JOINT MEETING OF THE 3rd INTERNATIONAL CONSULTATION ON INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS JAPAN (ICICJ3) AND THE ESSIC ANNUAL MEETING 2013, 21-23 March 2013, Mielparque, Kyoto, Japan

This was the third time that Japan has organised a meeting of world experts in the field of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and hypersensitive bladder, held on this occasion in 2013 as a joint meeting with the International Society for the Study of BPS (ESSIC) and with the support of the Society of Interstitial Cystitis of Japan (SICJ) and the Comfortable Urology Network (CUN) of Japan. Many thanks are due to Dr Tomohiro Ueda for once again organising this unique, thought-provoking meeting of experts. A total of 126 delegates from around the world came to Kyoto, with 22 invited speakers in the main programme and 21 speakers presenting posters in the research programme. Two patient representatives were present from Germany (ICA-Deutschland and the IPBF) and several Japanese patient representatives attended. While it was an intensive 21⁄2 day programme, plenty of time was allowed for questions and discussion. It was also the perfect opportunity to learn first-hand about the hypersensitive bladder concept of the East Asian countries Japan, Korea and Taiwan, with a special presentation on this topic by Professor Yukio Homma of Tokyo. The presentations will be published in a special supplement of the International Journal of Urology scheduled for January 2014.