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Jan. 7, 2005 Seasons Greetings from Director Noboru Kobayashi, M.D.

Best wishes for the coming year and thank you for your support in 2004. As I look back over the past year, I think of the ordeals and suffering of children. Children were shockingly murdered by parents or step-parents, kidnapped on their way home from school, and even killed by friends at school. All these incidents have been truly painful and sorrowful. Children are the next generation, and we want them to grow up to be strong and sound physically, mentally, and emotionally. Growing up is never a stable process and children face various risks along the way. They are "children at risk." As adults, our responsibility is to discover these risks early, if possible, and then to take responsive measures in the event of any unfortunate situation. This requires more than just sympathetic concern toward children. It requires constant information gathering and rigorous analysis that will to the heart of the problem. As a cyber-research institute for child-related issues, CRN is dedicated to early discovery, prevention, and measures that will respond to children's problems. The Japan Society of Child Science, which was inaugurated in 2003 and held its first conference in September 2004, shares the same objectives. Together our organizations will play an active role in solving children's problems, and the multi-disciplinary approach of Kodomogaku (Child Science) will be instrumental in providing the framework and tools for this. In 2005 we look forward to being able to make a continuing contribution to improving children's lives. Let's Talk!

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