ISSN 1349-2969

筑波医療科学
Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science
On-Line Journal
URL http://www.md.tsukuba.ac.jp/public/cnmt/Medtec/journal.htm
TJMS 2018; 15(1): 1-21

筑波医療科学 Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science

筑波医療科学 第15巻 第1号
Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science
Volume 15, Issue 1（2019, March）【目 次】

Undergraduate Medical Science Course in Tsukuba 2019
（SAKURA Exchange Program in Science）
・・・・1‐21

筑波医療科学 Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science

筑波医療科学 Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science

2019; 15(1)：1-21

Undergraduate Medical Science Course in Tsukuba 2019
（SAKURA Exchange Program in Science）

Undergraduate Medical Science Course in Tsukuba 2019
Aya Fukuda, Kazuya Morikawa, Kiong Ho, Norihiro Ohbayashi,
Keiko Ookawa-Chinzei, Yukari Okita, Bryan Mathis,Makiko Takahashi, Tomoko Katsumata, Kayoko Morishita, and Koji Hisatake
The 5th Undergraduate Medical Science Course was held in Tsukuba from February 17
to 24, 2019. We invited 18 foreign students from some of our partner universities inIndonesia, Vietnam, and Taiwan and high schools in Vietnam and Thailand.
Participants:
University of Indonesia (Medicine):
University of Indonesia (Pharmacy):
University of Medicine and Pharmacy HCMC (Medicine):
University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Pharmacy):
University of Science HCMC (Biotechnology):

2 students
2 students
1 student
1 student
1 student

University of Science (Biology):
National Taiwan University(Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Biotechnology):
National Cheng Kung University (Medicine):
National Cheng Kung University(Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology):

1 studentHigh School for Gifted Students, Hanoi University of Science:High School for the Gifted, Vietnam National University:

2 students
2 students

Demonstration school of Khon Kaen University:

2 students

University of Tsukuba (School of Medical Sciences):

11 students

2 students
1 student
1 student

This program was supported by “Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science”(SAKURA Exchange Program in Science), Japan Science and Technology Agency(JST). http://ssp.jst.go.jp/EN/index.html

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Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science1Schedule

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Orientation and Self-introduction

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Laboratory Experiments
One Tsukuba student made a group with one or two overseas students, and each groupstayed in different laboratories to have research experiences.

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Tsukuba Science TourThis program provided us an opportunity to introduce some of the research institutes in
Tsukuba city, such as JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and NIMS
(National Institute of Materials Science).

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Presentation
All participants presented the results of experiments which they have done in eachlaboratory.

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筑波医療科学

Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science8Farewell Party

筑波医療科学

Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science9Japanese Culture Tour
Before overseas students leave Japan, we enjoyed Japanese culture in Tokyo. We went
to Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree.

