Brief history of the Asiatic International Society of Hematology: our roots of international cooperation with Asian countries

This year, 2018, marks the 60th anniversary of the Asiatic International Society of Hematology founded in 1958 and it seems to be a fitting occasion on which to reflect on our roots of the international cooperation with Asian countries. The Japanese Society of Hematology held the first meeting of the Asiatic International Society of Hematology in 1958 in Nagoya. Hematologists representing at least 10 Asian countries or districts, including Australia, Burma, Ceylon, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand, participated. This meeting was perhaps the first International Congress of any kind in the medical field in Japan after World War II. In 1968, the Asian-Pacific Society of Hematology converged to join the International Society of Hematology (ISH) and became one of the three divisions of ISH (Asian-Pacific Division of ISH). The Annual Reports of the Society were published in Nagoya from 1969 to 1991. The meetings of the Asiatic International Society and the Asian-Pacific Division of ISH, and the distributions of the Annual Report to Asian countries, including China and Korea, seemed to help promote hematology in those countries, particularly in the early days.