APRM Rest Day 2021 Japan by IFMSA-Japan

APRM Rest Day 2021 Japan

Table of Contents 1.

APRM Rest Day Schedule

Messages from OCCs

Team leaders of Rest Day

The voices from

Supporting teams 5.

Icebreaker Session

Lecture Session

Narita Session

Workshop Session

Cultural Night Party

10. Memorial Pictures 11. Information of Rest Day

APRM Rest Day Schedule

The two days of APRM Rest Day were a happy time for me to feel the warmth of the Asia-Pacific. When switching to host the event online, we struggled to find ways to create an enjoyable experience even under the circumstances. Nearly 100 IFMSA-Japan staff devised ways to form a new online international conference from scratch. In addition, the warm support from associations such as the JNTO and the Japan Medical Association, and the advice from Seniors Club Office of IFMSA-Japan are to thank for this successful event. Our theme for this event was “Pandemics in a Digital Era”. COVID-19 will not be our last pandemic, but I believe that we can unite and overcome them in Asia-Pacific. And to everyone in Asia-Pacific, I can’t wait to see you all the next time we host an international conference or event in Japan. Again, thank you all! ありがとうございました！

OCC _ Aya Murakami

APRM Rest Day was one of the most memorable events for me. We were able to share the excitement at the same time, even though we were not gathered in one place. Even though it was held in an online format, all participants were able to experience deep emotions, and we believe that we made an enormous impact on the Asia-Pacific community. All of the above things would not have been possible without the hard work of Organizing Committee members and heartwarming smiles from delegates from the Asia-Pacific Region. I hope all of you enjoyed APRM Rest Day, and this relationship we have made here will be eternal. Thank you very much.

Organizing an event in a time of such uncertainty was definitely not an easy one. When we first signed our contract to host, we hoped that in a years time, we would be able to welcome you all in person. However, with many restrictions in place, we were hit time and time again with obstacles. Making the decision to switch to an online event was one of the hardest things we had to do, but a great event was made nonetheless. The enthusiasm of the participants definitely made all the hard days worth it. Thank you all for your participation, and I hope to see you all in person in the near future!

Vice OCC _ Risa Sugimoto

Vice OCC _ Megumi Yoda

Given the current limited circumstance, I have endeavoured to make the event more satisfying for all of you as much as possible on behalf of the vice organising committee chair. Maximising the level of satisfaction in this event was our team’s goal. I treasure the experience of gathering expertise with my bright colleagues on how to create something that is close to and beyond what is possible via offline. As for my personal growth throughout this event, I have developed my abilities, more specifically, to grasp the overall movement, to find inadequate parts, and to respond quickly. There is only the thing that an individual is capable of, but we can accomplish large-scale events like this time that you could never have imagined when many people work together.

Vice OCC _ Takahiro Hara

OCC Aya Murakami

Vice OCC Megumi Yoda

Vice OCC Takahiro Hara

Vice OCC Risa Sugimoto

Narita Session Tomoki Yashio

Lecture Session Junna Iwata

TE Lea

International Training Kaho Itagaki

AM der

Cultural Night Party Miyako Yoshikawa

Finance Sayaka Ohara

Fundraising Ai Suzuki

Publication Mikoto Nosaka

Photo & Record Takuya Taura

Workshop Session Maya Iwane

Icebreaker Session Shunya Wakayama

The voices from Supporting Teams Publication team _ Miki Kimura Our publication team's tasks were to design the logo, create various brochures, and create original goods. It was a lot of fun working with the friendly and creative members of the team to create our products. Our first big task was to create the invitation package. We aimed to create something that would make readers want to visit Japan. We were mainly in charge of page designs. We were impressed with the designs that our members created, which expressed the stylish and urban aspects of Japan. We then checked the texts and designs and polished our work. All the members checked in turn, and all of them found something to improve. I thought it was because no one compromised in this way that we were able to complete an impressive invitation package. When the invitation package was nearing completion, we had not decided whether to hold the APRM via online or in person. Therefore, we had to figure out what to do next. In the end, we decided to create our original merchandise. We couldn’t sell them at the venue, but we could sell them online. We made mugs, files, T-shirts, hoodies, and notebooks. I especially like the mugs and T-shirts. These logos were carefully placed so that they would appear on camera in online meetings. Now we are working on the report. Many IFMSA staff have worked hard to organize this APRM under unusual circumstances. We will produce a report worthy of being the culmination of our efforts that you will be able to see again and again. I hope that you will read this again someday.

