I am very delighted to write about the 14th annual conference organized by the Japanese Music Therapy Association (JMTA), which was held September 19th – 21st in Nagoya, Japan. Though the exact number of attendees has not been reported yet, there are more than 2000 certified music therapists in this country, and a lot of them should have attended to expand their knowledge and complete a part of their certification renewal process. Taking students and professionals in related fields into account, the total number should be huge!!At the pre-congress seminars on September 19th, attendees were allowed to choose a lecture from five areas of interest, including elderlies/hospice, mental health, children, lectures by invited speakers, and workshops, in each time slot. Some presenters let us work in a group or use the special sourcebook as a workbook to write down important points, so we were able to actively participate in the lectures.The program for the conference on September 20th and 21st was also very rich. It included 10 symposia, 4 workshops, 64 oral presentations, and 90 poster presentations besides two keynote speeches, a special symposium, and two special lectures by Dr. Alicia Clair and Dr. Amelia Oldfield. Topics of symposia covered various issues which music therapists face at different stages of their career – for example, how students can set up a new position as a professional music therapist or what experienced music therapists can learn from peer supervision. Each presentation introduced a unique approach and its effect. There were slightly more studies on children or elderlies, but we saw a certain numbers of studies on other populations also. That means music therapy in Japan is developing in each area. In the special lectures, both Dr. Clair and Dr. Oldfield showed us video clips of their sessions. We were all impressed by the work they have done and learned a lot by actually watching it. Even though some of us had difficulty understanding the language in the video clips, we easily understood what was going on since music is a non-verbal communication tool!!One of the features of music therapy in Japan is its variety. Due to the large number of professionals, there are music therapists with different academic backgrounds, different clinical experiences, and different theoretical approaches. They keep seeking the best way to meet the clients’ needs and find their own way to use music for the therapeutic purpose. The ideas are really practical because those are based on actual clinical settings, not from a book. The conference chair mentioned, however, it is sometimes difficult to work as a group, especially when one organization is going to transition to the next stage. He said we all need to work together and think what we can do to have music therapy recognized as a strong health profession.Finally, JMTA made an official announcement about the next WCMT at the conference. Now we are VERY, VERY, VERY excited to see music therapists from all over the world!!Kumi Sato, JapanWFMT Student Delegate for Western Pacific
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