In Italy from the last postwar until now, especially in the 1990's, acupuncture and East Asian traditional medicine have been gradually increasing their popularity, together with other complementary and alternative medicine.
Every year 4% of Italians receive a treatment of acupuncture and the number of doctors, who are practicing as acupuncturists, are approximately 15, 000. From a legal point of view, only medical doctors can practice acupuncture in Italy. The formal education in East Asian traditional medicine consists of a 4-year postgraduate course and there are 13 schools of acupuncture in the major cities of Italy. However a society of acupuncturists as a formal association of professionals does not exist at present.
Acupuncture is practiced in approximately 122 public pain centers, and the national health insurance system covers acupuncture treatment in those centers. The most common conditions treated by acupuncture are rheumatic and musculoskeletal symptoms.
Although some eminent researchers are known, the Italian level of research on acupuncture has been inferior to the European average.

It is indicated in this Symposium that a goal of Japanese Acupuncture Study is to establish culture-based medicine. However, because of insufficient understanding of modern medicine among acupuncturists in Japan, systematic postgraduate training has become one of the most urgent programs. Acupuncturists in Japan should be included in the medical system as co-medical staff such as nurses, PTs, and so on, in the near future.
All speakers emphasized that Japanese acupuncture and moxibustion have developed their identity using various methods in the past, although there a healing was popular in the public apart from the main medical field. It is, therefore, agreeable to standardize the educational system in its present medical field in Japan.
On the other hand, it is interestingly accepted for foreign researchers that Japanese acupuncture and moxibustion are well recognized as characteristic treatment with specifically delicate and fine techniques and tools. Even so, they originated from Traditional Chinese Medicine over twenty centuries.
Since the recent introduction of Oriental Medicine to the regular curriculum of modern medical education in all Japanese Medical Colleges, acupuncture and moxibustion as well as Kampo have born an important role as a holistic medicine with a recognition of an illness perceived by the patient in the 21 st century.