, and Takao Ando

1998 (2)
Tetsuyo Kijimura, Hiroshi Satoh, and Mamoru Nomura

Shigeru Iida, Hirofumi Misaka, and Masato Naya

1999 (2)
Yoshimasa Hamada and Yoshihiro Futamura

Kyoko Miura, Yuka Kobayashi, Haruka Toyoda, and Nobumasa Imura

2000 (2)
Masako Kaneto, Susumu Kanamori, Katsumi Hara, and Kurajiro Kishi

Masaaki Mori, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Chiyomi Sugitama, Yoshiko Katsumura, and Chie Furihata

2001(2)
Yasuna Kobayashi, Naomi Ohshiro, Michiya Suzuki, Tadanori Sasaki, Shogo Tokuyama, Takemi Yoshida, and Toshinori Yamamoto

Takako Gotohda, Aki Kuwada, Kyoji Morita, Shin-ichi Kubo, and Itsuo Tokunaga

2002 (5)
Toru Tamura, Kunitoshi Mitsumori, Horoshi Onodera, Nariaki Fujimoto, Kazuo Yasuhara, Kiyoshi Takegawa, Hisayoshi Takagi, and Masao Hirose

Kimiyoshi Kitamura, Kazuyuki Yoshikawa, Masahiko Iwama, and Minako Nagao

Takako Hamano, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Tetsuya Sakairi, Masao Hayashi, and Mamoru Mutai

Yoshiki Ban, Masato Naya, Tatsuya Nishimura, Masako Kaneto, Kurajiro Kishi, Tadahiro Inoue, Hiroshi Yoshizaki, and Yojiro Ooshima

Masashi Kato, Katsuhiro Fukunishi. Sunao Ikegawa, Hashihiro Higuchi, Masako Sato, Masao Horomoto, and Shin Ito

2003 (4)
Chiaki Katoh, Satoshi Kitajima, Yumiko Saga, Jun Kanno, Ikuo Horii, and Tohru Inoue

Masami Suzuki, Kiyoka Katsuyama, Kenji Adachi, Yumie Ohawa, Keigo Yorozu, Eteuko Fujii, Yasuyuki Misawa, and Tetsuro, Sugimoto

Kazuyuki Nagami, Yasunaga Kawashima, Hiroshi Kuno, Masayuki Kemi, and Hiroyoshi Matsumoto

Akiko Suda, Masahiro Yamashita, Mitsuyuki Tabei, Kazuhiko Taguchi, Hans-Werner Vohr, Naohisa Tsutsui, Ritsuyoshi Suzuki, Katsuaki Kikuchi, Keisuke Sakaguchi, Kouki Mochizuki, and Kazuichi Nakamura

2004 (2)
Akira Unami, Yasuo Shinohara, Tomokazu Ichikawa, and Yoshinobu Baba

Tingting Sun, Tangeng Ma, and Ing, K. Ho

2005 (2)
Hiroaki Takahashi

Hiroshi Ono, Yoshiaki Saito, Kiyoshi Imai, and Masanobu Kato

2006 (3)
Lu-Tai Tien, Lir-Wan Fan, Tangeng Ma, Horace H. Loh, and Ing Kang Ho

Nobuaki Matsui, Kazumi Kasajima, Masazumi Hada, Tomomi Nagata, Nobuko Senga, Yumiko Yasui, Nobuyuki Fukuishi, and Masaaki Akagi

Toshinori Yamamoto, Tamio Fukushima, Rie Kakkawa, Hiroshi Yamada, and Ikuo Horii

2007(2)
Toshinori Yamamoto, Rie Kikkawa, Hiroshi Yamada, and Ikuo Horii

Yuka Kohda, Yoshiko Matsunaga, Ryugo Shota, Tomohiko Satoh, Yuko Kishi, Yoshiko Kawai, and Munekazu Gemba

2008 (3)
Kayo Sumida, Koichi Saito, Kenji Oeda, Masanori Otsuka, Kazunari Tsujimura, Hideki Miyaura, Masaru Sekijima, Koji Nakayama, Yukiko Kawano, Yuki Kawakami, Makoto Asamoto, and Tomoyuki Shirai

Toshinori Yamamoto, Kaori Tomizawa, Masaaki Fujikawa, Yasushi Sato, Hiroshi Yamada, and Ikuo Horii

