Daizo Ushiba

My Medical Education : Its Relevance to my Career

When considering one’s medical education, the history of medical education in one’s own country naturally comes to mind, especially if that education was received some decades ago. In this sense, what I intend to discuss here is an introduction to prewar medical education in Japan. Unfortunately, things have not changed very much since then. During my medical school days, 60 short years after the introduction of the German system of education, medical schools in Japan were divided into two types: government schools, proud of their heritage and established at the very beginning of absorption of western culture, and private ones that opposed the former in every respect, flying the flag of their own founder spirit. Even now, there are apparent differences between government (national), public (prefectural) or municipal schools on the one hand, and private schools on the other, especially over financial aspects.