The first heart transplantation was carried out in Japan successfully, after the brain death and organ transplantation law was settled in 1997. The recipient patient was a 47-year-old man with the dilated phase of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who had been on a Novacor implantable left ventricular assist system for the previous 4 months. Since the donor hospital was about 200 km from the recipient hospital which took approximately 2 hours for transportation, the total ischemic time was 3 hours and 24 minutes. The post-transplant course was smooth, and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 75.