Photo & Record team _Takuya Taura This department was responsible for making the participants feel more excited about APRM Rest Day 2021. There were six people on the team. We made the video for the opening ceremony of Rest Day. For this project, we exchanged ideas in the meetings, and we recruited two kinds of videos from the Asia-Pacific Family. We edited all the movies you sent in and combined them into one video. Hopefully, this will be a great mood booster for the upcoming event. The video has four programs. ①Opening: An airplane takes off with our dreams and IFMSA histories from 1951. ②Going around Japan: We fly to Narita city via every region of Japan. Throughout Japan, students of IFMSA-Japan talk about what they would like to do once this pandemic is over, or they recommend sightseeing spots in the area. Narita city would be the host city of APRM 2021 if there was no COVID-19 impact. ③Looking back across time: The Invitation Package is created at fast speed on the screen. ④Closing: IFMSA students say "See you soon." in their language with a sketchbook. Lastly, the aircraft draws "APRM Rest Day 2021". This video was distributed on the social media accounts of APRM 2021. Thank you for many of your wonderful video submissions. Because of COVID-19 situation, we cannot see each other in person, but here, we are one!

Finance team _ Sayaka Ohara When the event was scheduled to be held offline, we formed groups to work on the event. The task was to think about the budget distribution for each group and the meals for the day. For the budget distribution, we interviewed the leaders of each group. For the meal on the day, we looked for a place near the venue where we could order within our budget. After the event was changed to an online event, the group was disbanded, but we continued to work on budget calculations and budget distribution. We kept in touch with the Find Team whenever there was any financial movement. We also discussed how to sell the goods with the Publication Team, who were in charge of making the goods, and also discussed the budget with the Treasurer of IFMSA-Japan.

Fundraising team _ Ai Suzuki Our team has raised funds to make this Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting 2021 fun and exciting. We first started working about a year ago, and we selected companies for the first task. We had selected a company that suits our purpose from dozens of companies. This time, we would contact some companies based on the spread of coronavirus infection and would support JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization). We contacted JNTO about the contents of this international conference and other events. In addition, we cooperated with the budget group so that the funds received would be handled appropriately. On the day of the event, we screened a video that conveys the charm of Japan entrusted to us by JNTO. With the cooperation of JNTO, we finished the event successfully and peacefully. We would like to thank JNTO for their support.

International Training team _ Kaho Itagaki We were originally going to be in charge of putting together the pre-APRM, but due to the COVID-19, we have been working to spread Capacity Building and Training to IFMSA-Japan. To familiarize our NMO members with the structure of IFMSA and its activities, we conducted workshops on IFMSA, IFMSA IT, and CB, and compiled these materials into the booklet. This was an opportunity for us to relearn about global priorities, the mission, and vision of each Standing Committees, and we realized how wonderful our federation IFMSA was. In the workshop, we explained the history of IFMSA, our partners, regions, and Standing Committees, and then we had quizzes for the participants to enjoy. In the CB workshop, we also gave the participants a chance to experience the SCORP training, which was a great opportunity for the members to experience that. IFMSA-Japan was also able to produce one participant to the pre-APRM and we hope to return her experience to our CB development. We are looking forward to working with you all in the future. Thank you for joining APRM Rest Day!

Icebreaker Through the icebreaker session, I gained motivation for studying English, world affairs and local culture including food and sightseeing sites. I was a 1st-year-med student and this APRM Rest day was the first time to participate in such a large event with lots of brilliant students from other countries! It was regrettable that I was not able to introduce Japanese food well. I was overwhelmed by English proficiency of foreign medical students. Not only that, I realized that they were thinking about themselves, their region, university and country carefully. I have to become familiar with myself and surroundings to think globally. The phrase of IFMSA-Japan “Think globally, act locally “ is what I exactly need to do from now on.

Ayaka Takahashi A participant

Mizuki Shikano A participant

We enjoyed every minute and it was a great time to get to know about participants in the icebreaker of the rest day. I appreciated all the staff for leading the facilitator to put together the participants and let the participants enjoy icebreaking. Using WhatsApp before the icebreaker session was a great opportunity to introduce ourselves and make it easy to progress the icebreaker . Also, bringing the food around ourselves was a good idea to know about the country and themselves. Different countries have different cultures and different foods. The fact that everyone knew a lot about Japan and had an interest in Japan was a great honor and makes me happy.

