The Special Issue of Kybernetika is devoted to the publication of selected peer-reviewed articles submitted by the participants of the Czech-Japanese Seminar in Applied Mathematics 2008 which took place on September 1-7, 2008 in Takachi-ho and Miyazaki, Japan. The Czech-Japanese Seminar in Applied Mathematics 2008 was organized by the Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Miyazaki. It was the fourth meeting in the series of the Czech-Japanese Seminars in Applied Mathematics.