Welcome to our Pacific Rim congress. We all know that the many conflicts that pervade our modern world make it difficult for ordinary people to live in peace. Everywhere we hear of bullying, violence, discrimination, and scapegoating, whether it be in families, peers, organizations, communities, nations, or the international sphere. Here we introduce you to an old country where all the gods and goddesses in Japan gather to have a meeting once a year in October. This is a letter of invitation to group psychotherapy and group process professionals, as well as individual psychotherapists, to join in our professional meetings for peace of the human mind and of the modern world to be held in an old town where clouds emerge and the land of Japan first emerged.

It is my pleasure to invite you to the 8th Pacific Rim Regional Congress of Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes and the 14th Conference of the International Association of Dynamic Psychotherapy. Our theme “Creating New Space Beyond Internal & External Wars” is extraordinarily timely for those of us who are working with individuals, groups and organizations.

Our ability as therapists, consultants and educators to utilize the human potential for cooperation and creativity is constantly challenged amid the conflicts in which we are living. Issues of globalization, religious schisms, natural and man made disasters increase the levels of anxiety in our societies across the globe. Join us and contribute your voice to exploring ways that we can use our skills to respond to these conditions.

We will explore these issues in Matsue, Japan, one of Japan’s top three tourist cities where one can find the essence of Japan (New York Times, 2/20/2007). The legends in Japan say that it is so beautiful there in October that the gods leave all the rest of Japan to visit there.

While we may not be gods, we will be exploring challenging issues of human life in a beautiful setting, so come and meet with us there.