The Neotropical biogeographic region has become one of the most attractive areas for ecological and biological researches. It harbors several of the greatest hotspots of diversity in many different biological groups; countries such as Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia or Ecuador contain the greatest species diversity in many families of mammals, reptiles, birds and vascular plants. Likewise, these countries have a great diversity of biomes and areas that still remain largely unexplored. However, despite the great potential for research that this region offers, Japanese scientists have mostly directed their international interests to other regions in the world, probably due to the evident cultural gap between Japan and the Neotropical countries. The Neotropics is comprised by Latin American countries, the majority, developing countries with rapid recent progress in all scientific fields. Thus, the purpose of this workshop is two-fold: first: to offer a space to present recent advances on the ecological research in the Neotropics, and second: to discuss common challenges that scientists have to consider to conduct research in the Latin American region. With these, the workshop pretends to promote future collaborations in which Japanese and Latin American scientists can combine and exchange efforts and knowledge. Dr. Tadashi Kajita will comment on fieldworks in Latin America according to his experience.