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Letters from participants
By Septina Nurmala, University of Indonesia, Pharmacy
Sakura exchange programme was the most astonishing moment ever occurred to me. I’ve
never joined any exchange programme before, and this programme provided such aquintessential experience of undergoing a research in foreign countries. During my stayin Japan, I was utterly impressed by a lot of things, from Japanese congeniality to theadvances of their knowledge and technologies.
Despite the cold weather upon arrival, I was greeted with the warmest welcome by myJapanese partner, Minori Isaka. She is such a smart, cute and an extremely reliable girl. I
am very grateful to get the chance to know and befriend her! She was very patient andoptimistic all the time. We talked and shared a lot of our interests. We even had an ice
cream together in the middle of a freezing temperature on the very first day! As someone
with a lot of food restrictions, I didn’t need to worry because Minori was such a
professional food looker to make sure I ate only halal foods but still been able to taste theJapanese touch in every dish. I’m certain I would be so lost and in so much trouble without
her presence and guidance. Thank you, Minori!
Moving on to the laboratory topic, I was put
in a laboratory of molecular cell biology withProfessor Kenji Irie and Dr. Yasuyuki Suda
as my supervisors. I was completely awed
when I first came inside the laboratory.
Professor Irie’s lab is the most advancedlaboratory I have ever visited. Being able toconduct an experiment at his lab was an honor
to me. At the lab, my teammates and I were ought to perform four different experiments
related to the yeast’s morphology, genotype and phenotype. To say I honed only basic
laboratory skill was such an understatement. I learnt a lot more than that, including thetechnique of using fluorescence microscope to observe the yeast’s cell morphology andmaking a duplicate of cell culture. However, the most ecstatic activity in the lab was when
I got to dissect a tetrad using a microscope-resembled tool. Seeing Dr. Suda demonstrated
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Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science11the technique of dissection flawlessly shrank my confidence a little bit, but the technique
was really brand new to me that my fear was covered by my thrill. Professor Irie did morethan mentor us for the lab activities. He explained the material of the course thoroughlywith a lot of patience. Difficult concept became understandable if it was explained byhim. This photo here on this page is one of the physical proofs of how kind he is.
During the lab, I also met the seniors working their experiments. They were all very
welcome and they were willing to help their juniors. Two hours before the presentation,
senior Arvin helped us to construct and concretize the aim of my group’s experiment.
That way, I didn’t feel left out. I’m forever grateful to have those people supporting me
during the programme.
I could say this hundreds of times but that will never be enough: Japan is a fascinating
country full of moral values! Been living in a city where traffic jams are common thing,
I was speechless seeing the traffic in Tsukuba city. It was contrast to mine! Blending in
the traffic situation and their meticulously ordered building landscapes is what makes
Japan as Japan and all their captivating atmosphere. They uphold such simple habits suchas punctuality and politeness toward other people. They embody the definition of hardworking persons, particularly the Sakura programme committee. They ensured thateveryone of us joining this programme got the most wonderful experience during our stay.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards all the members of Sakura
programme for providing me such a priceless experience.
Totsiens, Tsukuba!

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By Nguyen Thi Phuc Nhan, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Pharmacy
Three months and eight days gave me a memorable journey to Japan. From the day I
received the invitation till the day I came back to Vietnam, I always thought that I wasdreaming! Since the workshop in Vietnam last summer in 2018, I always hoped that
someday I could see my lovely Japanese friends and great professors once again.
Therefore, this chance is a precious opportunity that makes my dream come true. It waswhat I always dreamt about!
One thing I always feel thankful isworking

intheInfection

biologylaboratory, which is the laboratory I
always wish to join. Professor Morikawa
is different from the other Professors I
have ever met. He is funny and friendly.
Although he is busy, he still spent time
giving us advice, suggestions as well as
further explanations for research themes,
which were Staphylococcus aureus and
Agr gene. I truly appreciate all the help you gave to us!
Furthermore, Vishal is not only a good advisor but also a good teacher for me. He gave
us a brief overview of what the job involved, taught us a lot of techniques to work withbacteria as well as shared the opportunities for higher programs after graduation. Afterall, I would like to thank Professor Morikawa, Vishal, Sensei and Senpai for everything
in this laboratory.
My partners, Stella Vania (Indonesia) and Maaya Sasaki (Japan), are all great friends. We
had the time together for working, sharing and hanging out. We taught each other about
our own cultures and language. We challenged ourselves to try Japanese food, at least
one new dish every single day! I tried Sushi (no wasabi), Marukame Udon, Ramen,
Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, Sukiyaki, Sakura mochi, Starbucks sakura-flavored drinks,... I
have to say that “I really, truly, completely love Japanese food!”. I also have theopportunities to know many new friends from other countries such as Indonesia, Taiwan,
Thailand and Japan. Almost people were very friendly. I also greatly enjoyed he
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Shinonome Hotel with a tiny single-room. We could easily come to Tsukuba Station,
Shopping Mall, etc. from the hotel. Throughout this experience, I had a great chance toexplore more about the Japanese Lifestyle, which always interests me since I was ateenager!
Besides, we also had outside activities to go to JAXA and NISM. I still remembered themoment I stood in the observation room and watched JAXA staffs, admiring the view.
People totally focused their attention on their job, no time for rest. With NISM, I reallyappreciated the researchers from NISM. They produced a lot of new materials for scienceand modern life. The last day in Japan, with Tokyo trip, was a day I could notforget.

