General Information
Brief Summary
- The Clinical Observership Program offers the opportunity to observe outpatient clinics, ward rounds, surgeries, laboratories, and conferences.
- Juntendo University Main Hospital, where the observship takes place, is located in the center of Tokyo.
- Juntendo University Hospital is the largest university hospital network in Japan.
- Main Hospital Characteristics:
- 1,058,583 outpatients and 342,999 inpatients between: April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022
- 1,051 hospital beds
- Many patients with rare medical conditions come to Juntendo University Main Hospital
- Clinical observer supervisors are able to speak English.
- Applicants should review the links listed in the Department Guide before applying to ensure the focus of the department they wish to apply to matches their interests.
- In 2019, over 300 clinical observers attended Juntendo University Clinical Observership Program.
- People who do attend the program will most likely have the chance to meet other international students and doctors from around the world while in Juntendo University.
- Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine is a six year medical program, international students may have the chance to rotate with 4th, 5th, and 6th year Juntendo University medical students.
- Previous clinical observers have provided brief descriptions of their experience in Juntendo University Clinical Observership Program.
- Photo collages of clinical observers who have attended over the last couple of years are available.
- Juntendo University International Center (JUIC, juic@juntendo.ac.jp) is the administrative office that responsible for the Clinical Observership Program application procedures.
Openings
- Check the link on the Department Guide page for information about openings.
Time Period, Schedules, and Public Holidays
- Between one academic year
- the minimum program length of a program is one week and
- the maximum program length is eight weeks
- Check the Department Guide for the length of the program that each department offers. In the case a department does not list a time period, applicants may apply to departments for a period between 1 - 8 weeks.
- Schedules will be based on Monday to Friday schedules.
- Applicants should review the academic calendar to see if national holidays will occur during their program. Observerships will not take place on public holidays.
- The following extended public holidays may potentially affect the availability of programs:
- New Year’s: the last week of December & the first week of January
- Applying for a program that will extend between the end of December and the beginning of January is not possible.
- Golden Week: May 3 - 5
- Many faculty members take summer vacations in August. Departments may experience a shortage of staff this month. The number of cases departments have may be less than usual.
- New Year’s: the last week of December & the first week of January
Location and Registration
- Juntendo University Main Hospital (3-1-3 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8431, JAPAN) is the location of the Clinical Observership Program.
- Clinical Observers will be registered in the Faculty of Medicine (2-1-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, JAPAN) as Clinical Observers.
- Clinical observers will not become registered in Juntendo University as students or faculty members.
Accreditation
- Japan University Accreditation Association (in Japanese)
- Japan Council for Quality Health Care (Main Hospital Accreditation, in Japanese, on the bottom of the page this link connects to)
- Joint Commissions International
- World Federation for Medical Education and the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (in relation to the ECFMG and USMLE)
Tuition
- Medical Students: no tuition fee
- Residents and Doctors: 2,000 JPY per day
- There are no scholarships or financial aid associated with the program.
Visas and Border Measures
- Juntendo University International Center will provide accepted applicants with documents to apply for a visa.
- Refer to the following Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan website for information about visa exemptions.
COVID-19
- Clinical observers will need
- to receive three Covid-19 vaccines to attend the program
- to submit the Covid-19 Prevention Pledge
- to wear a surgical mask in the hospital and around patients
- to follow Juntendo University Covid-19 Policies, will be provided to accepted applicants. Policies may require stay away from the program if they become sick.
Cautions
- Clinical observers will be subjected to the policies of Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine.
- Japanese law prevents anyone without a Japanese medical license from doing anything that may affect the health of a patient. Clinical observers will not be able to conduct any medical procedures that may affect the health of a patient. The program is an observational experience.
- Departments may not be able to provide an explanation of every medical procedure and every surgical step. Applicants without a prior knowledge of the department they hope to attend may be limited in what they may be able to learn during the program.
- Juntendo University is a Japanese hospital and while many of the doctors speak English, translations of everything will not be available. Applicants should be self motivated and ready to overcome potential language barriers they may face.
- Juntendo University reserves the right to cancel any program due to force majeure or any circumstances beyond the control of Juntendo University. Juntendo
University will not provide compensation for any loss caused by force majeure or any circumstances beyond the control of Juntendo University.
- Force majeure means any event caused by occurrences beyond a party’s reasonable control, including, but not limited to, acts of God, fire or flood, earthquake, war, terrorism, labor dispute, pandemic, system malfunction, governmental regulations, policies or actions enacted or taken subsequent to execution of this pledge, or any labor, telecommunications or other utility shortage, outage or curtailment.