Tamio Fukushima, Yoshimasa Hamada, Hiroshi Yamada, and Ikuo Horii

2009 (4)
Masaaki Miyazawa, Yuichi Ito, Nanae Kosaka, Yuko Nukada, Hitoshi Sakaguchi, Hiroyuki Suzuki, and Naohiro Nishiyama

Yuka Kohda, Hisashi Shirakawa, Kazuhiko Yamane, Kaoru Otsuka, Tatsuji Kono, Fumio Terasaki, and Takao Tanaka

Kiyoshi Shibuya, Junko S. Suzuki, Hideaki Kito, Akira Naganuma, Chiharu Tohyama, and Masahiko Satoh

Hiroaki Miida, Yumiko Noritake, Hitomi Shimoda, Kumi Honda, Toshiki Matsuoka, Ken Sakurai, Makoto Shirai, Sunao Manabe, Wataru Takasaki, and Koichi Ueno

2010 (4)
Mitsuhiro Hirode, Ko Omura, Naoki Kiyosawa, Takeki Uehara, Toshinobu Shimuzu, Atsushi Ono, Toshikazu Miyagishima, Taku Nagao, Yasuo Ohno, and Tetsuro Urushidani

Yasufumi Shutoh, Makio Takeda, Ryoichi Ohtsuka, Atsuko Haishima, Satoru Yamaguchi, Hideaki Fujie, Yutaka Komatsu, Keizo Maita, and Takanori Harada

Daigo Sumi, Yumiko Numasawa, Akiko Endo, Noriko Iwamoto, and Yoshito Kumagai

Toshihiko Makino, Junzo Kinoshita, Shingo Arakawa, Kazumi Ito, Yosuke Ando, Takashi Yamoto, Munehiro Teranishi, Atsushi Sanbuissho, and Hiroyuki Nakayama

2011 (4)
Akiko Honda, Hiroaki Komuro, Tatsuya Hasegawa, Yoshiyuki Seko, Akinori Shimada, Hisamitsu Nagase, Isao Hozumi, Takashi Inuzuka, Hideaki Hara, Yasuyuki Fujiwara, and Masahiko Satoh

Yuki Matsumoto, Takumi Ishida, Tomoki Takeda, Takayuki Koga, Misaki Fujii, Yuji Ishii, Yoshinori Fujimura, Daisuke Miura, Hiroyuki Wariishi, and Hideyuki Yamada

Naoteru Koseki, Jiro Deguchi, Toru Yamada, Hitoshi Funabashi, and Takaki Seki

Daigo Sumi, Masako Akimori, Ken-ichiro Inoue, Hirohisa Takano, and Yoshito Kumagai

2012 (4)
Maki Tokumoto, Yasuyuki Fujiwara, Akinori Shimada, Tatsuya Hasegawa, Yoshiyuki Seko, Hisamitsu Nagase, and Masahiko Satoh

Hidetoshi Shindoh, Kohnosuke Nakano, Takemi Yoshida, and Masaki Ishigai

Akio Kobayashi, Hideaki Yokoyama, Jiro Kataoka, Tomio Ishida, Hideyuki Kuno, Shoichiro Sugai, Hiroyuki Sakakibara and Kayoko Shimoi

Noriyuki Suzuki, Satoshi Ando, Kayo Sumida, Nobuyuki Horie, and Koichi Saito

2013 (4)
Katsuhide Igarashi, Satoshi Kitajima, Ken-ichi Aisaki, Kentaro Tanemura, Yuhji Taquahashi, Noriko Moriyama, Eriko Ikeno, Nae Matsuda, Yumiko Saga, Bruce Blumberg, and Jun Kanno

Shingo Arakawa, Takanori Maejima, Kazunori Fujimoto, Takashi Yamaguchi, Masae Yagi, Tomomi Sugiura, Ryo Atsumi, and Yasushi Yamazoe

Reiko Hirose, Takashi Miura, Ryo Sha, Yasuhiro Shinkai, Toshiko Tanaka-Kagawa, and Yoshito Kumagai

Eriko Taniai, Atsunori Yafune, Hitomi Hayashi, Megu Itahashi, Yukiko Hara-Kudo, Kazuhiko Suzuki, Kunitoshi Mitsumori, and Makoto Shibutani

2014 (4)
Midori Yoshida, Daisetsu Suzuki, Kiyoshi Matsumoto, Mariko Shirota, Kaoru Inoue, Miwa Takahashi, Takeshi Morita, and Atsushi Ono

Takashi Toyama, Yasuhiro Shinkai, Toshiyuki Kaji, and Yoshito Kumagai.

