This special issue presents a collection of refereed plenary and invited papers presented at the International Conference on Plasma Physics held in Nagoya, Japan, September 9 - 13, 1996 (ICPP96). The ICPP is the only existing international conference covering the whole range of plasma science. Fusion plasma science and space and astrophysical plasma science have grown to big independent trees stemming from a tiny seed of research into plasma waves and instabilities. Another tree is now developing with the rapid growth in the field of industrial applications and plasma processing. Additionally, recent advances in supercomputer technology have enabled us to simulate non-linear and non-equilibrium processes and open up a new trend in science, science of complexity. Each speciality of plasma science is pushing forward, and is maturing as an independent discipline. Under these circumstances, this conference has facilitated a forum for identifying common threads that cut across boundaries of growth and newly growing plasma fields. The primary aim of this conference is to integrate and unify the diverse specialized disciplines into a single global discipline of science, and to play a leading role in promoting a shift in science. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the authors and to the members of Program Committee (M Fujiwara, T Hayashi, Y Kawai, K Mima, M Mori, K N Sato, N Sato, R Sugihara, T Yamanaka and Y Yasaka), who worked diligently to select and organize the presentations. Special thanks also go to all members of the International Advisory Committee, the Organizing Committee, the Steering Committee and the staff of the Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research, for their continuous efforts in making the conference successful. Atsuo Iiyoshi Chairperson, Organizing Committee Tetsuya Sato Chairperson, Program Committee