Speech by Toyosaburo Taniguchi Dr. Kubo, Chairman, Distinguished Guests, and Friends, I am very happy, pleased and honored to be here this evening with so many distinguished guests, friends, and scholars from within this country and from different parts of the world. The Taniguchi Foundation wishes to extend a warm and sincere welcome to the many participants of the Ninth International Symposium on the Theory of Condensed Matter, which se­ ries was inaugurated eight years ago through the strenuous efforts of Dr. Ryogo Kubo, who is gracing us today with his presence. We are deeply indebted to Dr. Kubo, Dr. Suzuki, and their associates, who havE' spent an enormous amount of time and effort to make this particular symposium possible. We are convinced that the foundation should not be considered as what makes our symposium a success. The success is entirely due, I feel, to the continuous efforts of the Organizing Committee and of all those who have lent their support to this program. In this sense, your words of praise about the symposium, if any, should be directed to all of them. So far, I have met in person a total of 62 participants in this Division from 12 countries: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Ireland, Israel, Rumania, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, with 133 participants from Japan. Those friends I have been privileged to make, I shall always treasure.