Today we went to Juntendo University. Getting there was very interesting. The first train we went on was really packed so we all had to pack together. The other trains weren’t too bad but we did get a little lost going from train to train. We also used a bus to get to the university. It is very weird driving on the other side of the road. Juntendo University was very different from universities in the U.S. The professors there used microphones to communicate with the students while in the U.S. They use headsets to talk to students. I saw maybe one student, if that, from three different classes, with food. In the U.S. it is very rare to find students not eating something while in class. Everyone was very nice at the university. Especially, when we didn’t understand what was being said. They also served us a very delicious traditional lunch. It was kind of difficult to eat with chopsticks but I was able to eat everything. They were very generous and gave us shirts, a pen, a popular miniature figurine, a pamphlet, and a bag. After the university, we went to Tokyo Disney Sea. It was so different from any amusement park I have ever been to. It was simply amazing to be able to experience something so different. Not to sound cheesy but it was simply magical.
-Kristen
Today we visited the Juntendo University School of Nursing. The commute to the university was long and a bit confusing, but I think we’re starting to get used to the train and bus systems. We had a chance to see presentations by nursing faculty and students, tour the campus, have lunch with students, and sit in on some lectures. I think the thing I was most surprised by is the hospitality of the Japanese. Everyone was so polite and accommodating, and I often found myself feeling really guilty that I don’t speak Japanese.
I don’t know much about nursing programs in the United States so I couldn’t make comparisons between the two, but it was weird that the nursing students were the same age (if not younger) than most of us, who are undergraduates. Most Japanese nursing students enter nursing school directly from high school and are working full-time as a nurse by age 22.
After visiting Juntendo, we took an evening trip to Tokyo Disney Sea. The park was extremely clean and fun, and we were even spoiled with English signs and bilingual staff since it is a popular tourist attraction. Despite being tired and sore, we made it through the train system and back to the Friends Center without the help of Kuriyama sensei and Bell sensei for the first time! That might be our biggest accomplishment so far, in my opinion.
Tomorrow is our visit to Juntendo University Medical School, where I will be giving a presentation about the Indiana University Medical School, so I should probably work on that, seeing as it’s the night before. Konbanwa!
-Kami
The day dawned bright and early at 8 a.m. when we began our journey to Juntendo University. We were introduced to several administrators before we split into 2 groups. My group visited 3 different lectures-Chinese language, clinical medicine (focused on vision problems), and rehabilitation nursing (taught on COPD). The lectures were very interesting. Although I was not familiar with much of the material, I enjoyed observing the classroom atmospheres and the relationships between the students and teachers. After that we ate lunch with several nursing students and tried to overcome the language barrier. The students were very nice and their giggling helped ease the tension created by trying to create conversations. The food was marvelous-I didn’t expect to enjoy the food as much as I did. The beef and mushroom dish was excellent and the entire meal was elegantly arranged in its bento box. Following lunch, we were given a tour of the university’s facilities. Juntendo University had many spectacular practice rooms, a gymnasium with an elegant cathedral ceiling, and a large library. It seemed like a wonderful place to learn. The end of the visit was very enjoyable. The third year students talked with us for awhile and then took selfies with us. They were kind people who generously shared their time in between classes with us. I enjoyed getting to know them immensely. Then we returned and the students gave us wonderful presents of Juntendo bags, shirts, and cute nursing dolls. The administrators even called cabs for us to go to Tokyo Disney Sea. I greatly appreciated their gracious hospitality.
After 3 p.m., we visited Tokyo Disney Sea. The park was absolutely amazing. The architecture was immaculately designed-we could all tell that a lot of work had gone into the creation of this park. The rides were also fantastic-the Tower of Terror was short but exciting, the Journey to the Center of the Earth was breathtaking in its rapid plunges and masterful effects, and the Indiana Jones Temple of the Crystal Skull ride was our favorite because of its realistic animations and gripping adventures. We came back very tired, but were pleased with the amount of time we spent there.
