The U. S. -Japan Polymer Symposium-1980 at the Tenth Biennial Symposium was held during the period November 21-26, 1980 at the Palm Springs Spa Hotel in Palm Springs, California. This Symposium was jointly sponsored by the Division of Polymer Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and the Society of Polymer Science, Japan. It is hoped that this joint symposium between the Japanese and Americans will become a regular event with the next sym- posium to be held in Japan. Although there have been several small joint meetings between the Japanese and American poly- mer scientists sponsored by the governments of the two countries with restricted topics and restricted attendance held in both countries, this symposium represented the first large meeting held in cooperation between the two societies with broad spectrum of topics and unrestricted attendance. In planning the program the Co-Chairmen, William J. Bailey and Teiji Tsuruta, tried to make the program as balanced as possible, both with regards to subject matter and representation from the two countries. They selected 24 invited lecturers, twelve from Japan as follows: Kohei Sanui, Sophia University Takeo Shimidzu, Kyoto University Shohei Inoue, University of Tokyo Itaru Mita, University of Tokyo Yuka Yamashita, Nagoya University Yozo Chatani, Osaka University Itsuo Aishima, Asahi Chemical Industry Co. , Ltd. Toshio Hayashi, Kyoto University Takuhei Nose, Tokyo Institute of Technology Tisato Kajiyama, Kyushu University Shigeo Tazuke, Tokyo Institute of Technology Naohiro Murayama, Kureha Chemical Industry CO. ,Ltd.