Are there any schools in Japan (preferably in Tokyo or close by) that offer Pharmacy Technician courses? I've looked around but their technical schools are a lot different than the ones in Canada, and I can't find any that offer this program. Would I be able to take the course here in Canada and get a job with it in Japan?
Schools offering Pharmacy Technician courses?
- Thread starter Lasagna
- Start date
- 20 Aug 2003
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Very unlikely that a country will take such a degree and let you work with it if you also need some sort of licensing in that country, too. You need to find out. But Mike's questions are probably even more important, unless you somehow manage to find a job on a U.S. military base or in a rare case where a foreigner has opened his own business.
- 28 Jul 2005
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Why would anybody want to get a pharmaceutical-related job in Japan--if one could do so in their own country just fine and well--without otherwise simply having a plausibly romantic notion about living here, and little else? My suggestion would be (having assumed the details related in the OP's profile already demonstrate negatives to post number 2, above) to do your undergraduate and training stuff in Canada, get a job there while you learn the language, and make enough trips here to be able to get around on your own in the greater Tokyo area, then after some 5 or so years, come here and try to land a job in that field. (If, that is, you still think you would want to take the bitter with the sweet, rather than simply expect a bed of roses.) Like the above posts, this suggestion is based on a degree of experience.
Disclaimer: I do not deny that there is this phenomenon we may otherwise call 'pure luck,' however.
Disclaimer: I do not deny that there is this phenomenon we may otherwise call 'pure luck,' however.
- 15 Mar 2002
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Well, there is the question of whether it is technically possible which also has to be looked at. If this is something done at a sort of vocational school then unless she already possesses a bachelors degree that makes her S.O.L. for visa requirements.
I'm stuck at work for a few days and can't easily research stuff on this phone, but there is also the question of what sort of certification or licensing is involved.
But as a purely practical matter, if her Japanese isn't at least good enough to look this stuff up online herself, then the probability of getting into a school here, understanding the instruction, passing any qualification tests, or being hired to hand out stuff that in a worst case scenario can KILL PEOPLE in the case of an error isn't terribly high.
I'm stuck at work for a few days and can't easily research stuff on this phone, but there is also the question of what sort of certification or licensing is involved.
But as a purely practical matter, if her Japanese isn't at least good enough to look this stuff up online herself, then the probability of getting into a school here, understanding the instruction, passing any qualification tests, or being hired to hand out stuff that in a worst case scenario can KILL PEOPLE in the case of an error isn't terribly high.
- Thread starter
- #6
I would be leaving in about 5 years, give or take, in which time I could learn the language and prepare to leave. Please don't be condescending and assume everything. I simply wanted to know which schools offer these courses, because obviously schooling is much different in Japan than in Canada, and I don't know which websites to look at. I obviously know that I need to speak, read and write Japanese. I'm not an idiot, I can figure that part out on my own thank you. If I knew that the people on this forum were going to be rude and not helpful or constructive then I would have looked elsewhere.
---------- Post added at 23:11 ---------- Previous post was at 23:08 ----------
Also, Mars Man. There's no need to be so rude to me because I want to get out of my country and experience another culture and have a job I would actually enjoy. Don't belittle me for wanting to do something with my life.
---------- Post added at 23:11 ---------- Previous post was at 23:08 ----------
Also, Mars Man. There's no need to be so rude to me because I want to get out of my country and experience another culture and have a job I would actually enjoy. Don't belittle me for wanting to do something with my life.
- 15 Mar 2002
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Nobody is being rude to you. Personally, I'd like to see you do it. Bringing up points about obstacles in the way which are simple points of fact is taking your inquiry seriously....not belittling you or being rude to you.
Telling us the things in your second post in your first post would have gone a long way toward helping us be more helpful to you.
Acquiring the level of Japanese proficiency (including literacy) that you're looking at for this while outside Japan is going to require a diligent and sustained effort....and a good plan of action. Do you have one in mind?
What do you plan to do about visa eligibility?
Telling us the things in your second post in your first post would have gone a long way toward helping us be more helpful to you.
Acquiring the level of Japanese proficiency (including literacy) that you're looking at for this while outside Japan is going to require a diligent and sustained effort....and a good plan of action. Do you have one in mind?
