On behalf of the Organizing committee and as the president of JFPS, I extend a hearty welcome to you all, especially to many guests from abroad, to the 8th International Symposium on Fluid Power held at Ginowan International Conference Center in Okinawa, Japan.

In this symposium, we will have 108 high quality papers presented from 9 countries and regions i.e., Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, USA, China and Taiwan, including two special lectures, four plenary lectures on the latest developments in Fluid Power research.

In last March, as you know, we have been confronted with the extraordinary earthquake, tsunami disasters in north east area of Japan and Nuclear Power Plants were seriously damaged, however, the restoration activities has continued and we have gotten the situation under control. The conference site is located southwestern part and more than 2000 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and the radioactive effect of the nuclear accidents has never been expected in Okinawa. We wish to express our sincere gratitude again to all our friends who have sent the heartfelt messages and letters of sympathy and encouragement to us. It was pity but inevitable that some foreign guests acted negatively with prudence this time.

In this symposium, we hope to talk with each other not only the progress made in the global community of fluid power technology, but also good use of fluid power on dealing with the disasters in the future.

The Japan Hydraulics and Pneumatics Society (JHPS) was founded in l970 as unique academic society for the field of fluid power engineering. The forty year history of JHPS shows the development of fluid power engineering in research and industry. In 2001 we changed the name of our society from JHPS to JFPS. As indicated by this name change, we are extending our engineering field not only to include oil hydraulics and pneumatics but also to include water hydraulics, functional fluids, control engineering and system design engineering. In the symposium, also, we have prepared four Organized Sessions on new fluid power field, i.e., Water hydraulics, Functional fluids, Robotics and Mechatronics and Medical and welfare equipment, besides the traditional hydraulic and pneumatic fields. Also, this time, we have set up best presentation awards for students on the symposium, to encourage young researchers.

Okinawa prefecture locates south-west part of Japan and consists of a lot of tropical islands, 2000km far from center of Tokyo. Naha of Okinawa is the prefectural capital and an old city rich in heritage and scenic beauty. It offers many diversions for all kinds of tastes. Ginowan city adjoins Naha city and faces seashore. We wish you a pleasant stay in Okinawa islands. We made a plan of technical visit to an Aquarium for participants to have a pleasant and memorable time in Okinawa.

I would like to thank all the participants for the interest and efforts in helping us to make this conference possible. I also thank the members of the Academic Committee, the organizing committee, and the Session Chairpersons for their excellent work and valuable assistance. Also, I heartily welcome you once again. Especially, I appreciate the great financial support from the Chairperson of SMC, a vise-chairperson of JFPS.

I wish you will enjoy your symposium with respect to its technical contents as well as during the social events, allowing you to meet old friends and make new contacts.