I am Gen Sazaki of the Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University. I have been appointed the President of the Japanese Association for Crystal Growth (JACG) since 1 April 2025. Although I am sure that the association will face many challenges, I look forward to your support.

The JACG is now in its 51st year since its foundation in 1974. One of the main characteristics of the JACG is its extremely wide diversity. Crystal growth includes fields of science, such as physics, chemistry, biology, geoscience, and mathematics, as well as engineering, such as electrical and electronic, materials, chemical and mechanical engineering, and even pharmacy and medicine. In addition, crystal growth is used in a wide range of industries, such as the semiconductor, electronic components, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. The JACG is the only Japanese scientific society that can bring together an extremely wide array of people from these many fields. I believe that we need to make full use of this wide diversity to realize the following two missions of the JACG: one is to understand the scientific principles of crystal growth and then to develop crystal growth into a discipline based on solid foundations, and the other is to contribute to the development of a variety of modern society’s needs, such as environmental and energy issues and the enjoyment of cultural life. To realize these missions, it is crucially important that the JACG continuously provide an attractive forum where people from a wide variety of fields can enjoy lively discussions while respecting each other’s backgrounds. To this end, I would like to discuss with you the strategies that the JACG should adopt in the future from a medium- to long-term perspective.

Crystal growth science has many points of contact and boundary areas with basic sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, as well as with many applied academic fields such as electronics, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, bioengineering, and medicine. In addition, new crystal growth technologies are being developed one after another, stimulated by the needs of industries that use crystal growth, such as the chemical, semiconductor, electronic component, automobile, and medical device industries. Therefore, it is important for the development of this discipline to provide a place where people with diverse backgrounds can gather and deepen discussions. We believe that JACG should actively fulfill its role as an organization that supports such academic and industry-academia exchanges.

For the sound development of the JACG, its finances must be sound. The JACG’s finances have become considerably healthier thanks to the conversion of the Journal of the JACG from printed to electronic form during President Furukawa’s time, the administrative work of the Polaris Secretaries Office Co., Ltd. since President Kakimoto’s time, and the management efforts of successive presidents. However, they are still insufficient. To further improve the financial health of the JACG, it is important to avoid deficits in events such as the Japan Conference on Crystal Growth. We may be asked to accept more flexible participation fees, in which case we would be grateful for your understanding.

Several events that involve the JACG are planned this year. The 21st International Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy (ICCGE-21) will be held in Xi’an, China, from 3-8 August 2025. The 54th Japan Conference on Crystal Growth (JCCG-54) will be held in Kanazawa from 11-13 November 2025. In addition, the Special Lecture will be held in Hakata on 8 July 2025. All members are cordially invited to attend and actively participate in these discussions. The Discussion Meeting on Crystal Growth (Hodan-kai) was canceled for several years due to the coronavirus outbreak but was revived last year in Noboribetsu, Hokkaido. We hope to continue to promote the meeting this year and beyond. In addition, the Seminar for Fundamentals of Crystal Growth, which was held online and was very popular during the coronavirus outbreak, will continue to provide an important opportunity for beginners to learn about crystal growth by hybrid or other methods.

As the President, I would intend to make every effort for the development of the JACG in the future and will be very grateful for the frank opinions and suggestions of our members.