Application Information
Application Process Flow Chart
Application Period
- All applicants must have required application items 1-12 confirmed 120 days before their desired start date to apply
- Applicants should submit the required application items prior to the deadline to ensure their application will be ready before the deadline.
- Applications submitted more than 305 days prior to the desired start date will not be accepted.
Application Related Emails
- Applicants should keep emails brief, to the point, and easy to understand.
Application Requirements
Affiliation
Number of Applicants
Language Requirement
For medical students
Additional Requirements
- Students registered in a medical school and residents or doctors employed by a health care facility.
Number of Applicants
- Between one academic year, 1 April - 31 March, Juntendo University will not be able to accept more than:
- 3 students or doctors from one institution
- 5 students or doctors from one partner institution
- Juntendo University is not able to accept any more students from the following universities:
- between 1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024:
- Cebu Institute of Medicine, Philippines
- China Medical University, Taiwan
- Hanyang University, Korea
- Heidelberg University, Germany
- International Medical University, Malaysia
- Medical University of Vienna, Austria
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- National University of Malaysia, Malaysia
- National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
- Newcastle University, United Kingdom
- Sigmund Freud University, Austria
- Technical University of Munich, Germany
- Université Paris Cité, France
- University of Adelaide, Australia
- University of Auckland, New Zealand
- University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
- University of Bristol, United Kingdom
- University of Buckingham, United Kingdom
- University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
- University of Leeds, United Kingdom
- University of Manchester, United Kingdom
- University of New South Wales, Australia
- University of Pécs, Hungary
- University of Sydney, Australia
- University of the Philippines Manila, Philippines
- Western Sydney University, Australia
- between 1 April 2024 - 31 March 2025:
- Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
- University of Manchester, United Kingdom
- University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
- University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- between 1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024:
- Applications will be accepted in the order applications are submitted.
- Juntendo University will not decline to review an application sent directly from an applicant unless the university of the applicant plans to nominate students.
- Applicants applying in groups of two or three may want to check the number of remaining opening for their institution before submitting their applications.
Language Requirement
- Applicants enrolled, training, or working in an institution in a country where English is the official language are exempt from this requirement.
- Applicants enrolled in a medical school in a country where English is not the official language, but English is the medium of communication at the medical school are not exempt from the language requirement.
- Applicants who must meet the language requirement should submit one of the following tests:
- Cambridge English
- Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR)
- International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
- Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)
- Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
- Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC)
- There is no minimum for the language test scores.
- Departments will review the test scores to determine whether they will be able to supervise the applicant.
For medical students
- Students in a 5 or 6 year medical program must be at least in their 4th year to apply.
- Students in a 4 year medical program must be at least in their 3rd year to apply.
- Proof the applicant has studied material relating to the department he or she wishes to apply to.
- Proof the applicant has completed an observership, clerkship, or elective in a health care facility.
Additional Requirements
- Applicants should make sure the Juntendo University Clinical Observership Program meets the requirements of their institution.
- For example if the institution of the applicant does not approve an observational program or requires a program more than eight weeks they will not be able to apply if they want to receive credit from their university.
Application Submission
- Applicants should send all required items to Juntendo University International Center: juic@juntendo.ac.jp
- Applicants should send application items as email attachments.
- Applicants should not send application items as part of Google Drive or any other cloud storage service.
- JUIC will check applications after submission and inform the applicant if there are any updates needed. After JUIC confirms the application items, departments will review applications.
Application Review Process
- The application review process takes on average two weeks to complete; however, the time each department takes to review an application varies.
- Applicants may contact the International Center about the status of their application if the process takes more than two weeks.
- Juntendo University will not be responsible for meeting any deadlines imposed by an applicant.
- Applicants whose university or hospital requires them to receive a letter of acceptance before a designated time should submit their application well before their deadline.
- Applicants who will be applying with their classmates or colleagues for an observership that will take place over the same time period should submit their applications on the same day. Applicants should list who they are applying with when they submit their application. This will help the department review the applications at one time and speed up the application process.
Required Items
Application
- Submit the application as an excel file.
- Academic year: if the applicant is a medical student and will have finished an academic year prior to their desired start date, but will not have started their new academic year at the time of their desired start date, enter the academic year the applicant will be heading into in the application.
- Desired departments: applicants may apply to attend multiple departments during the program.
Passport
- A copy of the page(s) in their passport that includes their name, their photo, their passport number, their passport expiration date, and the place the passport was issued.
Personal Photo
- A photo that may be potentially used as your ID photo, in the case the applicant is accepted.
- Submit as a JPEG, JPG, or PNG file.
Language Test Score
- For applicants from countries where English is not the official language: English and/or Japanese Proficiency Test Score(s) from one of the following tests:
- Cambridge English
- Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR)
- CEFR scores must be in the form of a test. A transcript, letter of recommendation, or graduation certificate that lists a CEFR score does not meet the requirement.
