Clinical Exchange in Japan

Dear Profesor Kasuya:

I would like to thank you and the staff at Nagoya University Hospital for providing me with the opportunity to study abroad in Japan. My expectations for this experience were very high and your program has managed to not only meet, but exceed my expectations. I learned a lot during my time at Nagoya University and was truly impressed by the learning opportunities available to international students. I wish my schedule would have allowed for me to study in Nagoya longer; after one month in Japan I was only beginning to scratch the surface of the opportunities available to learn about culture, social issues, language, universal healthcare and of course medicine.

I found the diseases and approach to the patient in Japan to be quite different from that in the United States, as a result I had the opportunity to study many disorders rarely encountered in the United States and the chance to observe many procedures that are only rarely performed in the United States. As a tertiary referral center, Nagoya University Hospital exposed me to some of the most difficult and interesting patients I have seen in my career as a medicinal student. A subset of cases I had a chance to participate in included management of patients with gastric cancer utilizing both open and laparoscopic techniques, management of peutz jeger syndrome utilizing double balloon endoscopy, pancreatic cancer resection and treatment utilizing some of the latest experimental techniques, as well as management of a wide array of other uncommon diseases such as complex autoimmune disorders, and rare bacterial and viral infections. The quality of the medical care at Nagoya University Hospital is excellent and I feel the educational opportunities available to students are very impressive.

The opportunity to learn more about Japanese culture and life in Japan was wonderful. The medical students and doctors were a big help, they took me to different areas of town and taught me a great deal about daily life in Japan, something that I would never have been able to learn about as a tourist visiting Japan. I also really enjoyed having the opportunity to go on home visits to see patients; this is something that is virtually never done in the United States anymore. I even had the chance to go on home visits in a small rural farming town, something that few foreigners ever have the chance to experience. I am also very thankful that the University generously allowed me to stay in their international student dormitory. This gave me the opportunity to make many new friends, since most of the students in the dormitory had just moved to Japan we spent a lot of time supporting each other and sharing our experiences in trying to adapt to life in a new country.

For many students traveling abroad the language barrier is probably one of the biggest concerns. As an english speaker in Nagoya I never once felt that language was a problem. Most of the staff I worked with spoke excellent English, and in situations where I encountered non-english speakers there was always someone nearby to translate. I personally found the challenges of interacting with non-english speakers to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of my international experience. I believe the environment at Nagoya University Hospital was one where a student wanting to learn about the Japanese language could easily study, but knowledge of the Japanese language is not at all necessary if a student's primary goal is to only learn medicine.

The perspectives provided by my experiences in Japan are something I will carry with me the rest of my life. They have helped to make me a better doctor with a more diverse view of medicine. I give this experience my highest recommendation and strongly urge any student thinking about traveling abroad to consider the program at Nagoya University Hospital.

Sincerely,
Scott Riester