Editorial

The German-Japanese Confederation of Urology was founded as an academic society for the mutual exchange of science in urology by Fumihiko Ikoma and Rudolf Hohenfellner with the first scientific meeting being held in Mainz in 1986. The following three-yearly meetings took place in Kyoto, Vienna, Nara, Berlin and in 2001 on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu.

In the tradition of these meetings a consecutive and vivid exchange of people and ideas between our two countries further enhanced both scientific and cultural understanding.

In the tradition of these meetings a consecutive and vivid exchange of people and ideas between our two countries further enhanced both scientific and cultural understanding.

The 6th meeting of the German-Japanese Confederation of Urology was held in 2001.

The papers of the meeting are summarized in this issue of Aktuelle Urologie and give an overview of both the experimental and the clinical work performed in our two countries. We are looking forward to hosting our Japanese friends next year in Austria and Germany.

K. Maito, F. Ikoma, J. W. Thüroff, J. Fichtner