Mata-ne, Japan!

It's been a journey.

I never thought a month could go by so fast, yet feel so full of memories. There wasn't a single day that went by wasted. Except for the day I got food sick from eating raw chicken. Regardless, I enjoyed every moment, every meeting, every new place was a treasure in my eyes.

Let's talk about travel. Travel is an amazing thing, no matter who you are and where you go. Experiences that define an individual cannot solely exist in a singular space. It's never about a destination, it's about the journey and the things you experience around it. That's something that I've found to be true through all my travels, Japan no exception. Traveling with a best friend, traveling with a group of strangers, traveling with a group of associates - traveling brings all these souls together to form a sense of camaraderie and by extension; smiles, laughs and friendship that lasts beyond the duration of our stay.

Japan to me is a wonderful place to be because of the vast amount of experiences that create a culture shock and wow factor to a westerner visiting. These experiences make any grand or minuscule detail memorable, whether it be the vast amount of vending machines, browsing the shelves of a convenience store, the beauty of the glowing tall cities, the explosion of epic fireworks or even the frustrating lack of trash cans. Though so different in the details, Japan feels so close to home at the same time. As a first world country, luxuries and commonalities of a day to day life are very similar - for better or worse in certain situations, Japan allows a traveler to experience a brand new world while feeling not too far from home.

As a young mind, seeing the workings of the Japanese medical and pharmaceutical infrastructure left a lasting impression on the difference in type of system we have here in the USA. The medical systems in both countries are a reflection of the health and mentality of the nation's population. Unfortunately, we have much to learn from Japan - however we have the resources to do so. Being in a career that is both the foremost position in pharmaceutical knowledge and the most easily accesible healthcare practitioner, there's much I can do to educate my community in better lifestyle choices.

Japan has left a lasting impression. The generosity of the people, the vast amount of history, the heartbeat of the living nightlife and sharing smiles with travelers and locals alike are only a few of the things that make my trip memorable. "Sayonara" means farewell/a lasting goodbye - but this won't be the last time I visit you, Japan! See you later, another time, "mata ne"!

The reason I decided to join this trip was because I liked how this trip included opportunities to learn about Japan’s pharmacies and healthcare system as well as their culture. It was a great opportunity through the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy and International Pharmaceutical Students' Federation (IPSF) with Dr. Katz.

I really enjoyed every single moment, even when the weather was very humid. I met a lot of great, friendly people on our trip, including the Kobe Gakuin University students and faculty, and the Osaka University faculty. The Japanese people in general were friendly too, especially a girl named Nao, who we met at the Osaka station and helped us how to get back to our hotel in Kobe. Everyone we met in Japan was so sweet and friendly that it makes me to want to be more kind as well. I am grateful for the friendships I have made on this trip.

It was a great experience seeing how the community, institutional, and herbal (Kampo) pharmacies in Japan were run differently than in the US. Among those, I enjoyed visiting and learning about herbal pharmacy the most. In a Medicinal Chemistry lecture, we learned that about 50% of drugs are natural products or derived from them. It was fun to compound kakkon-to, which is a traditional herbal tea used for a variety of remedies.

Thank you Dr. Katz for organizing this trip and for taking care of us. I also wanted to thank you for taking us to the Korean memorial in Hiroshima. I did not know that a Korean memorial existed in Hiroshima before this trip. As a Korean, I found the trip even more humbling and meaningful because of this.

Overall, it was a great experience that I will never forget. I hope to visit Japan again! Thanks everyone!

Enjoyed every second in Japan

Right after I returned to Arizona. I started starching for flights to Japan for next summer. This is how much I miss Japan!!!

I started my trip about a week earlier than the group. I arrived in Tokyo first and travel to Mt. Fuji, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe,  Himeji and Hiroshima. I accomplished so much in those 18 days both professionally and personally.

Personally, it was my first backpack trip traveling with friends. I spent about two days on Mt. Fuji and hiked to the top of the crater. The weather was freezing, foggy and rained a lot. I didn't get a chance to see the sunrise, but I overcame the bad weather and high attitude (12.389 feet). I put in lots of perseverance and dedication. The achievement with friends was more than anything else.