- The EF SET 50 minute test (free)
- International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
- Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)
- Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
- Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC)
- For more information about the requirement refer to the Language Requirement in the Application Requirements section.
- Test scores must be in either English or Japanese.
Enrollment, Resident, and Medical Doctor Certificates
- For medical students: enrollment certificate
- For residents: resident certificate
- For medical doctors: employment certificate
For Students: Proof of Department Material Studied
- For medical students: Proof the applicant has studied material relating to the department he or she wishes to apply to.
- In the past, students who did not study material relating to the departments they attended the Clinical Observership Program were limited in what they were able to learn during the program and doctors had a very difficult time supervising the students. Doctors are not able to teach students basic clinical material they are expected to know prior to attending the Clinical Observership Program. This requirement is in place to help ensure students are able to maximize their time at Juntendo University.
- The International Center advises applicants to submit the letter of recommendation template to meet this requirement.
- The possibility exists that applicants may not be able to apply to their top choices. To avoid having to ask their university to issue a letter of recommendation a second time, applicants may want to list all departments they would potentially like to apply to on their letter of recommendation.
- Applicants may submit a curriculum, course guide, course description, or transcript to meet the requirement.
- If applicants submit a curriculum, course guide, or transcript the applicant should highlight or provide reference to the section that corresponds with the proof.
- If applicants submit a curriculum or course guide that is more than two pages, they should also note in their email, what page the material may be found on.
- To meet the requirement applicants must submit proof they have completed studies directly relating to the department they have applied to.
- A statement indicating the student has completed internal medicine or surgery courses will not allow the applicant to meet the department requirement. The proof must make specific reference to the department the applicant wants to apply to.
- The reason proof that only mentions an internal medicine or surgical course alone will not meet the requirement, is because departments that review applications will not know whether the applicant has specifically studied their subspeciality.
- For example, a transcript that mentions completion of a surgery course along with a course guide that details information specifically relating to the department an applicant is applying to will meet the requirement.
- Students who have not completed this requirement at the time of the application, but will complete the requirement before their desired start date may apply to the Clinical Observership Program as long as they provide proof they will complete the requirement before the desired start of the Clinical Observership Program.
- Below is an example of a transcript and a course description that would allow an applicant to meet the Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine department requirement. Notice how the relevant material is highlighted in the transcript and the course guide. The course description provides additional details about the course Foundations III listed on the transcript and indicates the course taught pediatrics.
For Students: Proof of Elective Completed
- For medical students: Proof the applicant has completed an observership, clerkship, or elective in a health care facility.
- The International Center advises applicants to submit the letter of recommendation template to meet this requirement.
- Applicants may submit a curriculum, course description, or transcript to meet the requirement.
- If applicants submit a curriculum or transcript the applicant should highlight or provide reference to the section that corresponds with the proof.
- Students who have not completed this requirement at the time of the application, but will complete the requirement before their desired start date may apply to the Clinical Observership Program as long as they provide proof they will complete the requirement before the desired start of the Clinical Observership Program.
Contact Person
- Applicants must have an contact person from their registered institution to attend the Clinical Observership Program.
- The institution of the applicant must authorize the contact person information of the applicant.
- The letter of recommendation may include contact person information.
- For example, if the applicant contracts COVID-19 while in Juntendo University, Juntendo University will email the contact person about the status of the applicant.
Letter of Recommendation
- The International Center advises applicants to submit the letter of recommendation template to meet this requirement.
- Applicants may include the emergency contact information in the letter of recommendation.
- Applicants who use the Juntendo University letter of recommendation template may want to check for openings before asking their university to issue the letter of recommendation to avoid potentially having the letter of recommendation reissued.
- Letters of recommendations must be written on the letter head of the applicant’s institution.
- Letters of recommendations may be viewed by multiple people.
- Letters of recommendations may be addressed to “To Whom it May Concern”.
- For medical students:
- A letter of recommendation may include information relating proof of material studied and electives completed.
- A letter of recommendation must be from a university official, but does not need to be signed by the dean of the medical school or the president of the university.
- Additional information may be added to the letter of recommendation.
- An additional letter of recommendation from a supervisor with more knowledge of the applicant may be submitted.
- For medical doctors or residents:
- A letter of recommendation must be from a senior doctor at the health care organization where the doctor or resident is employed.
Pledge
- Click on the following link to download the pledge.
Health Examination Certificate
- Click on the following link to download a template of the health examination certificate.
- A statement from the applicant’s healthcare provider stating the applicant is in good health and fit to travel.