That was the first time I travelled to Tokyo, Asakusa, Nakamise, Tokyo Skytree,
Aquarium, Planetarium and Tsukuba express Train. Everything was amazing! It was justonly one day but we did a lot of things and knew many interesting Japanese cultures there.
I bought some Omamori and prayed for a better future in Sensoji Temple. However, when
Akiko Sensei asked me “Where do you prefer, Tokyo or Tsukuba?”, I answered that I
preferred Tsukuba, where I felt

peaceful with the world!

So this is the everything I did in SAKURA Science Program. The people I met, thefriendship I made and the places I saw in Japan 2019 were unforgettable for me. Last but
not least, if you have a chance to come to Japan like what I had, just catch it and makesure you work hard and play hard through SAKURA Science Program. YOLO!

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By Chi-Yang Tseng, National Taiwan University
Remember the first day I came to Tsukuba was a little tired since this is my first timegoing abroad. I was nervous for the introduction on the next day due to my not fluent
English. However, when started talking with English, it seemed to be more ease becauseeven though I could not speak fluently, everyone was still patient to the words I said andtried to communicate with me. That made me more confident and ready for the follow
experiments.
My laboratory is Medical Genetic. Our professor, Emiko Noguchi, is very friendly
and kind to me. After a short introduction of the experiments, we started from DNA
extraction to different molecular methods such as PCR, TaqMan Assay, and Sanger
sequencing to detect human polymorphism on different genes. Since I have learned theseknowledges in NTU courses and had laboratory experience before, it was more easily tounderstand and operator the experiments for me. Sometimes when my partner, Tomofumi
Misato did not known very well, I could help him to catch the points. Moreover, when I
tried to explain my meaning to Tomofumi, my speaking English improved as well. Now
I would not be afraid to communicate stranger with English any more. I am appreciatedto Tomofumi very much.
On fourth day was the tours of JAXA and NIMS. In JAXA, we visited the “KIBO”
Flight Control Room and Astronaut Training Facility. We saw realtime operation of“KIBO”, the Japanese Experiment Module on the International Space Station, and know
about astronauts’ selection, training, and healthcare. For NIMS, we listened to four
different biomaterial field speeches. All of them were interesting to me. The mostinteresting part was after speaker’s speech end, we could ask questions to the speaker,
and I have learned a lot from these speeches and came out with some ideas about mycareer planning.
The last day in Japan we went to Tokyo and visited Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree. We
prayed for good luck in Sensoji Temple and bought a lot of Japanese snacks like にんぎょうやき and ようかん. After lunch, we went to Tokyo Skytree. It was a lot of people
lining up for buying tickets to the top. We finally got the tickets and took the elevator up
to 350-meter-high and got a panoramic view of the whole city. The building became allsmall and intensive. It was a special experience for me.
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I am grateful that I have this chance to exchange to University of Tsukuba. Not only
make lots of friends but also open my mind to the world. I realize that it is not hard tocommunicate with foreigners as I thought. I hope one day I can come to Tsukuba and see
your people again.
Sincerely,
Chi-Yang Tseng
From Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Biotechnology, National
Taiwan University

