Author: Masahiro Kami Executive Director, Medical Governance Research Institute Tokyo, Japan Editor: Tetsuya Tanimoto More than seven years after the Fukushima nuclear accident, our medical team has continued to work in the disaster-stricken areas; we have published various research articles based on our own activities at these sites. In March 2018, one of my colleagues, Dr. Tomohiro Morita, of Fukushima’s Soma Central Hospital, published a research article in the journal PLOS One, “Demographic transition and factors associated with remaining in place after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and related evacuation orders” (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.019
Author: Mariko Morita Editor: Naoko Matsumoto I have a one-year-old son, and he is recently finishing breastfeeding. While he is in nursery school, he usually drinks frozen breast milk and formula after a meal or at teatime. I myself don’t like drinking cow’s milk with food, and so I have never needed mine at the mealtime. However, almost all nursery schools and elementary schools provide cow’s milk to children. One plausible reason is the School Lunch Program Act in Japan. This law defines that a complete school meal consists of bread or rice, milk, and a side dish. However, in my opinion, a more likely explanation is that these facilities have just followed existing customs. So, what are
Author: Michiko Sakane Affiliation: Sakane M Clinic, Tsukuba City, Japan Editors: Moe Hirohara, Akihiko Ozaki Throughout 2017, there was prominent media coverage concerning deaths of pregnant women in Japan. I assume this was triggered by the press conference given by Dr. Isamu Ishiwata at the end of 2016, referring to the deaths of two women after deliveries at the same hospital in Ehime prefecture in Western Japan. His talk was covered by Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the biggest newspaper companies in Japan, which eventually led to an excessive focus on the issue among the Japanese media outlets. A lawyer, Mr. Kiyonari Inoue, pointed out, "The Japanese news media repeatedly reported different a
Author: Deepika Shrestha Editors: Moe Hirohara, Yuki Senoo On the morning on Thursday 30 November 2017, I visited The New Otani Hotel, a traditional hotel in Japan, and the Kanagawa Cancer Center in Yokohama City later in the afternoon. Besides all of the above, I also saw the sea for the first time in my life that evening. Thus, this rainy Thursday, as I approached my 28th birthday, became a memorable day for me. At The New Otani Hotel At 7:30 a.m., Ms. Asaka Higuchi, a researcher at the Medical Governance Research Institute in Tokyo, and I attended a seminar held at The New Otani Hotel regarding “Politics and Economy,” presented by Mr. Hiroshige Sekou, the minister of economy, trade and in
Author: Emi Yokoyama, RN, MA Editor: Tetsuya Tanimoto, MD Introduction The number of people suffering from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) has been increasing worldwide, and Japan is not an exception. For example, the reported annual number of patients with syphilis in Japan was 4,559 in 2016, 3.7 times more than in 2013. Among various STIs, the most common is a bacterial infection called chlamydia. The reported number of patients with chlamydia in Japan was approximately 24,000 in 2016, and about half of them were in their 20s and 60% were women. Because most patients with chlamydia don’t have symptoms, it is hard to notice even if they are infected. As a result, it is presumed that
