抄録
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to extend my heartfelt celebration to “The 10th International Biophilia Rehabilitation Conference”, which is jointly organized by “Chieti University” and the “International Biophilia Rehabilitation Academy”.
The city of Chieti is known as the hometown of Father Alessandro Valignano, a Jesuit missionary who supervised the dissemination of Catholicism in Japan, and had led the “Tensho Boys Embassy to Europe” from Japan 400 years ago. Inspired by this historical event, friendly activities have been started and increased since several years ago, between the cities of Chieti and Minami-shimabahara in Kyushu Island, from which the mission departed. I hope that this conference will be the occasion to further enhance the friendly relations between Japan and Italy.
On top of the common merits of rich history and culture, Japan and Italy also share the common characteristics of high average life span. According to surveys,it is 79.9 for men and 86.4 for women in Japan (as for 2012) while 79.4 for men and 84.5 for women in Italy (as for 2011). I am confident that this conference, focused on the announcements of precious studies and fruitful discussions mainly by the experts from the most longevity countries Italy and Japan, will highly contribute to the building of welfare society where aged people can feel the worth to live with happiness.
Concluding my message, I wish from my heart for the success of the conference.