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By Lam Thao Nhu, High School for the Gifted, Vietnam National University
When my teacher first announced the Sakura program, I didn’t have even a slightest hopethat I would make it into the trip. I have thought that as a young high school first-grader,I stand no chance against all the older and wiser students of high school. But the idea of
having a short trip to study at a country with high reputation for pharmacy is so temptingthat I eventually decided to try applying for it.
Had never thought I would really make it into the program, I was overjoyed when I knew
I did it. I packed my things, prepared as much as I could for the program and get on theplane in a dream-like state. But when I finally landed on Japan and see many much older
participants, most of them was university students, I was truly nervous. “How can I talkand be friend with them?” “What if the others think that I’m too young, too immature andinexperienced that they look down on me?” “Will I have a successful program with allthese superior people?”, those was what I have constantly worried about on the first day.
But things turned out to be exactly opposite. Even when most of the participants wereolder than me, they were very nice. Both my Japanese partner, Hiromu Tanaka - kun and
my Indonesia partner M.A.R.Perfernand I. are extremely friendly and helpful. We had somuch fun spending the days together.
I and my partners was assigned to work in the International Institute for Integrative Sleep
Medicine, also known as the IIIS department. At that newly built building with beautiful
decoration and plenty high-technology equipments, we conducted the experiment on mice
to measure the EEG and EMG signals in order to test the effect of YNT-Y2, an orexin
receptor antagonist. Helping me on the task was Doctor Masashi Yanagisawa, Yoko
sensei and Yukiko-san. Doctor Masashi Yanagisawa was my professor, he was very
professional and had deep knowledge in his field. Despite his busy schedule, Professor
Yanagisawa spent time helping us with our presentation and our understanding in thesubject we worked on. My advisor was Yoko sensei, she assisted us in our experimentwith a caring and understanding manner. Sometimes when I didn’t fully understand thestudy, she didn’t explain everything again for me. I also received the help of Yukiko-san,a master student at the lab of Professor Yanagisawa who had helped me communicate
with my partner and advisor easier. I really appreciate their help, without it, our project
wouldn’t have ended well like it had been.
But the program didn’t include just studying, I also had the chance to explore thewonderful culture of Japan. After a long day working hard, I enjoyed discovering Japan
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cuisine with my partner and sometimes other students from other country as well. Byhose evening spent together, we enhanced our friendship to make the trip an even morevaluable experiences. I had the opportunity to visit Asakusa and the Tokyo Skytree on
my last day of the trip, along with my new friends under the monitor of professors. I got
to see the big temple at Asakusa, many small vendors sole pretty souvenirs featured Japan
culture and the way Japanese normally act.

It was a very joyful day for me.

I had learnt so many things from the trip. By performing the experiment on the mice, I
recognised the lack of knowledge and real experience that I will need if I decide to pursue
an education in biology and pharmacy. It motivated me to push myself harder, to study
and research more, to gain as much information in my majored as possible, to reach mygoal for the future. After the program, I also have fully understood that the difference
between cultures are very big. I knew that each country has its own culture, social
behavior and norms which are not always the same, but I have never thought it is variedthat much. For example, I think that Japan people are much more polite, hard working
and discipline than Vietnamese, while Vietnamese are more dynamic and sociable. Notice
the different help me improve myself into my better version with nicer personality. I also
gained a kind of confidence and independence that can not get elsewhere. For the firsttime in my life, I earned and used a valuable thing completely by myself without the helpof family. The idea of making something myself was very satisfying and brought me pride.
In conclusion, I want to thank Professor Yanagisawa, my advisor Yoko sensei, Yukikosan, my dear Japanese partner Hiromu-kun, Professor Aya Fukuda who organized thiswonderful program and miss Makiko Takahashi who have greatly helped me withpreparing for the trip. I am very grateful for all of your dedicated help for me and every
single participant of the Sakura Program to have such beautiful time and unforgettable
experiences.

