In recent years, catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) has evolved in tandem with the results from many large-scale randomized clinical studies with antiarrhythmic drugs. The current situations seem to be a concerted move from pharmacological to non-pharmacological treatment. However, the clinical studies with medications have revealed an important viewpoint for the management of AF: the importance of the core aim of AF treatment and the position of electrographic findings as a surrogate marker. Catheter ablation is under challenge as the answers to these issues are awaited. Moreover, many problems with this invasive therapy are to be solved, most of them deriving from the vague definition of success of ablation and no standardization of the technique. For these reasons, catheter ablation is still on the way to maturation and multicenter studies in Japan are required to set a fair benchmark for Japanese patients, drawing a lesson from randomized clinical studies with medications.  (Circ J 2010; 74: 1978 - 1982)