Icebreaker team started its activity in April. As APRM completely moved online and our IFMSA-Japan was newly in charge of Rest day for 2 days at Zoom, we decided to set up an Icebreaker session. Our goal was to make an occasion for interaction on the day and even before the day, and thus we were hoping the relationship between participants during the event would last after the 2 days. Our main activity was to make an Icebreaker session at the beginning of Rest day which would ease everyone’s nervousness. Icebreaker session was about 30 minutes long, and we did quizzes using chat on WhatsApp and enjoyed talking with each other about everyone’s local food while showing it in front of the camera at the Zoom breakout rooms. For the session, we asked some IFMSAJapan staff members to be a facilitator in each breakout room. Also, we used WhatsApp groups to make interactions among participants even before the event. We asked all the participants their favorite thing (like sports, travel, music ...etc), and accordingly, we arranged groups within which they would talk freely with others． On the event days, we were sure everyone enjoyed the Icebreaker session interacting with new friends. Chatting among participants in WhatsApp groups brought the event to life. It seems our objective was fully successful.

Shunya Wakayama Icebreaker team staff

Lecturers Dr. Akihito Watabe Dr. Akihito Watabe is a core team member of UHC2030, a multistakeholder partnership for universal health coverage (UHC). Dr. Watabe holds a medical license, Ph.D. in Medicine, and M.Sc. in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing. Dr. Watabe started his Global Health career with the IFMSA as an international officer in 2003. He served as a resident of General Medicine at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Japan, a public health advisor to the Ministry of Health, Vanuatu, and a researcher on health financing at the International Health Policy Program, Thailand. In 2013, He was recruited as a health economist by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan. From 2015 to 2017, as a health financing officer of the World Health Organization, he contributed to the finalization of the SDG monitoring framework, particularly indicators 3.8.1 and 3.8.2 on UHC.

Dr. Toshiaki Baba Dr. Toshiaki Baba is a psychiatrist and a public health physician by training. He is currently dispatched from National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Japan to Mongolia as the Chief Advisor, the JICA Project for Strengthening Post-graduate Training for Medical Doctors and Nurses. He also serves as an external member of the WHO Guideline Review Committee. His research topics include mHealth intervention for postnatal mothers, systematic review of complex interventions for infection control, and incorporation of economic evidence in guidelines. He completed medical training at Hokkaido University and holds MSc HPPF (London) and PhD (Hokkaido) in Environmental Epidemiology. He is an alumnus of IFMSA and IFMSA-Japan.

Reviews from participants The lectures delivered by Japanese medical professionals were highly motivating and inspiring. In “Pandemics in the Digital Era,” all the people with their digital devices are facing a flood of information. There surely is correct information in it, but it is more likely that false information is spreading all over the world. Especially in the pandemics, information we get can cause a great impact on our life, and false information can lead to loss of life. I think the message from the lecturers is that we medical students are required to be good models in this era, and our behaviors have to be based on the evidence supported by scientific research. We are just medical students, but our responsibilities are heavy, given the fact that we are going to get involved in health care. The lectures reminded me of those responsibilities. Moe Dehara I had little information about public health until I was able to participate in the lectures. From the lectures, I learned about the current status and the importance of UHC(Universal Health Coverage). Also, I found that people are suffering not only from physical damage but also from mental stress under this COVID-19 pandemic, and the situation would continue even after the pandemic. I usually tended to pay attention only to the situation inside Japan. However, after taking the lecture and listening to the voices of panelists from other countries, I realized that public health issues, including this pandemic, are issues for all humankind. Taking the lecture was a valuable experience that I could not experience at school and it broadened my horizons. I have always been worried about what specialty I should choose as a doctor in the future, and I feel that I got a great hint through the lecture. If you are a student who has the similar worries as me, I highly recommend attending IFMSA and APRM global events. Sumire Fukuda

