In April 1979, the CSJ and the American Chemical Society (ACS) held a Joint Chemical Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii, as one of the commemorative events of our centennial anniversary. This was the first time the CSJ held such a large-scale congress abroad. The event greatly surpassed our expectations, attracting more than 8,000 attendees. With the Chemical Institute of Canada participating, the International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies was founded, and the first meeting, chaired by Glenn T. Seaborg of UC Berkeley, was held in 1984 under the title Pac Chem' 84. The CSJ served as the host society for the 1989 Congress, with Michinori Oki (Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo) as Chairman. In the 1989 Congress, the abbreviation Pac Chem was changed to Pacifichem and officially registered as the symbol of the Congress. In 1995, with Lawrence S. Weiler of the University of British Columbia as Chairman, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry joined as new sponsors, which expanded and strengthened the Pan-Pacific bonds.

The fourth Congress, held in 2000 with Norman LeBel of Wayne State University as Chairman, attracted almost 9,000 chemists, chemical engineers, and scientists from a broad range of technical fields, and not only from Pacific Rim countries, but from all over the world.

The forthcoming Congress is scheduled to be held in December 2005. The CSJ will again play an essential role as the host society, with Shinji Murai (Professor Emeritus of Osaka University) as Chairman. The Korean Chemical Society is to be newly welcomed. Two Presidents, Attila Pavlath from the ACS and Hiizu Iwamura from the CSJ, and representatives from sponsoring societies concluded the agreement in Hawaii in December 2001.

The essence of the agreement signed by the cosponsors conerns the reporting of results of recent research to enhance the dissemination and exchange of chemical knowledge by scientists and engineers of the Pacific Basin countries, thereby aiding in the development of the industries in each country, addressing the problems associated with local and global environments and adding to the material prosperity of their peoples.

The Congress was originally launched on the belief that cooperation among countries is essential to the welfare of the peoples of the Pacific Basin. This spirit of Pacifichem has materialized in the last two decades, and will be passed from generation to generation in the future.

PACIFICHEM 2005