Research in fuzzy system theory and its application has progressed rapidly in Japan since the first Fuzzy System Symposium (FSS) in 1985. This national meeting has been held annually for reading research papers by fuzzy system theory researchers. The Japan Society for fuzzy system theory and Systems (SOFT), set up in 1989, was made the SOFT's official annual meeting. The 18th FSS (FSS 2002), held at the Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan, from August 28 to 30, attracted over 320 participants and was the site of 197 lectures. At this FSS,Kaoru Hirota, President of the Society, declared, "It is necessary for researchers in fuzzy system theory in Japan to present results of their study in English for readers overseas. I am happy to announce that our society is to publish a journal of collected papers in English 3 times a year, in addition to the society journal in Japanese, entitled the Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics (JACIII).' " The initial result is this special February 2002 issue, which contains papers from preparatory papers read at FSS2002. Editing of this special issue was entrusted to the executive committee of FS2002, with the symposium chair acting as the guest editor. Other members of the editing committee are Hitoshi Yano, Nagoya City University; Moritoshi Sasaki, Aichi University of Education; Yahachiro Tsukamoto, Meijo University; Takeshi Furuhashi, Mie University; Yasuhisa Hasegawa, Nagoya University; Miho Ohsaki, Shizuoka University; Hiroto Mizunuma, Meijyo University; Tomohiro Yoshikawa, Mie University; and Tsuyoshi Nakamura, Nagoya Institute of Technology. We thank the committee members and referees for paper selection , and Kumiko Satoh of Fuji Technology Press Ltd. for clerical work associated with the preparation of the journal. Most papers have been rewritten by the authors for this publication. Two are written in English and 7 in Japanese and translated into English after selection. At least 2 referees read each paper to select the final 9. Subjects include fuzzy data base, learning, fuzzy clustering, application for marketing, industrial application, psychological application, and fuzzy logic. All research is original and represents the current level and trends in fuzzy system theory research in Japan. Unfortunately, circumstances forced us to select papers from among 4-page preparatory papers despite the possibilities in 2-page papers. If, however, the FSS special issues of JACIII every year, up-to-date papers prepared by Japanese researchers will be available for review by overseas readers with a possible significant contribution to the research of fuzzy system theory worldwide. This will be a good opportunity for Japanese researchers to make their results known overseas, making participation in FSS even more meaningful. In January 2003, the official name of SOFT was changed to the Japan Society for fuzzy system theory and Intelligent Informatics. We sincerely hope that JACIII will become a useful tool for presenting the latest fuzzy system theory research in Japan to the world, and, in turn, support indirectly the society's development.
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