A Review from the Lecture Session team’s staff Our team conducted two contents, the lecture and the panel discussion, on the first day. We invited Dr. Watabe and Dr. Baba as lecturers. Dr. Watabe presented about "Social Disparity and Health Disparity in Digital Society," and Dr. Baba did about "Pandemics and Mental Health." In the question-andanswer session, many interesting questions were taken including pre-questions. In the posterior half, we did the panel discussion with two lecturers and four panelists from Pakistan, India, Thailand, and Kazakhstan. This panel discussion held the theme of "How can we act as medical students in Pandemics in a Digital Era?" In the light of the COVID-19 situation of each country, we could listen to various angles of thought, which was very intriguing. We started to prepare contents from November 2020. At that time, we were going to hold APRM via offline, so we prepared for the Theme Event session of lecture and event. We lined up the candidates for the lecture and asked them to give a lecture by email. In January, the lecturer was determined and the contents of the event were determined to be a crisis management simulation. Two team members made contact with lecturers, and then we made the concept notes. After changing APRM to online as APRM Rest Day, our team's work became the only lecture, but we did our best to make it a great event. Misa Yamashita

Narita Session A Review from the Narita Session team’s staff We originally planned to hold APRM in Narita city and the International University of Health and Welfare. We talked with teachers about the facilities we wanted to use. But because of this pandemic, we had to give up. Firstly, we thought about dissolving this team but thanks to many supporters, we changed from a venue team to a team that will introduce Narita city and our university to participants. We made four parts in the Narita session. Ⅰ. Introducing about Narita with using PowerPoint. Ⅱ. Traveling activity using Google Maps with facilitators from International students from IUHW. Ⅲ. Introduction about International University of Health and Welfare from Dr. Oshimi. Ⅳ. Curriculum activity with using breakout room and discuss the differences of the curriculum in each country. Thanks to your kindness and support, we could complete all schedules. If you could enjoy this session, we’re very happy. We are looking forward to meeting with you as a fellow. Thank you for joining APRM Rest Day. Tomoki Yashio

Reviews from participants This APRM Rest Day was the first global event for me as a IFMSA member. I got interested in every session and enjoyed them all. In this essay I would like to focus on Narita Session. First part was the introduction of Narita Session. We got some information about Narita city. Though I live in Japan, I’ve visited Narita only to use Narita Airport. I heard that eel is famous, so I want to try that on the next visit. In the second part, we experienced a virtual trip to Narita city. We were divided into small groups and chose 2 tourist sights out of 3. And then Visited breakout rooms, watched videos, and played a game using Google Maps. I was excited to talk about the sights with other participants. Also, I found that we could visit 2 places in quite a short time because our trip was held online. Narita session made my first virtual trip so memorable. In the third part, we learned about the International University of Health and Welfare. The curriculum is seemed different from the one in my college. Moreover, we learned the importance of active learning. “Be Active, Be Brave, and Be Curious” this phrase encouraged me. In the last part, the curriculum session, which I enjoyed the most, participants were divided into small groups again and shared each features of our curriculum -Semesters, majors, clinical clerkships, and so on. I was moved by their attitude and passion towards medicine, especially for social medicine. In this COVID-19 pandemic, we students have less opportunity to interact with each other, so we had a precious time. Airi Takeuchi

Through Narita Session, I could get to know some tourist sights in Narita. I have been to Narita International Airport, but I haven’t been to temples or gardens in Narita. I live in Tokyo, which is a busy city, so when I saw the Japanese-style garden, I was so moved. It was more difficult than I expected to remember the location by watching the video once. At the same time, I thought what we could learn from the video was limited, so I want to go to Narita and see or hear by myself after this pandemic. I want to feel what I couldn’t feel through videos. Also, it was difficult for me to tell others the direction/location in English. So, I want to improve my English skills. However, I really enjoyed talking with foreign students who learn the same field, medicine. Hopefully, I will be able to see everyone who joined the session in the near future. Yuri Iwashita

A Review from the Workshop Session team’s staff Workshop team started its activity in late May 2021. It was a new activity that was made after it turned out that this year’s APRM would go as an online event. Our goal was to make an event that can give some tips of knowledge to participants and at the same time, they will have fun. As we started the meeting, we had to decide what kind of theme we will be dealing with and what kind of tool and format we should use. There were a lot of options, so it was not easy to decide the best one, but when we came to think about the situation surrounding us right now, we thought ‘Self-care’ was the perfect one. And since it’s a valuable moment to meet students around Asia-Pacific, we wanted to make time to talk to each other and share ideas. There was a little mechanical trouble on the day but on the whole, it finished smoothly, and I guessed many of the participants had fun learning about self-care and talking with new friends. I’m looking forward to the next workshop in APRM if it’ll be held in the future and if you have any questions from this workshop, I’m happy to talk about it. Thank you. Maya Iwane