What do you plan to do about visa eligibility?
- 28 Jul 2005
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While I appreciate your getting back with a comment on what I had written, I tend to think that you may have over reacted on some conceptualized portion of it without due merit. Whatever portion of my previous post had been rude would be a very different subject matter, I do hope you took into consideration all factors I had raised there.
You see, Lasagna, there is a matter of doing a certain job which one wishes to do, in their life--which is one thing--and this other matter of living within the bounds of a certain national society; and the degree to which they may prove to be mutually exclusive would most likely depend on the job. Moreover, there is this thing called pragmatic honesty, and there is always that check-up we call 'reality check.' Neither of these are matters of being rude either, though. At the moment, which do you feel has a greater emotional value for you, living in Japan, or working in the pharmaceutical industry?
Yes, Mike, as for the technical part, I do have some degree of information that it's quite strict. I mean it was not that many years ago that it had been a real up-hill, nail-and-tooth battle for one deaf lady to be able to get a law turned around which stipulated that deaf people could not work in that industry, even though she had had the education certificate. (Can't recall the details.)
In a somewhat related way, the non-Japanese physicians and clinicians who come over to Shinshu University always do so for seminar training, or post doc training, but never participate on their own in surgical situations, or with in/out patients. Not that we not find non-Japanese doing that, but just that it would be very hard. I do have some folks I can ask about this basic thing down in Osaka, so maybe I'll give them a shout and see what they may know about it.
- 20 Aug 2003
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Personally, I don't think you're going to be at a level of Japanese in only 5 years to be able to pass any licensing tests or to be accepted by society into such a profession. It takes a lot of hard work to get that high fluency.
I know a guy who teaches at the oldest pharmacy university in Japan. Perhaps his students or J co-workers would know what licensing you need for pharmacy technician.
You might also want to contact this group.
Pharmaceutical Education | The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
Inside that link is this list of pharmaceutical unis in Japan.
Related Links and Useful Resources
This seems promising.
http://www.ajhp.org/content/65/3/201.2.full.pdf+html
JPLA / Japan pharma Licensing ***
useful
http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/A_Glimpse_of_Pharmacy_Practice_in_Japan__Deja_Vu.pdf
http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/hisham/Documents/Medical Education/English/Pharmacy Education/102.pdf
I know a guy who teaches at the oldest pharmacy university in Japan. Perhaps his students or J co-workers would know what licensing you need for pharmacy technician.
You might also want to contact this group.
Pharmaceutical Education | The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
Inside that link is this list of pharmaceutical unis in Japan.
Related Links and Useful Resources
This seems promising.
http://www.ajhp.org/content/65/3/201.2.full.pdf+html
JPLA / Japan pharma Licensing ***
useful
http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/A_Glimpse_of_Pharmacy_Practice_in_Japan__Deja_Vu.pdf
http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/hisham/Documents/Medical Education/English/Pharmacy Education/102.pdf
nekojita
先輩
- 14 Jan 2009
- 1,660
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I'm not sure that there's even such a thing as "Pharmacy Technician" in Japan.
For Pharmacists, there is a national exam 薬剤師国家試験. According to wikipedia, it is possible for a person who has graduated from a foreign institution with a degree in pharmacy or is certified as a pharmacist in a foreign country to get permission to take the test, if those qualifications are determined to be equivalent to a Japanese degree. I'd imagine it depends mostly on the country where the qualifications were acquired.
Anything involving transferring medical qualifications from one country to another (or re-registering after a time out of practice, and close members of my family have experience in both, although only between English speaking countries) gets very tricky very quickly. For comparison, even if you were to come to the UK, qualified as a Canadian pharmacist, you would have to take an additional one year course here in order to be registered as a pharmacist. There is no way around this. Pharmacy technician here is something around a level 3 NVQ and they won't take foreign (non-EEA) qualifications, that would be ~1 year course as well.
My suggestion: look into the Monbukagakusho Scholarship. You could either go for it as an undergraduate, or take a bachelor degree in Canada and then consider applying as a research student.