Keishi Ishida, Yaichiro Kotake, Masatsugu Miyara, Kaori Aoki, Seigo Sanoh, Yasunari Kanda, and Shigeru Ohta

Nobuhiko Miura, Atsushige Ashimori, Asuka Takeuchi, Katsumi Ohtani, Naoko Takada, Yukie Yanagiba, Masaharu Mita, Masako Togawa, and Tatsuya Hasegawa

2015 (3)
Yukiko Kametani, Shigenori Iwai, Isao Kuraoka

Akihito Yamashita, Hiroshi Inada, Kazuhiro Chihara, Toru Yamada, Jiro Deguchi, and Hitoshi Funabashi

Ke Du, Tsutomu Takahashi, Shusuke Kuge, Akira Naganuma, and Gi-Wook Hwang

This award, which is sponsored by Pfizer Co., USA, was instituted in 2010 and is presented based on the judgment of the Educational Committee, Its purpose is to recognize Society members who have published highly cited papers in the Journal of Toxicological Sciences (regular issue).

2011 (5)
Atsuya Takagi, Akihiko Hirose, Tetsuji Nishimura, Nobutaka Fukumori, Akio Ogata, Norio Ohashi, Satoshi Kitajima, and Jun Kanno

Yuko Nukada, Masaaki Miyazawa, Nanae Kosaka, Yuichi Ito, Hitoshi Sakaguchi, and Naohiro Nishiyama

Masaaki Miyazawa, Yuichi Ito, Nanae Kosaka, Yuko Nukada, Hitoshi Sakaguchi, Hiroyuki Suzuki, and Naohiro Nishiyama

Tomoyuki Kishida, Shin-ichi Muto, Morimichi Hayashi, Masaru Tsutsui, Satoru Tanaka, Makoto Murakami, and Junji Kuroda

Yoshiko Ikawa, Kayoko Shiba, Emi Ohki, Nanami Mutoh, Masahiko Suzuki, Hiromi Sato, and Koichi Ueno

2012 (3)
Yoshimitsu Sakamoto, Dai Nakae, Nobutaka Fukumori, Kuniaki Tayama, Akihiko Maekawa, Kiyoshi Imai, Akihiko Hirose, Tetsuji Nishimura, Norio Ohashi, and Akio Ogata

Katsunori Yamaura, Manabu Oda, Eriko Suwa, Masahiko Suzuki, Hiromi Sato, and Koichi Ueno

Joon-Woo Kim, Hiroshi Ishibashi, Ryoko Yamauchi, Nobuhiro Ichikawa, Yuji Takao, Masashi Hirano, Minoru Koga, Koji Arizono

2013 (3)
Mika Senzui, Toshiaki Tamura, Keiko Miura, Yoshiaki Ikarashi, Yoshiteru Watanabe, and Makiko Fujii

Yuta Takahashi, Keisuke Mizuo, Yusuke Shinkai, Shigeru Oshio, and Ken Takeda

Takashi Miura and Yoshito Kumagai

2014 (3)
Tomoyo Hashida, Yaichiro Kotake, and Shigeru Ohta

Maki Tokumoto, Yasuyuki Fujiwara, Akinori Shimada, Tatsuya Hasegawa, Yoshiyuki Seko, Hisamitsu Nagase, and Masahiko Satoh

Gi-Wook Hwang, Jin-Yong Lee, Katsunori Ryoke, Fujio Matsuyama, Jong-Mu Kim, Tsutomu Takahashi, and Akira Naganuma

2015 (3)
Kozue Yaginuma-Sakurai, Katsuyuki Murata, Miyuki Iwai-Shimada, Kunihiko Nakai, Naoyuki Kurokawa, Nozomi Tatsuta, and Hiroshi Satoh

Atsumi Yamaguchi, Tomoko Fujitani, Ken-ichi Ohyama, Dai Nakae, Akihiko Hirose, Tetsuji Nishimura, and Akio Ogata

