In Japan, only the following two guidelines are available: 'Guidelines on Urinary Incontinence in the Elderly' based on research funded by the Longevity Sciences Research Grant (chief investigator: Kikuo Okamura) and 'Guidelines on Urinary Incontinence in Women' based on 'Research on Treatment Standardization in the Urological Field' funded by the Health Sciences Research Grant (group leader: Osamu Nishizawa). This paper is an English translation of these two guidelines originally published in Japanese.