じゃあまた (See you later),
Amanda Rice
Not much for me on this day. I still wasn’t feeling well after being sick the day before so I opted to stay at the Friends Center and rest. I pretty much Skyped people back home and slept the whole day. Too bad I missed Juntendo and Disney! It looked like a lot of fun! I’m happy I stayed back though because I didn’t start feeling 100% until the next day.
-Ethan
Hi guys! Today we visited Juntendo University nursing school. It was so interesting to learn about how different the school system is in Japan. Here, the high school students take an average of 3-4 entrance examinations before graduating in order to be accepted into the universities of their choice. After passing the examinations, the students attend the college they were accepted to and immediately begin studying for the major of their choice. There is no pre-med or pre-nursing. The students are automatically in nursing or medical school. How cool! They also do not get any type of government assistance at all (loans, etc)- so their parents pay the tuition out of pocket. I inquired about the drop out rate among the 200 nursing students every year and was told that only 1 or 2 students yearly! And the Juntendo nursing school has a passing rate of their national nursing certification exam of 100%! Isn’t that amazing? The campus tour was beautiful and really concise, as the entire nursing school is in 1 building. It really seemed like a supportive and well thought out learning environment. We even had the chance to visit 3 different classes that were in session (Chinese Language, Clinical Medicine, and Rehabilitation Nursing). We then had a delicious bento for lunch (which I successfully used chopsticks for) and watched the nursing students give a short presentation on the problems facing nursing in Japan. Oh, and after the nursing school we went to Tokyo Disney Sea, which was pretty awesome. But I’m sure my friends already told you about that!
-Paige
Today was so interesting! First things first: I was feeling so much better and was excited that I didn’t have to miss a day in Japan! We had the chance to go to the Juntendo University Nursing School in the morning and experience the Japanese Healthcare Education System. Having the chance to visit several classes, I really got to see how students appreciated learning about anything and everything. Lectures for the day were about the Chinese language, Public Health Nursing, and General Health. Afterwards, we had a delicious lunch, which was organized in a Bento Box. I still wanted to be careful with what I was eating so I had the fried crab and the beef, while deciding to opt out of the tofu for the day.
Later, we went on a full tour of the University and it was so interesting to see how much smaller the University was compared to IUPUI! When talking to students after the lunch, they even told me that there was no campus housing!
In the afternoon, we decided to go to DisneySea, which turned out to be such an amazing park! We all were so excited and rode the rides that seemed to be the best, including the Tower of Terror (which, by the way was completely in Japanese and sounded ominous, so it made the ride even more terrifying) and Indiana Jones. Our on-ride photos were ridiculous and for awhile we couldn’t stop laughing at them! By the time we got back to the Friends Center, we were all exhausted…I’m pretty sure we all got a full night’s sleep!
After experiencing nursing from the Japanese perspective, I have really found a new perspective on it. The students are truly dedicated and did such a great job presenting to all of us in English. The University was so kind and welcoming, and even provided us with gifts for coming to visit. It was a great day!
-Bryce
Today was very tiring. However, it was filled with many great memories of new friends and exploration.
First, we went to Juntendo University Nursing School. We were able to sit in on three different lectures for a little while. The first lecture was a Chinese Language lecture. It was nice to notice how similar it was to the Japanese Language lectures I have been in at IUPUI. They both used participation, worksheets, and a repeating style of learning. It was nice to see how encouraging the teacher was towards the students trying to learn and how she complemented them. The next lecture was the Clinical Medicine I Lecture. I noticed that they used a lot of the same technology in their lecture halls as in the ones at IUPUI. Both used PowerPoints, a projector, and a microphone. This lecture was in one of their largest lecture rooms and it housed 200 students. The next lecture was the Rehabilitation Nursing and the major topic of it was COPD. Again, the lecture hall was about the same size as the one before and used a lot of the same technology. I soon noted after traveling around the school that it did not really have an AC unit and a lot of the students their rode their bikes daily.