During my trip, I received lots of help from KGU faculty, Osaka University faculty, Japanese friends, and strangers. I think I talked to the most strangers in my life during this trip to ask for direction. All of them were willing to help out even though they didn't speak English. I met six people that were helped and walked with me to find the place I wanted to go. I also met up my friends that I knew since my undergraduate career and I had a great time catching up with them in Japan after graduating from U of A.

The hospitality from KGU, OU, friends, and strangers gave us the best time in Japan. I felt very respected, friendly, and happy. Everyone was super nice and sweet. They made my time in Japan warmhearted and wonderful! Yoshie (my pen pal), took me to an awesome hair salon and we went bakery shopping. Without her guidance my experience in Japan wouldn't have been the same.

Professionally, I enjoyed all the lectures we had at KGU. I really enjoyed the time in Kampo pharmacy! I like Kakkonto (葛根湯). I would like to learn more information on herbal medicine in the future.  It was my pleasure to visit clinical pharmacy in Kobe City Hospital and the pharmacists there were very friendly and tried their best to answer our questions.

I am glad I decided to join the Japan trip! Traveling to Japan in the summer of 2016 was truly a life changing experience! My daily schedule in Japan was very packed, yet very meaningful. I enjoyed every second in Japan and did not waste anytime!

And with my deer <3

Thank you, Japan

This trip to Japan was the most humbling trip of my life thus far. The Kobe Gakuin University students and faculty were the kindest people I have ever met. They all made great efforts to make our trip truly fantastic. With that being said, the culture in Japan is truly unlike no where I have visited before; even people that do not know you or speak the language go out of their way to help you! I admire the selflessness of the culture in Japan, it truly is amazing.

When recounting the trip, I am so thankful we had the chance to experience so many different cities in Japan. Living in Kobe for 10 days was such a treat; the city itself was so clean and safe, and felt comfortable navigating the trains after a few days. Kobe city center was also very magical, with many shops and food and ice cream (we loved the ice cream). Speaking of food, I LOVE RAMEN. I wanted it for every meal, regardless of how hot I was.

Some sites I enjoyed the most was Himeji Castle, Todaji Temple, and the Itsukushima Shrine. These places were beautiful and had a certain air of magic and culture to them. My favorite cities were Osaka, Kyoto, and Arima. I liked Osaka for it's bustling city, yet I am a fan of nature so I felt calm and relaxed in Kyoto and Arima.

I am so glad I stuck with my decision to go on this trip, especially because we learned about pharmacy in Japan. As I wrote in my previous post about all the educational opportunities we experienced at KGU in a community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, and kampo pharmacy, those experiences are so unique and valuable to us as student pharmacists. I value all the knowledge the senseis and pharmacists shared with us and I am excited to relate to that knowledge in my career.

Japan tops the list of all the 10 different countries I have traveled to worldwide. I am already planning my trip back to grow the friendships I made and enjoy a country I love again!

Trip of a lifetime!

This trip to Japan was everything and more than what I was expecting. I think the Japan Trip was one of the best trips I've ever went on and was well worth it both academically and personally. I learned so much in such a short period of time about the pharmacy system and history of Japan as a country. It was very interesting to see how different their healthcare was, yet similar at the same time. I would say the pure generosity and kindness of the Japanese people as a whole had the biggest impact on me. Every single moment of every day they were so happy to have us and treated us like family. Even the strangers on the street went out of their way in their busy life to help us when we asked. I will never forget how a complete stranger walked with us for about 15 minutes just to get exactly to the door of a restaurant we were looking for. That is something I will most likely never experience here in America.

I was most surprised at how healthy their society was. Of course there were plenty of sweets and junk food, but almost every person looked to be in shape and not fat. I never realized it until I came back to America that majority of people you see in America are overweight. I believe this because in Japan not many people drive. Instead they are walking to the trains and standing a lot more compared to us in America. I will admit I was pretty tired most days from walking so much and I consider myself to be a young healthy adult here.

Overall, the Japan trip definitely changed me and my view on the world as a whole. After seeing how nice the Japanese people were I again see hope for this world. I now know that there are still good people out there and not everyone is rude or selfish. I'm not saying everyone is rude, selfish, or overweight in America, but after this trip I noticed how much better people can be. My experience in Japan was nothing but amazing from start to finish and I would redo it over if I could. I hope to visit Japan and many more countries across the world in my lifetime.

Thank you Japan for everything.

Missing Japan Already!