Susumu Ohkawara, Toshiko Tanaka-Kagawa, Yoko Furukawa, and Hideto Jinno

Prior to the foundation of the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX), the International Congress of Toxicology (ICT), which is not IUTOX-sponsored, was held in 1977 in Toronto, Canada. At the 2nd congress in Brussels, Belgium in 1980, the IUTOX formation preparation meeting was held, and Dr. Yasuhiko Shirasu (Japan) was invited to attend. IUTOX was officially founded in 1980. Prior to the founding of the JSTS, the Toxicological Research Group entered into IUTOX membership in 1980. Charter member societies include the UK, USA, India, Japan, Sweden, EUROTOX, Finland, France, and Canada.

Dr. S. L. Fries (USA) was appointed as the Founding President, and Masayuki Ikeda (Japan) joined the Founding Executive Committee members as a Director.

Masayuki Ikeda (Director) (1980-1983)
Fuminori Sakai (2^nd Vice President) (1983-1986)
Hideomi Fukuda (2^nd Vice President) (1986-1989, 1989-1992)
Tetsuo Satoh (2^nd Vice President) (1995-1998, 1998-2001, 2003-2004)
Yuji Kurokawa (2^nd Vice President) (2001-2004) (Left the IUTOX in 2003)
Tohru Inoue (2^nd Vice President) (2004-2007, 2007-2009) (Left the IUTOX in 2009)
Jun Kanno (Vice President) (2009-2010, 2010-2013)
Jun Kanno (President-Elect) (2013-2016)

IUTOX-sponsored International Congress (International Congress of Toxicology, ICT) has been held every three years. In 1986, the Society hosted the 4^th International Congress of Toxicology (ICT-IV) in Tokyo, Japan (President: Fuminori Sakai) It was attended by 1,104 participants from 39 different countries.

Past ICT Congresses
1^st (1997) Toronto, Canada; 2^nd (1980) Brussels, Belgium; 3^rd (1983) San Diego, USA; 4^th (1986) Tokyo, Japan; 5^th (1989) Brighton, UK; 6^th (1992) Rome, Italy; 7^th (1995) Seattle, USA; 8^th (1998) Paris, France; 9^th (2001) Brisbane, Australia; 10^th (2004) Tampere, Finland; 11^th (2007) Montreal, Canada; 12^th (2010) Barcelona, Spain; 13^th (2013) Seoul, Korea; 14^th (2016) Merida, Mexico; 15^th (2019) Hawaii, USA

The roots of the Asian Society of Toxicology (ASIATOX) extend back to a Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Toxicology organized by JSOT and the Korean Society of Toxicology (KSOT). This event was held three times between 1987 and 1993 (1987) Seoul, Korea; (1990) Nagoya, Japan; (1993) Seoul, Korea.

In 1992, representatives of the JSOT and KSOT met to discuss the formation of ASIATOX at the 6th International Congress of Toxicology (ICT-VI) in Rome, Italy. After long discussions, it was concluded that formation of ASIATOX was necessary to promote toxicological research and to nurture the education of toxicology specialists in Asia.

The ASIATOX preparatory meeting was held in conjunction with the 3rd Japan-Korea joint symposium on November 27, 1993 at the Cultural Center of Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. A total of 15 toxicologists, including six from Korea, seven from Japan, and one each from Taiwan and Singapore, attended the event.

On June 8, 1994, the founding meeting and the first council meeting of ASIATOX was held at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. Participants from each member society totaled 16, including eight from Japan, three from Korea, two each from China and Taiwan, and one from Thailand.

In addition to JSOT and KSOT, other founding member societies include the Chinese Society of Toxicology (CSOT), the Thai Society of Toxicology (TST) (formerly the Toxicological Society of Thailand), and the Toxicology Society of Taiwan (TSTA). ASIATOX founding members were joined by the Iranian Society of Toxicology (2012) and the Toxicology Society (Singapore) in 2013. As of January 20, 2015, ASIATOX boasted more than 3000 members from a variety of industry, academia and regulatory organizations.