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By Yuudai Higuchi, University of Tsukuba, Medical Science
This program gave me a new sight. This was first time for me to talk with people fromabroad in English. Before SAKURA program, I thought that I can speak and listen
English enough to have conversation. But, I couldn’t do as I thought. It took much timeto understand what conversation partners say and I asked them so many times to repeat
that. When I wanted to tell them what I thought, I couldn’t convey that to them completely.
This situation made me tired.
In terms of experiments and presentation, I could do well cooperating with my partners.
I had two partners. One was a medical student from Indonesia, the other was a high school
student majoring in mathematics from Vietnam. They were unfamiliar with experiments.
In the experiment using very little
liquid with micropipette, their date
had a lot of errors. So, I advised themand showed how to do it. After that,
their technics became better step bystep and they could get good date in
the last experiment. When we madeslides for our presentation, we
worried about how we show the dateto make the meaning understandable easily. Then, they came up with great ideas I didn’thave. In addition, they chose words can attract the audience. Because of them ideas, ourpresentation became better. I was greatly helped. Conversation in English was very
difficult for me. But, to talk with people from abroad was interesting. I found that somecommon things in japan become uncommon in Indonesia and Vietnam. And I surpriseda religious and culture greatly affects way of thinking. I never notice these things without
having conversation with them. Talking with other country people has significant value.
So, I realized importance of English that we can convey our thinking and feeling eachother by using. In this program, I noticed my English is very poor. So, I decided to study
English hard and I am able to talk with people from abroad fluently. I believe that English
gave me other sights. This program which taught me it was valuable experience.

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By Kanokkorn Thangsombat (Nam), High school The Demonstration School ofKhon Kaen University
SAKURA SCIENCE PROGRAM REPORT TSUKUBA – 17/02/2019 to 24/02/2019
At first, when I knew that I was chosen to participate in SAKURA SCIENCE PROGRAM,
Tsukuba. I was very excited because Tsukuba University is a leading university in field
especially in terms of medical innovation and technology.

Moreover Tsukuba

University is also acknowledge and prepared for international university students to study
in. Nevertheless I’m a little bit worried because almost all of the students in this programfrom university but me and my partner study in grade 11. The nervousness decreased
when I met with other participate and Japanese students because everyone is very friendly.
I learnt a lot of exciting experiments
form our lab professor and assistantprofessor. My topic of laboratory is
Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell
Biology.

We start with experimental

about therapeutic strategy of type2 diabetes
by stem cell. And one thing that I felt very
impressed with my assistant professor was
their heed about teaching and my emotion. The weather in Japan was very cold for me
but I still felt warm inside by the take care from my lab professor and assistant professor.
We are spending most of our time in laboratory, I also learnt Japan culture from Japanese
students about lifestyle of Japanese. It was my luck to have a hard-working with kind
partner. Because two students in my laboratory were from university but I’m from highschool but everyone very kind to me and always answer all question when I didn’t
understand. And they helped me making final presentation in last day in laboratory.
But most importantly, I gain a big science processing skill. Because we are spending
most of our time to do experiment together in laboratory according our topic, so we study
about how to use stem cell to treat diabetes type2. Our lab professor and assistantprofessor convey all the knowledge and experience to us. By a high school class in myschool learned only in the sector of scientific theories. And do the experiment, only basic
subject in each story. But when I came here I have used the skills and sensitive laboratory

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instruments combined with knowledge. I can find that science is a powerful force that
helped to propel the world and can save the lives of many people.
When I was in Tsukuba University, time flew very fast. I'm delighted to make youracquaintance. And it was great to have memorable time with everyone in SAKURASCIENCE PROGRAM. Throughout the 9 days that I have been at Tsukuba University, it
may a short time, but the experience that we have gained from this program is a lot ofskills abut laboratory experiment, Japan language or even the culture of Japanese people.
Finally, I hope to return to Japan as a student at Tsukuba University.

筑波医療科学編

第 15 巻

筑波医療科学 編集委員会
磯辺智範 二宮治彦

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発行

2019 年 3 月 26 日

日

筑波医療科学

Tsukuba Journal of Medical Science
21第1号