The truth lies somewhere in the middle: Swinging between globalization and regionalization of medical education in Japan

Abstract

Japan is well known as a super-aging society, with a low birth rate, and has been ranked as one of the countries having the highest quality of healthcare system. Japan’s society is currently approaching a major turning point with regard to societal and healthcare reforms, which are influenced by international trends and regional needs. Development of Japanese healthcare human resources, including medical students, is now expected to ride the wave of globalization, while resolving regional problems in the training and delivery of healthcare. Terms and global trends in medical education, such as outcome-based education, community-based education, reflective learning, international accreditation of medical education, and professionalization of educators are well translated into the Japanese language and embraced positively among the Japanese medical educators. However, these trends occasionally sit uncomfortably with cultural variations that are often a common approach in Japan; notably, “hansei” (introspection) and “kaizen” (change for the better). In the world facing a new era where people are unsettled between globalism and regionalism, Japan’s future mission is to steer a balanced route that recognizes both global and regional influences and produce global health professionals educators.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes on contributors

Takuya Saiki, MD MHPE and PhD, is an associate professor of the Medical Education Center, Gifu University. He initially introduced the concept of this paper together with the rest of the authors and performed a literature review and wrote the initial manuscript.

Rintaro Imafuku, MA, PhD, is an assistant professor of the Medical Education Center, Gifu University. He equally contributed to the conception of this paper and co-developed the manuscript.

Yasuyuki Suzuki, MD PhD, is a professor of the Medical Education Center, Gifu University. He is the current president of Japan Society for Medical Education since 2015. He equally contributed to the conception of this manuscript and co-developed the manuscript.

Nobutaro Ban, MD, is a professor of the Medical Education Center, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine. He is a former President of Japan Society for Medical Education (2009–2014). He equally contributed to the conception of this paper and edited the manuscript.