Post-Congress Greetings

The 15th World Congress of Music Therapy was successfully held from July 4th to July 8th, 2017. As the congress organizer, I would like to share my final report with you.

The Congress was attended by 2,959 participants from 48 countries, 576 of whom registered on site. In addition, approximately 500 local residents of Tsukuba and the surrounding area attended the public lecture, thus approximately 3,500 people in total attended the 15th WCMT.

The number of participants who attended the 15th WCMT by country is as follows: Japan (2,246), USA (159), Australia (94), Republic of Korea (41), Hong Kong (39), China (36), Germany (34), Taiwan (32), Thailand (31), Italy (27), U.K. (25), Philippines (22), Norway (20), Canada (18), Finland, Netherlands, Singapore and Spain (12 each). There were also participants from many other countries which had nine or fewer attendees per country.

All the programs, including the pre-congress seminars, were held successfully, and the Japanese cultural sessions (flower arrangement, tea ceremony, etc.) were extremely popular. The main hall was filled with attendees for the closing ceremony. As a result, the Japanese Music Therapy Association and the organizing committee of the 15th WCMT can take pride in the successful outcome of our four years of preparation. We could not have successfully held such a big event without the cooperation and support of many people, and I thank all of you who helped make the Congress a success.

Finally, I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to all of the attendees who came to Tsukuba from all over the world. I hope you enjoyed your visit to Japan, and I am looking forward to seeing you again in the future.

Michiko Kato
Organizer of the 15th World Congress of Music Therapy

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