Abstract
The success of the 18th World Congress of Sociology (WCS) in Yokohama raised several questions. From the point of view of the Chair of the Japanese local organizing committee (JLOC), the author would like to discuss: first, why the Japan Sociological Society decided to host the 2014 WCS; second, why was Yokohama selected as the venue; third, how were members of the JLOC selected and organized; fourth, what were main features of the Yokohama Congress in contrast with other recent world congresses; fifth, what major tasks and challenges were JLOC and the Chair of JLOC facing; six, what were the results and the meanings of the Yokohama Congress. Now is the time to think about the next challenges, to take another step beyond Yokohama and to make the results of Japanese Sociologists more visible to world audiences.
