After taking the CBT (Computer Based Test) in December and the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) in January of my fourth year, I began practical training. Starting in May, I trained in a pharmacy for two and a half months. Then, starting in September, I spent a further three months in the university hospital.
The pharmacy in which I trained was kept busy by serving a large number of local patients who required regular visits. I learned a lot by closely observing the pharmacists who worked hard to serve those patients. After training in the Pharmaceutical Department of the university hospital, I joined the inpatient care section of the Pediatric Department. What impressed me the most here was the important role of team-based medicine. This was driven home to me when I later attended medical conferences and listened to drug-related discussions among doctors and nurses, with both groups displaying concern for the individual patient's situation. The experience reaffirmed to me the importance of obtaining a wide range of knowledge.
I would like to use these valuable training experiences to develop myself into the best pharmacist that I can be.

My interest in working as a medical practitioner goes back a long way. After attending the One-Day Experience with Toyama University's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in my first year of high school, I was drawn to the field of pharmacy and decided to enter this university. Since students come to this university from all over Japan, I have been able to learn a lot from my friends about the rest of the country.
I want to do my best, both in studies and in club activities, so I can become a hospital pharmacist while also maintaining strong friendships with many people here.

I attended a short English program in New Zealand during the spring vacation of my freshman year. I stayed there for a month, during which time I attended an English training program and visited local medical institutions. Despite my concerns about how much I could communicate using the English I had studied, I found I somehow managed to communicate using common sense and gestures. Sometimes, however, it was difficult to convey exactly what I wanted to say, even when I understood what the other person was saying. Nevertheless, after this training program I no longer feel hesitant about speaking English. By staying with a local host family, I was able to broaden my perspective through contact with another culture. The training was very effective because it enhanced my motivation for further study.

I have encountered many different people in this rather small town. I have met wonderful people not only in my classes and clubs, but also in a Kyushu-related network called "Kyushu Kenjin Kai" and in an exchange experience I had with international students. I also made many friends when I attended clinical pharmacy training during my fifth year at the University of Southern California in the US. I still keep in close touch with the Americans, Koreans, and Japanese people I met on this training course. We had a few difficulties understanding one another, sometimes due to our different backgrounds. Nevertheless, I found it a stimulating part of my college life to meet people from different cultures—cultures with their own unique languages, foods, festivals, and so on. They say that friends are your life-long treasures. So why don't you come to Toyama Prefecture and make friends from around the world?

Being from Toyama, I feel especially qualified to offer several reasons to recommend this university and prefecture to anyone who is considering studying at the University of Toyama's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Toyama Prefecture is surrounded by the sea and mountains, and you can reach either from our Sugiyama campus in a short time. As a result of having this nature nearby, we have many clubs and groups involved in outdoor activities such as mountain climbing, windsurfing, and skiing. My friends from other prefectures say that fish from Toyama tastes particularly delicious and our sushi is excellent. Toyama enjoys an abundance of nature and wonderful air, water, and food. I hope you decide to come here, too.

I would like to advance my interest in medical care through pharmaceutical research. At Toyama University I can study and interact with students in the Faculty of Medicine, which allows me to incorporate the views of medical practitioners into my research.
When I entered university it was my first experience of living alone. I realized how much my previous life had been supported by my parents and others. Even though there are sometimes challenges in having to do everything for myself, I enjoy having the freedom to live my college life to the fullest. On the Sugitani Campus, students are enthusiastic about club activities. We lead very exciting lives, making new friends and networking with senior students and others.

From April 2012, I have been assigned as a candidate for the role of marketing supervisor-general at the Tanabe Seiyaku Yoshiki factory. According to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, a pharmacist's qualification is required if you want to work as a marketing supervisor-general. The tasks of this role include overall manufacturing and quality assurance, maintaining the product quality, and judging whether or not the final products can be shipped. It requires a wide knowledge, not only of pharmacology, but also of gelanics, physical chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and statistical analysis. As a pharmaceutical specialist, I hope to save people's lives by delivering quality drugs. To this end, I aim to fully utilize what I have learned in my six years at Toyama University's Department of Pharmacy.

About 30 members of the taekwondo club actively keep in touch with each other, and we are all friendly to each other regardless of our year at university. As taekwondo is not yet very common in Japan, many in the club started it only after entering the university. The older students patiently teach the moves to newcomers so they can follow them easily and spar with them.
Senior students appeared in the All Japan University Taekwondo Championship. In both the men's and women's divisions, they managed to win individual sparring matches. Four senior students also appeared in the national competition in March, with one of them winning third prize in one event. I practice hard so that some day, like those senior students, I may take part in a national competition.

I am a member of the semi-hardball baseball club. While the team members are solely from the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy, we won the Hokushinetsu championship and placed in the top eight in the national competition two years ago. We also won the championship competition among schools of pharmacy in the Kansai region for three years in row until last year. I personally won Homerun King, Runs Batted in, and a Best Nine Award. Even beginners are welcome to join our club; some of our members started playing baseball only after entering the university. The training environment is great on Sugitani Campus, as we have an entire baseball field dedicated to our club. The many different clubs and groups in this university welcome both casual and serious participants in club activities.

I have received an official job offer as a researcher in a private company. Until the first half of my fourth year, my intention had been to work in the future as a pharmacist. However, as I deepened my understanding about my research subject I started to become more interested in research. From this period on, I started to think about working as a researcher. When I started my job search, I realized my qualifications would allow me to choose from a variety of occupations, not just jobs as a pharmacist. For example, a pharmacist's qualification or expertise in pharmacy work is necessary, or at least beneficial, for certain jobs in pharmaceutical companies. During my fifth-year training at the hospital and pharmacy, I became interested in food and dietetics after seeing many patients unable to eat sufficiently. This led to my interest in working as a researcher in the food industry.
I hope in your long college life that you can engage in a variety of activities so you can discover your true interests.