Activity Report of Open Application Course vol.10
To Attain the Longest Lifespan in the World
Report from Shizuoka Prefecture
Shizuoka Prefecture invited 8 high-school students and a supervisor selected from West Java thanks to the cooperation with the West Java government in Indonesia. In November 2017, we concluded with the West Java government a memorandum on human resource development and the promotion of economic cooperation to encourage the people to interact with each other.
In order to have the students learn in this program about the latest research and technology, and efforts in the fields of health and medical care, including the main feature of our prefecture, specifically a healthy, long life, we had the students visit universities and research facilities in all part of the prefecture. Also, in order to get them interested in becoming a foreign student studying in Shizuoka, we setup times to interact with students studying here from Indonesia and Japanese students when they visited each university.
Western Region of Shizuoka
The students visited the Shizuoka University Faculty of Engineering and the Hamamatsu Medical University. The students were given an explanation by Indonesian graduate students at Shizuoka University on the content of their research and could get an impression of studying there. At the Hamamatsu Medical University, the next university they visited, they toured a laboratory where high-level experiments and on-the-job training on surgery were implemented. They particularly eagerly asked questions at the anesthesia research department that uses mice which they visited for the anesthesia and resuscitation course.
Central Region of Shizuoka
The students visited the University of Shizuoka Faculty of Nursing and the Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka. Simulations were conducted at the University of Shizuoka to measure a patient’s vital signs using a high-level mannequin. There were some students who were moved and have dreams to become a nurse in the future by leaning the valuable role played by nurses through this experience. Also, the students were exposed to the opinions of their senior students who are studying at the university from Indonesia, about their daily lives in Shizuoka and their classes at the university. Also, the students were able to deepen their understanding of Shizuoka’s abundant natural environment and learned what we must do to protect the natural environment and to implement a sustainable society at the Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka which is the first museum in the country dedicated to the history of global environment.
Eastern Region of Shizuoka
The students also toured the National Institute of Genetics, the Juntendo University Faculty of Health Science and Nursing and the Shizuoka Cancer Center. At the National Institute of Genetics, the students were given a lecture by a professor from Malaysia on the transition of human beings as seen from genetics, and they learned from genetics, linguistics, and archaeological sites that Indonesia and Malaysia share the same roots. At the Juntendo University Faculty of Health Science and Nursing, the students were given an opportunity to experience nursing together with Japanese university students. The invitees were able to interact with students in their own age by hearing direct descriptions from those students which gave both the Japanese students and the high-school students from West Java vibrant expressions on their faces. At the Shizuoka Cancer Center, the students were treated to a simulator experience of “Da Vinci” a surgical robot that is used by physicians to practice. Students who are considering of becoming physicians in the future said that they want to work hard to achieve that goal by utilizing that experience.
We want to publicize the high training and research ability of this prefecture’s high-school educational organizations and to increase the interest in having foreign students study in Japan and in Shizuoka Prefecture through the warm support of the West Java government and host organizations in the prefecture by implementing this program. We also wish to extend our deep gratitude to everyone involved at the cooperating organizations and to continue promoting interactions with the West Java.