The ASIATOX Congresses are spaced three years apart, with the first (ASIATOX-I) hosted by JSOT in Yokohama in 1997. This event was attended by 474 participants from 13 countries. In 2012, JSOT hosted ASIATOX-VI in Sendai. This event attracted 522 participants from 17 countries including 327 from Japan, 73 from Korea, 44 from China, 42 from Taiwan, and four each from Thailand and Singapore.

President:	Tomoji Yanagita (Japan)
1st Vice President:	Sang Dai Park (Korea)
2nd Vice President:	Jion Lin Zhou (China)
Secretary General:	Tetsuo Satoh (Japan)
Treasurer:	Kyu-Hwan Yang (Korea)

Councilors: Hitoshi Endou (Japan), Yong-Soon Lee (Korea), Ming-Dao Wang (China), Il-Moo Chang (Korea), Palarp Sinhaseni (Thailand)

Auditors: Jen-kun Lin (Taiwan) and Songsak Srianujata (Thailand)

1994-1997
See above

1997-2000

President:	Il Moo Chan (Korea)
Treasurer	Hideaki Karaki
Councilors	Hitoshi Endou
	Tetsuo Satoh
	Michito Takahashi
Past President:	Tomoji Yanagita

2000-2003

President:	Songsak Srianujata (Thailand)
Advisor	Tetsuo Satoh
	(Appointed by the President):
Councilors:	Materials not yet available

2003-2006

President:	Jun-Shi Chen (China)
2nd Vice President:	Hitoshi Endou
Councilors:	Ikuo Horii
	Shuji Tsuda
	Taku Nagao
	Junichi Sawada
	Chiharu Toyama
	Yasushi Yamazoe
Advisor:	Tetsuo Satoh

2006-2009

President:	Jou-Fang Deng. (Taiwan)
1st Vice President:	Akira Naganuma
Councilors:	Yoshikatsu Kanai
	Jun Kanno
	Sunao Manabe
	Chiharu Toyama
Advisor:	Tetsuo Satoh

2009-2012

President:	Akira Naganuma (Japan)
Secretary General:	Yoshito Kumagai
Councilors:	Ikuo Horii
	Takemi Yoshida
	Chiharu Toyama
	Sunao Manabe
Advisor:	Tetsuo Satoh

2012-2015

President:	Myung-Haing Cho (Korea)
Treasurer:	Yoshito Kumagai
Councilors:	Ikuo Horii
	Jun Kanno
	Chiharu Toyama
	Takemi Yoshida
	Sunao Manabe
Past President:	Akira Naganuma
Advisor:	Tetsuo Satoh

ASIATOX congresses have been hosted every three years by the member societies

1^st: Tomoji Yanagita, June 29-July 2, 1997, Yokohama, Japan
2^nd: Il-Moo Chang, August 23-25, 2000, Jeju-Do, Korea,
3^rd: Songsak Srianujayta, February 1-6, 2004, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand
4^th: Jun-Shi Chen, June 18-21, 2006, Zhuhai, China,
5^th: Jou-Fang Deng, September 10-13, 2009,- Taipei, Taiwan,
6^th: Akira Naganuma, July 17-20, 2012, Sendai, Japan
7^th: Myung-Haing Cho, June 23-26, 2015, Jeju, Korea,
8^th: Songsak Srianujata, 2018, Thailand

The development of toxicology as a recognized scientific discipline has proceeded at a rapid pace over the past 10 years. Its genomic basis, in particular, has been of consequence, and its growth is likely to accelerate in the future. Over the years, the JSOT has achieved exceptional success with its meetings, publications, member services, and outreach activities. The Society’s two ongoing missions are maintaining the high quality certification program for toxicologists and considering ways to improve the Society journals.
Concerning certification, the number of JSOT-certified toxicologists has increased every year and the certification program is now well recognized worldwide. Society diplomats receive several benefits such as health promotion at the workplace. Another goal of the program is to expand it to toxicologists in other countries. As for the journal, the JTS editorial team envisions building a publication with increased visibility, and which will enhance the scientific edge in the field of toxicology. As JTS modernizes, it will provide a highly efficient web-based manuscript submission and review system in the near future. The system will facilitate all aspects of manuscript submission, including tracking and communication between authors, reviewers and editors.
Ultimately, the mission of JSOT is to develop an implementation plan that ensures a systematic and efficient expenditure of energies and resources, and that is most closely aligned with a carefully considered strategy for accomplishing its long-range plans.