Japan and IARC celebrate 50 years of Japan as an IARC Participating State

Researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the National Cancer Center (NCC) Japan, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan met today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Japan becoming an IARC Participating State.

IARC scientists are engaged in a number of joint research projects with colleagues in Japan. For example, Japanese researchers are collaborating on the forthcoming Asian Code Against Cancer.

In 2021, the IARC Nutrition and Metabolism Branch and the NCC established the first international research Team at IARC, the Lifestyle Exposure and Interventions Team, with the goal of following up patients on a long-term basis to study the impact of lifestyle risk factors before cancer diagnosis on the prognosis, survival, and quality of life of patients with cancer.

In 2019, IARC, the NCC, and St Luke’s International University, Tokyo, Japan, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop collaborative projects on dietary and lifestyle habits, obesity, metabolic dysfunction, and cancer development. This was followed in 2022 by a renewed MoU between IARC and the NCC to continue and further strengthen the partnership on cancer prevention, epidemiology, early detection, cancer control, and other research areas.

IARC Director Dr Elisabete Weiderpass gave opening remarks, and Dr Toshio Kuroki (a Friend of IARC), Dr Shunichi Yamashita, and Dr Manami Inoue (Chairperson of the IARC Scientific Council) delivered keynote speeches at the event.

Read about the Lifestyle Exposure and Interventions Team

Read about the Population-Based Long-Term Surveillance Team

Visit the National Cancer Center Japan website

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