I can now officially say I've recovered from the jet lag from our amazing trip to Japan. It is a very bittersweet feeling though since I already want to go back.

Both personally and professionally I gained valuable lessons during our stay. The faculty that hosted us from Kobe Gakuin University and Osaka University were so hospitable and kind enough to share their knowledge of pharmacy life in Japan. I thoroughly enjoyed all the lectures we had, and it was very cool to see the differing techniques that Japanese pharmacists use in practice. Additionally, it was very interesting to learn about their socialized healthcare system and how it works to provide patient care. One thing that was somewhat surprising to me was that Japanese people have the longest life expectancy. With what we learned during lectures, it makes perfect sense with how they take care of their older population with more readily affordable medical services.

I was most impacted by how kind everyone who we encountered was. Whether it be the professors and students taking time from their busy lives and vacations to show us around, or the professors refusing to accept our money for multiple lunches, they all truly put us ahead of themselves. Additionally, Terumi, my Pen Pal, spent 25 hours making the final day slide show for us. Along with him taking me out to a ramen restaurant and showing me the night view of the city with Jason and Kyoichi, he went above and beyond to make me feel welcome. I think that is just the way of the Japanese people. They are kind and thoughtful to their core. We can learn a lot from them.

I was also very impacted by our visit to Hiroshima. Despite the atomic bombing, the people there advocate for peace. It would be very easy to advocate for malice and revenge, but instead they focus their energy on the good in the world. It's easy to overlook this, but visiting the Peace Museum really helped cement this point into me. It's a lesson I will carry with me forever.

Words cannot do this trip justice. It was a truly life changing experience, and I am glad I decided to go on it! I want to give my sincerest thanks to Nakagawa-Sensei, Sho-Sensei, Niki-Sensei (and all the Osaka professors), Terumi, Kyoichi, Kaho, Yui, and all the students from KGU for making this trip unforgettable. I also want to thank Dr. Katz (aka Katz-Sensei) for putting up with all our shenanigans and maintaining a level head throughout. This trip only happens because of him, and I very much appreciate all his work and time!

I am looking forward to when the KGU and Osaka University students visit next year! We are hoping to return the hospitality they showed us---an impossible task but we will strive to do so!

post-thoughts to our pharmily trip

One thing that I really like to pinpoint in regarding to my experiences and thoughts after visiting Japan— The Japanese Culture. It incorporates many aspects, and I’d like to talk about a few.

I have gone to so many places around the world with friends and family, but this semi-professional one with”Pharmily” to Japan was unique and definitely unforgettable. The hospitality of the students /faculties from both KGU and Osaka Univerisity really impressed us; Even the strangers that we ran into for help from day to day act like angels! I have never encountered such amazing kindness/politeness from total strangers. The would physically walk us to our destination even if its out of their way. They would ride with you and change train lines with you because they know it’s confusing to foreigners. The actions of kindness is literally a daily thing! 

The humbleness and the way that we were treated really impact us at a personal level. We all wanted to give back and offer our kindness as well. The culture has influenced the way that I think and the way I act. By the end of our trip. It’s almost natural for us to bowl to anyone we see.

Ingesting while moving, although is not prohibited in Japanese culture, but generally is a no-no. I have a big sweet tooth and I remember myself holding ice cream on my left hand and bakery dessert on the right, walking down a crowded street in Tokyo when I first arrived on my own. Just a bit.. embarrassing to recall……Later on, I realized some street shops have posted signs states something like “finish eating here before take off”; These shops were particularly those nearby popular trouts attraction spots.

Eating while stationary perhaps is their cultural way of showing respect for food. From one of the KGU student, I learned that, each meal begins with saying “Itadakimasu”, which we heard here and there throughout the trip during meal times. "Itadakimasu” means “I humbly receive”; or maybe just simply for the reason to not spill or make a mess? The bottom-line is that you don’t see people snacking or sipping while walking on the streets even with vending machines or fast food places. If you were to do that, you would look out for a place.

Professionally, I really appreciated KGU faculties showing us around the different local pharmacies and hospitals in Japan. I learned that there is no need for residency or special training to work in a Kampo or a traditional Japanese pharmacy. Kampo pharmacy is part of their 6-year pharmacy curruculum after completion of high school education. 

Overall, it was a trip of learning and joy with Pharmily, and I know I will be back!