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The story
A thread on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G (anything-goes live-commentary board) rounded up celebrities who hold medical licenses. One by one, well-known backgrounds were revealed: manga artist Osamu Tezuka had actually earned a doctorate in medicine, cosmetic surgeon Katsuya Takasu also holds a Buddhist priest’s qualification, and TV personality Fumiko Nishikawa started out as an orthopedic surgeon. The discussion expanded to cover the difficulty level of the universities these figures attended, as well as comedians and YouTubers who happen to hold medical licenses — revealing that there are far more “celebrities with national qualifications” than one might expect.
What people said
・Osamu Tezuka
A legend as a manga artist, but he also held a medical license — in fact, even a medical doctorate!
By the way, it's said that "Black Jack" could only have been drawn because Tezuka himself had studied medicine (though the protagonist, Kuroo Hazama, is actually an unlicensed doctor…)
By the way, here are some traits of Black Jack (Kuroo Hazama):
His basic principle is to save his patients, but if someone is truly evil, he'll sometimes refuse to help and let them die.
BJ isn't always kind to his patients —
in fact, he's bluntly harsh toward patients who "run from reality" or "don't take their treatment seriously."
No matter what, BJ absolutely refuses to take on apprentices.
Being an unlicensed doctor and a dark hero himself, he once turned away a young man who begged to become his apprentice, telling him, "Don't become a despised doctor like me!"
A down-to-earth guy who loves curry rice and instant cup noodles.
By the way, he rarely spends the money he earns on luxuries for himself (he mostly puts it toward cutting-edge medical equipment or nature conservation).
・Katsuya Takasu
A cosmetic surgeon from Aichi Prefecture and a Showa University alum.
By the way, he actually also holds a Buddhist monk's qualification!
・Fumiko Nishikawa
An orthopedic surgeon and TV personality from Kanagawa Prefecture.
A graduate of St. Marianna University School of Medicine!
She also used to appear on TBS's "Sunday Japon."
・Mokumi Nomura (of "Nomura Fusso")
A comedian from Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, and a graduate of Yamanashi University's medical school.
Her comedy partner, Osaka, is a friend from their days at Morioka Daiichi High School and graduated from Sophia University's Faculty of Letters.
By the way, Yamanashi University's medical department is unusual nationwide — it only accepts students through the "late-round" admissions slot!
Being close to the greater Tokyo area also makes it quite difficult to get into.
By the way, the "Fusso" (fluorine) in her stage name comes from the fact that her family runs a dental clinic.
Apparently her parents were furious when she said she wanted to become a comedian, and getting her medical license first was a non-negotiable condition.
・Hirokatsu Kinoshita
Jaguar Yokota's husband. A gastrointestinal surgeon!
He's originally from Hokkaido and a Kyorin University alum, but he also earned his doctorate from the University of Tokyo!
・Shunshun Clinic P
A comedian who graduated from Gunma University's School of Medicine.
Rabbit girl "Mabel-chan"
Rabbit girl "Wendy-chan"
Rabbit girl "Pacifica-chan"
Hey, Tetsugaku News (a well-known Japanese aggregator site)!
Please put this in a roundup!
By the way, if Mabel-chan and the others were doctors, here's roughly where they'd have gone to university, right!?
・Mabel-chan → Tohoku University or Yamagata University
・Wendy-chan → Niigata University School of Medicine
・Pacifica-chan → Tokyo Medical and Dental University (now Science Tokyo), Chiba University, Keio School of Medicine, or Jikei University School of Medicine
Tomoko Abe
Also, I think Digital Minister Toshiharu Furukawa has a medical license too
Oh, Furukawa went to Keio's medical school!
If he was a doctor, he could've gone to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare instead…
Akira Koike
Tomoko Abe
Oh, the former Governor of Niigata who graduated from Tokyo University's Science III (the famously brutal pre-med track)!
Sonoda Racecourse commentator Shun Izeki
He's also a practicing OB-GYN (he works at a clinic on days when there's no racing)
By the way, he's a Saitama Medical University alum!
・Gento Kawano
Actually a graduate of Tokyo University's School of Medicine (Science III) who also passed the bar exam
Whether he's an admirable human being, though, is a whole separate question
By the way, Sou Mizukami is also a doctor who graduated from Tokyo University!
The Shinjuku branch of Bran Clinic?
Yeah, exactly that place
Daily pay was 90,000 yen
Worked 10am to 8pm with a 1-hour break
・Misaki Ue (aka "Misaki the Resident")
A female medical resident from Okayama Prefecture.
A Hiroshima University alum!
because MEDIGIRL is a manga they drew back when they were a med student.
Isn't that the manga about the daily life of female med students!?
Kind of like a "Young Black Jack" type thing?
Wasn't she a Tokyo Women's Medical University grad!?
"Eien" from the Raijuu Channel
・Dr. Riri
A cosmetic surgeon from Wakayama Prefecture.
An elite graduate of Tokyo Medical and Dental University (now Science Tokyo)!
He's a cosmetic surgeon and a Chiba University alum!
Oh, this guy's a graduate of Fujita Health University (formerly Fujita Gakuen University of Health Sciences)!
And he also got his doctorate from Keio's graduate school.
He's Katsuya Takasu's son!
By the way, he went to Fujita Health University, local to Aichi Prefecture.
The provisional medical schools existed to churn out military doctors, so there's a world of difference between that and Osaka Imperial University's actual School of Medicine.
There's even a running joke that if you look at all the doctors in the Tohoku region who supposedly graduated from Tohoku Imperial University's School of Medicine, most of them actually came from its provisional medical school instead.
I wonder what level those old wartime provisional medical schools were actually at.
Maybe comparable to a mid-to-lower-tier private medical school today?
So it's only called "Osaka University" in name, but in reality it's a totally different thing…😅
Guess it's about the same gap as between Nihon University's School of Medicine and Nihon University's affiliated nursing school.
Oh, Eien went from Nada High School (one of Japan's most elite prep schools) to Chiba University's School of Medicine!
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
It’s a documented fact that Osamu Tezuka held a doctorate in medicine, and this anecdote is often cited as the reason his signature work “Black Jack” carries such convincing medical detail. At the same time, the thread pointed out that the school Tezuka actually graduated from was Osaka Imperial University’s “Provisional Medical Department” — which, despite sharing the Osaka Imperial University name, differed significantly from the regular School of Medicine in both founding circumstances and difficulty level. These provisional medical schools were fast-track institutions set up around the country during the war to rapidly produce military doctors, and most were abolished after the war, so it’s worth keeping in mind that sharing a name doesn’t mean a simple comparison to today’s medical schools. The thread also highlighted that people like Katsuya Takasu and Fumiko Nishikawa, who are known for their media careers while also holding medical licenses, are more common than one might think — with comedians and former announcers among the ranks of license holders too, showing that combining a national qualification with an entirely different career isn’t as rare as it sounds.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Tough National Qualification] 5 Big Names with Medical Licenses: “Itakuma,” “Osamu Tezuka,” “Katsuya Takasu,” “Fumiko Nishikawa”” on 5ch.
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