Lord May, President of The Royal Society, Mr Orita, Japanese Ambassador, and honourable guests. We are gathered here at The Marble Hall at The Royal Society this evening for the purpose of introducing the new Director Yasuhisa Kanaguchi at our JSPS London Liaison Office.

Unfortunately, Professor Kunio Sato, former Director of JSPS London Liaison Office, was unable to attend this evening's reception due to illness. However, he has asked that, on his behalf, I express his gratitude to you all, and to thank you for your continued support.

Since the establishment of the JSPS London Liaison Office in 1994, many valuable relationships have been formed, facilitating the establishment of Japan-UK collaborations through scientific events organised jointly with UK Universities and Institutions.

Since 1995, JSPS London Liaison Office has organised one large-scale seminar annually. Various scientific topics have been the theme of these past seminars. Through these events, many collaborations have been established, and JSPS hopes to encourage further relationships particularly between young postdoctoral researchers and graduate-students in Japan and the UK. It is the belief of JSPS that in order to build valuable future Scientific and Academic relations between Japan and the UK, we must encourage the formation of such links. This, we hope, will facilitate the development of research and science in both Japan and the UK for years to come.

We are pleased to welcome so many hosts and participants from our past programmes here this evening. Our latest event was held in January of this year, when JSPS London Liaison Office was kindly invited by Professor Frances Ashcroft to organise a large-scale seminar in Oxford entitled "Ion Channels, Transporters and Cell Excitability". We continue our endeavour to create opportunities for Japanese and UK researchers to meet and share their latest research.

Finally, I would like to thank The Royal Society for providing us with such a fine venue for holding this reception. We are most grateful to all of you present here for your continued kindness and support to JSPS London Liaison Office. We look forward to strengthening our present relations in the UK and to developing new links. As the new Director of JSPS London Liaison Office, we hope that Professor Yasuhisa Kanaguchi will further develop these relationships.

London Liaison Office, we hope that Professor Yasuhisa Kanaguchi will further develop these relationships.

Thank you. I now hand over to the new Director, Professor Yasuhisa Kanaguchi, who will provide a greeting.