For Pharmacists, there is a national exam 薬剤師国家試験. According to wikipedia, it is possible for a person who has graduated from a foreign institution with a degree in pharmacy or is certified as a pharmacist in a foreign country to get permission to take the test, if those qualifications are determined to be equivalent to a Japanese degree. I'd imagine it depends mostly on the country where the qualifications were acquired.
Anything involving transferring medical qualifications from one country to another (or re-registering after a time out of practice, and close members of my family have experience in both, although only between English speaking countries) gets very tricky very quickly. For comparison, even if you were to come to the UK, qualified as a Canadian pharmacist, you would have to take an additional one year course here in order to be registered as a pharmacist. There is no way around this. Pharmacy technician here is something around a level 3 NVQ and they won't take foreign (non-EEA) qualifications, that would be ~1 year course as well.
My suggestion: look into the Monbukagakusho Scholarship. You could either go for it as an undergraduate, or take a bachelor degree in Canada and then consider applying as a research student.
- 22 Feb 2008
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Actually, there is no such qualification in Japan. Instead, you need a qualification of Pharmacist(薬剤師 yakuzaishi) for Pharmacy Technician jobs, thus, you need to graduate from college of pharmacy(6 years course), pass the national examination and be certified as a pharmacist in Japan, or at least to be certified as a Pharmacist in your country, as nekojita-san explained in detail.
- 15 Mar 2002
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That's about what I suspected. There isn't always a direct relation between medical jobs between countries. The licensing and education of chiropractors, for example, is very different. And I've never heard of an optometrist here, or a podiatrist....or even a "General Practitioner" or "Family Doctor", although most 内科 doctors probably fulfill such a role.
So, Lasagna....if you're still with us....we'd like to help you out where we can. How does this affect your idea? Does full-fledged pharmacist fit into your plan?
Toritoribe: Isn't admission to pharmacy degree programs extremely competitive in Japan? Or am I confusing that with admission to veterinarian school?
So, Lasagna....if you're still with us....we'd like to help you out where we can. How does this affect your idea? Does full-fledged pharmacist fit into your plan?
Toritoribe: Isn't admission to pharmacy degree programs extremely competitive in Japan? Or am I confusing that with admission to veterinarian school?
- 20 Aug 2003
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Just to add more support to this, my friend at the pharmacy university had this to say:
the job of pharmacy technician doesn't technically exist in Japan. There are qualifications (exams) for selling OTC medications in drug stores in Japan (this is a new system where many more OTC can be sold in convenience stores, etc...but the govt has categorized the meds into three categories and if I recall correctly the top two categories require employees to have studied and passed exams in order to sell them legally) - but as for filling prescriptions like technicians do in other countries, that is only allowed by licensed pharmacists and that is now a 6-year curriculum.
In short, this individual will need native-level Japanese skills and then study 6-years in a pharmacy school, pass the boards and then be able to work here as a pharmacist. There are no "short-cuts".
the job of pharmacy technician doesn't technically exist in Japan. There are qualifications (exams) for selling OTC medications in drug stores in Japan (this is a new system where many more OTC can be sold in convenience stores, etc...but the govt has categorized the meds into three categories and if I recall correctly the top two categories require employees to have studied and passed exams in order to sell them legally) - but as for filling prescriptions like technicians do in other countries, that is only allowed by licensed pharmacists and that is now a 6-year curriculum.
In short, this individual will need native-level Japanese skills and then study 6-years in a pharmacy school, pass the boards and then be able to work here as a pharmacist. There are no "short-cuts".
- Thread starter
- #14
Yeah, I thought that's what it might be like. I don't think I would want to go to school for being a pharmacist in another country. I would only be staying there for a few years, and to spend that much time in school wouldn't be realistic for me. Thanks for your help though.
- 22 Feb 2008
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Exactly.
This is a side note, but I was always envious of my friends in the department of pharmacy in my college days. Unlike other departments of science, girls were the majority there.
- Thread starter
- #16
Do you think majoring in linguistics and minoring in East Asian studies to become a translator would be a better idea? I've heard that you can do it without those degrees but I know you need your bachelors to get a work visa and others have said that companies are more likely to hire you if you have that kind of degree.
