Introduction: Our team met with a group of students from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan and asked them questions that we had prepared about their culture, religious beliefs and nursing ethics.

Megan Blake

Questions Asked:

Is there a more balanced ratio of female to male nurses in Japan?
- In our TMDU classmates cohort, there is a total of 67 nursing students, out of these students only 2 are males. It is a heavily female dominate dcareer in Japan as well as the United states.
How is Religion approached when addressing medical care?
- Religion is not a top of priority when carign for patients. If a patient is religious it does not affect as much of their care as it does not differentiate their care plan/treatment.

Beverly Sumanti

Who provides care to the increasing elderly population if they are unable to care for themselves and do not have family? Hikari explained that they may receive home health nursing care or at a facility.
What are the different healthcare settings in Japan that nurses commonly work in? Hikari explained hospitals, schools and home health are different settings that nurses commonly work in. Hikari's thoughts regarding the aging population of the country is that home and community health should be improved so that more elderly people can be seen at home freeing up hospital beds.

We had the pleasure to meet Hikari, Kyoka and Kaho. We had a conversation with them about Japanese culture and some of their personal interests. One student, Hikari, described her interest in making origami. Kaho, described her interest in watching a Japanese performing art called “rakugo” which is a form of storytelling using facial expressions and gestures. Kyoka also discussed her favorite food item, ramen noodles. The students described important traditional holidays celebrated in Japan. Hikari mentioned New Years being the most cherished holiday in Japanese culture. Kyoka also described a holiday called “the lantern festival” which they described as being spent alongside family. They explained the purpose of this holiday was to assist to guide the spirits of deceased family members to the afterlife using candle lit lanterns which are released into a body of water. The students explained some of their favorite pastime activities such as Kyoka playing table tennis and Hikari enjoying handball.

We also discussed nursing ethics. Hikari explained that ethics is something that they have not yet learned about in nursing school. We asked about culturally appropriate care for patients based on their unique cultural and or religious beliefs. Hikari explained that she has also visited the hospital once and that the religion of the patient doesn’t affect the nursing care that they receive. The students claim that Shinto and Buddhist principles do not influence Japanese patients nursing care in the hospital.

We discussed the healthcare system in Japan. The nursing students provided us with their thoughts regarding the aging population of Japan. Home and community health should be improved so that more elderly people can be seen at home freeing up hospital beds.

Thank you Kyoka, Hikari and Kaho for taking the time with us and sharing information about Japan and your culture!

Robel Anshebo

Questions 1: How does your school or work-life interact with your personal or family time?

Response: This questions wasn't directly answered, although it seems that Japanese academic and work culture is intensive and many find a level of difficulty in finding a balance. On the other hand, based on the responses of the Japanese students below, they do have some leniencey in their academic/proffessional life to pursue personal goals/habits.

Question 2: Are you religious? How does this impact how you treat your patient and those in your social circle?

Response: Based on our lengthy conversation on religion, Japan doesn't seem to have central religious values. Instead, they hold core values on treating others with dignity, respect, and care but these ideas aren't centered on any form of religious ethics.

Thank you to our Japanese classmates for sharing parts of their culutre with us. It was a unique experience to learn more about your day-to-day life in Japan. It was intriuing to hearn about your experience of Japanese healthcare including your belief that there's some room growth in the communuty health department. We enjoyed hearing about your hobbies and different celebrations. One thing that interested me was that Japanese nursing schools mainly have an objective curriculum and don't participate in much convesation on ethics. Although my understanding my be swayed by the first year experience of our Japanese classmates. Nonetheless, thank you for your time and I hope to learn more about your culture in the future.

Sherwin Afable

Questions 1: How does your school or work-life interact with your personal or family time?

Response:

Question 2: Are you religious? How does this impact how you treat your patient and those in your social circle?

Response:

COIL #1

ORIGAMI

Origami, meaning “to fold” “paper” in Japanese, is the art of folding squared papers and turning them into both two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. It is one of the many other japanese cultures, and my favorite. I find it fascinating how one piece of squared paper and nothing else could turn into something so intricate, just by utilizing simple folding sequences. Although there are instructions available to make certain objects, you can explore and challenge yourself into making something new from scratch. I love how free you can be with it.

RAKUGO

Rakugo is a form of storytelling in which one person performs several roles, using only gestures and hand gestures. At the end of a rakugo story, there is an punch line. The performer sits at an account wearing a kimono and holding only a fan or a tenugui (hand towel), without using costumes or stage sets. Facial expressions and gestures are also important. It is a very simple and familiar art form where the performer's skill and the listener's imagination expand the world of the storytelling.

Ramen noodles

I want to introduce Ramen noodles. Ramen noodles is the Japanese food and I like most. You can eat this food any where and there are local ones. For example. you can eat curry ramen in Muroran, Hokkaido, and in Fukuoka, you can eat Hakata ramen which is based on pig bones. There are some reasons why that ramen was made individually, so you can know the region's specialty or history with eating ramen!

Conclusion: After a lengthy discussion with the COIL students, our team was able to learn about the student’s interests, career goals, and the care of their aging population.

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