The work reported at the first Japanese Knowledge Acquisition for Knowledge-Based Systems Workshop is discussed, providing both an overview of the field and an introduction to a series of articles on knowledge acquisition. The discussion covers tools, methods, and mediating representations; real-time problem solving; the system-model-operator metaphor; an interview architecture based on dynamic analysis, inductive knowledge acquisition from structured data; research in Japan; how to make application programming easier; justification-based knowledge acquisition; integrating knowledge acquisition and performance systems; tasks, methods, and knowledge; rule induction; hypertext; explanation-based learning and case-based reasoning; and interviewing.