The pioneering first conference on physiology in Japan was held in Tokyo in April 1902 as the second part of the first meeting of the Japanese Society of Physiology and Biomedical Chemistry. The sixth Congress of the Society was held in April 1922, and the decision was made to establish a separate physiological society.

The PSJ was founded in 1922 and the first meeting was held at the University of Tokyo on July 10, 1922. At the first meeting, 37 papers were presented as free communications.

From the beginning, the society had a liberal spirit, which has continued to the present day. The Society’s scientific meetings have been held annually except in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II. However, the activities of the PSJ were quickly revived after the end of the war. The aim of the PSJ is to promote research in the physiological sciences by providing free communications to members and by actively committing itself to the national and international scientific communities.

The PSJ has a total of 2,591 members as of January 18, 2022. Most of the members belong to academic research institutions related to medical science, life science, health science, pharmaceutical science, and so on.

The research activities of the PSJ members are mostly supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) distributed by the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences (JSPS). The JSPS also provides fellowships to graduate students and postdoctoral students, including those from foreign countries. Research grants are also provided by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) and private foundations. A list of summaries of recent breakthrough papers published by PSJ members can be viewed at the ‘Science Topics’ section of the PSJ website: http://int.physiology.jp/en/sciencetopics/

The PSJ has established Society Awards to support young researchers and female researchers. These awards include the Promotion Award of the Physiological Society of Japan for Young Scientists and Hiroshi and Aya Irisawa Memorial Awards. The awardees have actively contributed to the progress of physiological sciences in Japan and worldwide.

To provide opportunities to acquire a wide range of knowledge required for teaching physiology, the Education Committee of the PSJ has organized an educational lecture course in physiological science at the annual meetings. PSJ members who take part in the lecture course can earn points towards certification as a “Physiology Educator”. Recently, 398 members were certified as “Physiology Educators” on February 8, 2022. The PSJ supports the Physiology Quiz in Japan, which college students run and participate in.

The PSJ has made achievements in various areas by the ongoing and tremendous efforts of individual PSJ members as described below.

International Meetings:

The IUPS World Congress was held twice in Japan, Tokyo in 1965 and 2009 in Kyoto. The 36th IUPS2009 in Kyoto was a successful meeting, with nearly 4,000 participants from around the world. The 9th FAOPS2019 in conjunction with the 96th annual meeting of the PSJ, was held in Kobe on March 28–31, 2019. Over 2,000 people participated in FAOPS2019, Kobe.

Contributions of the PSJ to the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS)

The PSJ has been a member of the IUPS since its founding in 1953. The PSJ organized the 23rd IUPS World Congress 1965 in Tokyo (President: Genichi Kato, Keio University) and the 36th IUPS World Congress 2009 in Kyoto (President: Yasushi Miyashita, University of Tokyo). Masao Ito (1993–1997) and Akimichi Kaneko (2005– 2009) served as Presidents of the IUPS. Yoshihisa Kurachi, with the recommendation of the PSJ, served as the First Vice President of the IUPS (2009–2013). Since May 2022 Yoshihito Kubo has been serving as Vice President.

Annual Meetings:

The annual meetings of the PSJ have been held not only in Tokyo but also local areas of Japan on the end of fiscal year (usually late March). All oral presentations, with some exceptions such as educational presentations, have been conducted in English since 2006 in order to be more welcoming to non-Japanese researchers from around the world. The annual meeting of the PSJ gives good opportunities to encourage international friendships and collaborations in each country.

The PSJ publishes two journals

The PSJ publishes two journals: the Journal of Physiological Sciences, an international peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in English, and the Journal of The Physiological Society of Japan, published quarterly in Japanese.

The Journal of the Physiological Sciences (JPS) (formerly the Japanese Journal of Physiology (1950-2008)) publishes peer-reviewed original papers, reviews, etc. in English. The JPS, published by Springer Nature, became open-access in 2020. High-quality papers have been published, and its most recent impact factor is 2.781 (2021-2022).

Journal website: https://jps.biomedcentral.com

For PSJ members, the Journal of the Physiological Society of Japan is published quarterly in Japanese. (http://physiology.jp)

For more information, please visit the website of PSJ (http://int.physiology.jp)

Additional info on the 100th anniversary congress 2023 in Kyoto can be also found under https://www2.aeplan.co.jp/psj2023/en_index/