The National Cancer Center was established in 1962 in Tsukiji, Tokyo, by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as the sole national government-supported cancer center in Japan, and it consisted of a Research Institute, Hospital, and Administration Department. Since its establishment, the Research Institute has been the nation's leading cancer research institution and one of the leading cancer research institutes worldwide. In 1993, a new branch of the Research Institute, the National Cancer Center Research Institute East, was opened in Kashiwa, Chiba, on the same grounds as the National Cancer Center Hospital East. The institute has had two basic and unifying purposes ever since its establishment: to achieve cancer control by means of close collaboration with hospitals and the government, and to serve as the core institute promoting cancer research in Japan.

The National Cancer Center currently has the role as the core institution to implement the Japanese goverment's "Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control", and the third term of this startegic plan started in 2004. The aim of the strategy is to being about a remarkable decrease in the incidence of and mortality from cancer in a period of ten years. Progress in research, the practice of cancer prevention, screening for cancers and improvement of medical care throughout the nation are the cornerstones on which the success of the strategy is firmly based. The Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening was established on the Tsukiji campus in 2004 and the Research Center for Innovative Oncology was established last October based in the National Cancer Center Research Institute East, in order to promote the development of novel cancer medicine based on fundamental and clinical research in Kashiwa campus; the activities of these new research centers are indispensable for the Third-Term Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy.

The "Annual Report" of the Research Institute was first published as a joint 1992-1993 volume and has been published every year since, summarizing the research activities of each Division, Section and Project in order to outline our progress to the international scientific community. From the 2002 volume, the chapter "Overview of Research Activities" was added in order to make it easier to understand the research activities of our Institute as a whole. The present "Annual Report" summarizes our research activity in 2005. The content of the annual reports and a list of the most recent publications can be seen on the National Cancer Center home page (http://www.ncc.go.jp/index.html).The research subjects and activities of each Division, Section and Project are also described on the National Cancer Center home page.

I would like to express our sincere appreciation for the support we have received from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, other governmental organs, including the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and from private organizations and individuals. I would especially like to acknowledge the importance of the support we have received for our research activities from the Third-Term Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control and Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.

March, 2006