Being a Doctor in Japan – From Academic Elites to Compassionate Healers
This book challenges Japan’s reliance on academic scores in selecting future doctors, asking instead what qualities truly matter in medical practice. Becoming a physician requires not only knowledge and technical skill but also resilience, humility, and the ability to stand with patients through suffering, loss, and uncertainty.
Drawing on the realities of clinical medicine, the book highlights the human side of the profession—caring for elderly and vulnerable patients, making life-or-death decisions under pressure, and enduring hardships that are rarely acknowledged. It also proposes reforms such as incorporating caregiving experiences and simulated patient interactions into entrance exams, and establishing a national “Japan Medical School” to ensure fairness and regional balance.
This thought-provoking work is both a guide for aspiring doctors who wish to test their true aptitude and a policy proposal for educators and leaders seeking a more humane, equitable, and sustainable path for Japanese medicine.