Immunization Requirements
- Click on the following immunization requirements links for more information:
- Immunization Requirements Form
- Immunization Requirements General Information
- Immunization Requirements Flow Chart: Measles, Rubella, and Varicella
- Immunization Requirements Flow Chart: Hepatitis B
- Immunization Requirements Flow Chart: Tuberculosis
- Immunization Requirements Flow Chart: Influenza
- Immunization Requirements Completed Form Examples
- WARNINGS:
Applicants whose observership will require them to enter the hospital must meet all of the immunization requirements to complete an observership at Juntendo University. There are no exceptions. - Immunization requirements must be approved by a healthcare provider.
- Applicants should not consider applying to the Juntendo University Clinical Observership Program if they believe they will have difficulty completing the immunization requirements.
- The time each applicant will need to complete the immunization requirements may vary. Applicants should review all of the possibilities associated with immunization requirements before applying.
- Applicants who do not initially meet the immunization requirements must take the necessary steps to complete the immunization requirements.
- Applicants who will not be able to complete the immunization requirements before the application deadline may apply as long as they complete the immunization requirement pledge that is inside of the application excel file. The pledge must indicate how the applicant will be able to complete the immunization requirements prior to arrival.
- Applicants who have their applications processed before meeting all of the immunization requirements may be accepted and may receive a letter of acceptance; however, accepted applicants will not be able to participate in the Clinical Observership Program unless they complete all of the immunization requirements. Letter of acceptances will be voided in the case the immunization requirements are not met before the start of the Clinical Observership Program.
- Accepted applicants should submit the immunization requirements as early as possible to ensure confirmation of the immunization requirements.
- In the event an accepted applicant does not meet the immunization requirements prior to the start of the program and is not able to attend the Clinical Observership Program, Juntendo University will not be responsible for any expenses or burdens the accepted applicant may experience as a result of not being able to attend the Clinical Observership Program.
COVID-19 Prevention Pledge
- Click on the following link to download the pledge.
Personal Health Insurance
- Applicants do not need to submit proof of insurance.
- Applicants may acquire insurance after being accepted.
- Accepted applicants should acquire personal health insurance and may want to acquire liability insurance for their time in Japan.
- Clinical observers who arrive in Japan without health insurance will be responsible for all of their medical costs.
- Juntendo University will not be responsible for any expenses clinical observers may incur.
Common Problems with the Required Items
Labelling the Required Items
- There are a number of required items.
- Applicants should label their required items using the following format when they submit their applications to ensure no parts of their application are overlooked:
- Name (as displayed on your passport) – name of the document
- Firstname Lastname – Application
- Firstname Lastname – Passport
- Firstname Lastname – Photo
- Firstname Lastname – English Requirement Test Name
- Firstname Lastname – Enrollment Certificate or Employment Certificate
- Firstname Lastname – Department Requirement
- Firstname Lastname – Clinical Experience
- Firstname Lastname – Letter of Recommendation
- Firstname Lastname – Pledge
- Firstname Lastname – Health Examination Certificate
- Firstname Lastname – Immunization Requirements
- Firstname Lastname – Insurance
Things to Know Prior to Arrival
Letter of Acceptance & Certificate of Completion
- Accepted applicants will receive a letter of acceptance.
- Clinical observers who complete the program will receive a certificate of completion.
Short Term Visas
- Clinical observers will need to apply for a short term visa to enter Japan.
- Short term visa exemptions exist for nationals whose country meets the qualifications listed on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) website.
- Applicants who do not have visa exemption will need to go to the Japanese Embassy or Consulate in their country to apply for a visa.
- Clinical observers whose country does not have a visa exemption agreement with Japan may contact Juntendo University International Center about receiving the necessary short term visa forms.
Housing
- Juntendo University has a very limited number of housing openings for clinical observers.
- Currently housing is only offered to participants from partner universities if there are openings.
- Housing openings will most likely be on the first floor of Dormitory Sendagi. Housing in Ochanomizu Student Apartment is not available to clinical observers.
- There are a number housing options not associated with Juntendo University available in Tokyo, ranging from student dormitories, apartments for rent, hotels, and capsule hotels.
- Previous clinical observers have successfully found housing on their own outside of the university.
- Accepted applicants will receive a list of places previous clinical observers recommend.
Transportation & Personal Expenses
- Clinical observers are responsible for their own transportation and personal expenses.
Healthcare Seminar
- Medical students who attend the program will have the opportunity to attend a Healthcare Seminar, where they will be able to learn and talk about the Japanese medical system in comparison to the medical system in their country. The class may include Japanese medical students and other clinical observers.
Events
- Juntendo University International Center holds events for international students, staff, and faculty. Clinical observers are encouraged to join these events.
- To view a list of previous international student and researcher events please refer to the following link. Many clinical observers are pictured in the photos.