They provided a lovely bento lunch meal and we were able to eat with some of the students. I was actually afraid in the beginning because my Japanese language skills are not very good and I am normally bad at keeping a conversation going. Therefore, having to try to communicate with some of the ones that were to sit by me really made me nervous. However, after I met Manae-san and started asking questions in both Japanese and English, I felt at ease (it especially helped that Yasue-san, an associate professor at Juntendo, sat near me and helped me in my translation). Soon I became really comfortable and I was willing to ask a lot of different questions and I think Manae-san felt the same way. A little while later, Haruka-san joined us and we all had a really great conversation. But before we knew it, it was time for Manae-san and Haruka-san to go to class. I really enjoyed breaking the language barrier and also the barrier of my shyness in order to start a small friendship with them. I really wished our time together was longer.
After eating lunch and listening to some presentations from both IUPUI and Juntendo, we all went on a tour of Juntendo. It amazed me how much technology they used in training to become nurses. They use robotics from learning how to take care of babies to simulating a patient in a hospital. It seemed like the rooms were also designed to be similar to the ones in the hospital. They even have a room that looks like a room in a typical Japanese house to help simulate a house visit by a nurse. I don’t really know much about our own nursing school at IUPUI, so I don’t know if it is similar or not.
It was all very interesting and a very beautiful campus to learn about. What amazed me most about the Juntendo University Nursing School was how polite, nice, and friendly they were to us. I began to feel bad and worried that maybe I wasn’t as polite or nice as I could have been. Their welcome was not only made by their words but by their actions. They even got us taxis when we were going to Tokyo Disney Sea.
I had never been to anything Disney before. Therefore, when we decided to go to Tokyo Disney Sea, I was ecstatic. It was a magical land and I didn’t have to dream to go there. We went on three rides: Tower of Terror, Journey to the Middle of the Earth, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull. The lines were certainly worth the wait in order to ride these. After the fireworks and all the souvenir and gift shopping was done, we all decided to leave the park. This however led us to a little difficulty. We were eventually directed on the right path by a nice Japanese security guard. We even conquered the Japanese train stations and made it back safely. Needless to say, by the end of the day we all were exhausted and fell asleep almost instantaneously. But being tired is okay when you had such a great day like today.
-Jena
Our trip to Juntendo University School of Nursing was one of the things that I was looking forward to on this trip -and I was definitely not disappointed! After a brief introduction of the school, we were given a tour that included spending a little time in several different lectures. It was interesting to see that we could understand some of the lectures, even though they were in very technical Japanese, because medicine is in many ways the same all over the world. One of the lectures was about medical causes of low vision, and we were in there while they were talking about diabetes. We also went to a Chinese language lecture, and one that was discussing COPD and emphysema. We then went to lunch, joining with faculty and students to eat. I gave a short presentation about the Indiana University School of Nursing, and then we talked to each other for a while. Following that, we were given a tour of the School of Nursing’s classrooms and learning labs.
One of the most interesting differences between the Japanese nursing school and an American one (to me) was that they had built a traditional “house” inside a classroom to teach their students how to act in a home as they do home visits. There was a baby mannequin in there and several other things to help the students learn the appropriate ways to interact with new parents and be respectful of a traditional home -one key thing is that there can be no shoes, not even slippers, on the tatami mats. We also were able to interact with a baby nursing mannequin: we listened to the heart and respiratory rate and tried to calm one that was persistently crying. We forgot to turn it off as we left the room, so it started crying again shortly after we left! Ooops.
After we left, we went to Tokyo DisneySea. I was meeting various foreign exchange students from IUPUI, so I had to travel separately from everyone else. Unfortunately, we forgot to arrange a meeting point, so I wasn’t able to meet up with everyone in the park. Despite that, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves while we were there. It was beautiful, especially at night, and the rides were amazing.
-Ruth
Japan Health Care Professions 2015 IUPUI 