1. Who was your mentor?

The educational or training system in Japan is different from that in the United States. When I was a resident at Osaka University Hospital, Professor Reizo Manabe, MD, was my mentor. Then I moved to a general hospital, Osaka Rosai Hospital, where I worked with Shigeru Kinoshita, MD, now Professor and Chairman of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, for 3 years and with Yoshikazu Shimomura, MD, now Professor and Chairman of Kinki University, for another 3 years. I learned a lot from both doctors. While studying basic research at the University of Pittsburgh, my mentor was Professor Richard Thoft, MD, who also taught me many important things.

If I could choose only one mentor, however, it would be Yasuo Tano, MD, former Professor and Chairman in the Department of Ophthalmology at Osaka University's Graduate School of Medicine. After returning to Japan from the United States, I started to work with Dr. Tano at the Osaka University Hospital. Dr. Tano taught me how to make an appropriate diagnosis in retina and how to perform vitrectomy. He also allowed me to do anything that I would like with tremendous support. He was the very best mentor.

2. Based on your previous work as a Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh, how would you compare the institutional experience in the United States with that in Japan?

As a research associate at the University of Pittsburgh, I did some basic research but did not have any clinical duty. I planned my research through discussion with Professor Thoft and was able to control my schedule completely because I did not have any clinical duty. I have done some basic research as a physician in Japan, but it would be difficult to compare the institutional experience. The following observations, therefore, are just my impressions and may not be true for other institutions or for other doctors.

I would say that doctors and physicians in the United States are more independent while doctors and physicians in Japan are expected to follow suggestions made by the department chair in most institutions. Another difference is that physicians of university hospitals in Japan are required to do more. Physicians of American university hospitals are supposed to teach students, residents, and fellows; see patients; perform surgery; and perform clinical research. They are not, however, required to perform basic research. When they need or want to do basic research, they make plans, get financial resources, and hire PhDs and assistants to carry out the task. On the other hand, physicians in Japanese university hospitals are expected to do basic research in addition to teaching students, residents, and fellows; seeing patients; doing surgery; and having clinical research. Most physicians in Japan must do basic research by themselves because they do not have enough assistants to help. Even in clinical fields, physicians in Japan have to do many miscellaneous things due to a lack of hospital assistants.

Another difference is working time. Many faculties of American university hospitals start their work very early in the morning and return home relatively early while those in Japan, on average, start relatively late, around 8 or 9 AM, and return home extremely late. Returning home after midnight is not uncommon in university hospitals in Japan.

3. You worked as both Assistant Professor and Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Osaka University Medical School, your alma mater. What advice do you have for residents and fellows considering a career in academic ophthalmology or vitreoretinal surgery?

I strongly suggest going and seeing foreign countries, especially living and studying there. I believe that young physicians can learn almost everything in Japan, including the latest diagnostic and surgical techniques; they can probably learn more efficiently. Living in another country, however, is another story. It is a great experience that we cannot get in our home country. While abroad, we can learn other cultures and make many foreign friends. I am anxious about the recent decrease in the number of Japanese who study in foreign countries.

4. What has been the greatest challenge of your career?

As previously mentioned, I learned from Dr. Manabe, Dr. Kinoshita, and Dr. Shimomura, who all specialize in cornea. I also studied basic research in cornea with Dr. Thoft in Pittsburgh. Therefore, when I returned to Osaka University from Pittsburgh, I thought I would become an Assistant Professor in cornea. But Dr. Tano, the Chairman, suggested I do retina instead, probably because I had gained some experience in scleral buckling and vitrectomy before going to the United States. I loved surgery, and I decided to change my subspecialty from cornea to retina. Dr. Tano gave me a lot of chances and was very supportive. It was the greatest challenge of my career, but it taught me to do my best at any time, in any place, and on any occasion.

5. What are your interests outside of ophthalmology?

Like many of my Japanese colleagues, I am a workaholic and therefore do not have a taste for anything other than ophthalmology. I do, however, sometimes go to the opera.