An International Symposium for Developing an Acupuncture Standard of WFAS was held at the WFAS Office Building in Beijing on 18 May 2010. The aim of this meeting was to make the WFAS Industry Standard and to further develop the International Standard of Acupuncture and Moxibustion.
JSAM dispatched two representatives to the meeting as informal observers. The reason why JSAM did not send representatives formally is that there was a serious discrepancy regarding the resolution of the EC meeting between WFAS and JSAM. However, after the several discussions with WFAS, JSAM eventually decided to send informal representatives who have a right to speak. JSAM presented the necessary information about Japanese moxibustion as well as its techniques.

The WFAS University Cooperation Working Committee and WFAS Standard Working Committee were held during 2009 WFAS World Acupuncture Congress at European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on 6 November 2009. Publishing an International Textbook of Acupuncture and Moxibustion was proposed in the WFAS University Cooperation Working Committee. Also establishing Making WFAS standards on acupuncture needles, nomenclature and location of auricular points, manipulation of moxibustion, and manipulation of scalp acupuncture were discussed and proposed in the WFAS Standard Working Committee.

Acupuncture and moxibustion were introduced to Japan from China in the 6 th Century. Since then our ancestors adapted these unique techniques and knowledge to our climate and ethnicity, and eventually developed the Japanese system of acupuncture and moxibustion.
Whether acupuncture and moxibustion therapy is successful or not depends on the knowledge and skill of the individual acupuncturist. However, in recent years, the role of medical doctors, nurses, physical therapist and other medical professionals working as a team has become particularly important, with some acupuncturist starting to work in university hospitals as part of these teams, and contributing to patient well-being.
In this paper, to elucidate the roles of acupuncture and moxibustion in modern medicine, we show how acupuncture and moxibustion are applied in university hospitals, and how acupuncturists evaluate the effectiveness of their acupuncture and moxibustion.

Acupuncture and moxibustion are not fully or well-utilized in the medical system, particularly in the hospitals of Japan. If they were more commonly practiced in hospitals, disorders and disease conditions that are not improved by modern Western medicine might be better treated. In addition, collaboration between acupuncturist and Western medical doctors would promote the research of acupuncture, moxibustion, and related techniques.
However, to achieve these aims, improvements in the quality of acupuncture and moxibustion education would be needed. Also, hospitals that are presently using acupuncture and moxibustion for routine treatment would have to demonstrate their usefulness and how this is contributing to patients' health.
Having acupuncture and moxibustion therapists (AMT), as a defined occupation in hospitals, was proposed in 1981, although this has not yet been realized. However, we believe that hospital AMTs would be necessary for the progress of acupuncture and moxibustion, as well as for national health care and the medical system in Japan.

Objective : Although current preventative care policies consider the issue of the homebound elderly to be important, effective means of intervention have not been established. Therefore, it is necessary to elucidate the relevant causes of the poorly understood “homebound” problem. As little expertise exists on the social and psychological factors of those who are homebound, this study focuses on the sense of coherence (SOC) —a new estimate of the psychosocial factors involved in being homebound—and examines the connection between being homebound and SOC.
Methods : A mail survey was conducted among 1,895 elderly adults, none of whom had been issued a Certification of Long-Term Care Need. Survey items included basic attributes, physical characteristics, psychological and socioenvironmental characteristics, and the condition of being homebound. Furthermore, SOC was investigated as part of the psychosocial and environmental evaluation. The 853 respondents chosen for the analysis were divided into three groups depending on their level of homeboundedness, and an ordered logistic regression analysis was conducted using homeboundedness as the dependent variable.
Results : The following items were found to have a significant association with homeboundedness : age, sex, low motor function, depressive tendencies, low SOC, and the low TMIG Index of Competence.
Discussion : This study identified a relation between being homebound and SOC, suggesting that in addition to interventions for depression and motor function, new SOC focused aid must be considered in the prevention of homeboundedness.

Acupuncture and moxibustion were introduced to Japan from China in the 6 th Century. Since then our ancestors adapted these unique techniques and knowledge to our climate and ethnicity, and eventually developed the Japanese system of acupuncture and moxibustion.Whether acupuncture and moxibustion therapy is successful or not depends on the knowledge and skill of the individual acupuncturist. However, in recent years, the role of medical doctors, nurses, physical therapist and other medical professionals working as a team has become particularly important, with some acupuncturist starting to work in university hospitals as part of these teams, and contributing to patient well-being.In this paper, to elucidate the roles of acupuncture and moxibustion in modern medicine, we show how acupuncture and moxibustion are applied in university hospitals, and how acupuncturists evaluate the effectiveness of their acupuncture and moxibustion.
Acupuncture ; seconds ; Moxibustion ; Hospitals, University ; Hospitals

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.

Introduction: The present study was conducted to identify the influence of self-efficacy score and having an action plan on “stages of change” for exercise after one year.
Methods: Physical functions and psychological factors at baseline and after one year in 105 elderly individuals who participated in a preventive care program. The subjects were classified into four groups by using the stages of change scale for physical activity.
The cause related to impact on physical activity and action stage change (stage) after one year later with having or not having action plan for preventive care program in elderly at home in community as well as sense of self efficacy was investigated.
Results: Self-efficacy scored significantly higher in the usual activity group with continuity of stage activity both at baseline and one year later. The relative risk of having an action plan at baseline for exercise after one year was 2 . 90 (95% CI: 1.52-5.55). This value significantly influenced the maintenance of physical activity after one year.
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that showing an action plan was effective in maintenance of physical activity.

Purpose: In this study, we performed a longitudinal examination of the occurrence of homeboundness among community-dwelling elderly individuals and changes in associated factors, including the sense of coherence (SOC).Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted targeting community-dwelling elderly individuals to evaluate homebound status, a basic checklist (CL), and SOC. Among these individuals, frail elderly people who maintained a non-homebound state were extracted and a follow-up survey was carried out one year later. Those who maintained the non-homebound state one year later were classified into the maintenance group and those who became socially withdrawn were classified into the transition group. Factors predicting the homebound state one year later were examined using multiple logistic regression analysis. Furthermore, the changes in CL and SOC between the transition and maintenance groups were compared.Results: In the transition group, motor function, cognitive function, and sense of manageability on the initial survey were significantly lower than those in the maintenance group. Significant correlations were noted in the homebound transition group with lack of money management (OR: 3.04, 95% CI: 1.19-7.82) and a declined sense of manageability (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.69-0.99). Depression and the sense of manageability had also significantly deteriorated one year later compared with those in the maintenance group.Conclusion: This study suggests that individuals who transition to a state of homeboundness have a slightly lower SOC than those who maintain their non-homebound status.

Although it is not yet common, certified Kampo (traditional Japanese medicine) doctors and acupuncturists are cooperating with each other to provide traditional medical treatment for patients in some general hospitals in Japan. In other hospitals, however, Kampo and acupuncture-moxibustion have not been introduced, and doctors only treat patients using modern Western medicine. Many doctors must already be aware that modern Western medicine is not the only approach for the treatment of patients, but they do not make any efforts to improve the situation by adopting traditional medicine. Here, we give some examples of hospitals in which acupuncture treatments are routinely provided, having a favorable effect on both patients as well as the hospitals themselves. We believe that these examples give us a good opportunity to consider the future of an ideal medical system in which modern Western medicine and traditional Japanese medicine are successfully integrated.