Reviews from participants At the workshop, we talked about two things: how we cope with the stress in the time of COVID-19, and what kind of app we would like to use for self-care. I, as a facilitator, enjoyed these discussions very much. It was a great opportunity to listen to what the situation is like in other communities and to share the ones in Japan with our members. It was also interesting to talk about how we try to release our stress through our daily routine or using some specific techniques under these difficult circumstances. I learned some new ideas and gave them some new perspectives in terms of the COVID-19 situation. The fact that people from different backgrounds were discussing the matter together was a great part of the meeting. The highlight for me was finding that we all had been suffering from the fears, laziness or the stress the pandemic had brought to us, regardless of where we lived. I saw how powerful it was to exchange ideas with medical students beyond countries to make a difference. I hope we will be able to meet together in person and talk about this pandemic positively very soon. Ayako Tanaka In the workshop, we discussed how we cope with stress during the Covid-19 pandemic and created an idea for an app that we want to use for self-care. It was a valuable experience to exchange our knowledge to tackle mental health problems such as fear and loneliness and get to know the pandemic situation and medical procedure in every country. Each country has a different system for the restriction and the supply of the vaccine. I was excited to work with medical students from different backgrounds and think about the topic from a multiperspective. I believe interaction with medical students from other countries is important for the medical community in the future. Through this workshop, I learned how to recognize the situation from the global point of view and the actual situation of Covid-19 in other countries. Masaya Takahashi

In the workshop, we discussed two things; how we cope with stress during COVID-19 pandemic, and what kind of app is convenient for our self-care. I talked with people from many different countries and cultures about these things, and this was an extremely good experience for me having had little opportunity to speak with them prior to this event. I enjoyed the discussion and was able to come up with various ideas through the discussion. Each country is in a specific infection status and vaccine coverage, so they deal with their own stress with strategies that are appropriate for their country’s situation. In the talk, a participant suggested that it would lead to improvement of one’s motivation to introduce a function that allows the self-care app to share their goals and their achievement with others. This idea provided me with a perspective that I didn’t have, which helped broaden my horizons. I am grateful to those who have organized such a wonderful workshop. Thank you. Rikuto Kikunaga

A Review from the Cultural Night Party Session team’s staff The project of “Cultural Night Party“ started in March 2021, and the first step in creating the Cultural Night Party was to think about the contents. The first thing we considered when deciding on the content was whether the content would be enjoyable for all participants. Since this year's APRM was held online, we struggled to figure out how participants could interact with each other. As a result, the first content was to have the participants introduced something familiar to them or something from their own country to ease their tension. The second one was the quiz contest, where the participants were asked to understand the culture of each country in the quiz format. The third one was the dance party. We danced to PPAP (Pen Pineapple Apple Pen), which is a famous song that participants could easily dance to in front of their computers. As special guests, the IFMSA-Japan staff members disguised themselves as Piko Taro to entertain the participants. At the end of the APRM Rest Day, all the participants sang "We are the world" together to close the event. All in all, the participants seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I was really happy to have created the contents. Miyako Yoshikawa

Reviews from participants

In the icebreaker session, we shared our favorite items to use while studying. Many members shared their iPad, AirPods, or textbooks. Many participants also said that they enjoy watching movies or anime with their iPad, so I feel like many people use their iPad for similar purposes, including myself. In the quiz part, we tried some quizzes about history and culture. I learned about some famous architecture in India and Pakistan. I also learned how popular Japanese mangas are in other countries! I enjoyed talking with not only overseas medical students but also Japanese students. The last dance was also fantastic! Thank you, everyone! Kyoko Hayashi

At the Cultural Night Party, we enjoyed quizzes and a PPAP (Pen Pineapple Apple Pen) dance performed by the OC. In the quiz part, I found how little I knew about IFMSA and other countries, so I decided to learn more about IFMSA and other countries over this summer vacation! Moreover, we brought something around us that matched the theme such as blue things, and indispensable things when studying. These were different from country to country, and person to person, so it was very interesting for me. In the PPAP dancing part, I was surprised by the amount of in the Asia Pacific region that were dancing with us. This is because even though I knew that PPAP was famous around the world, I had never talked about this song with international students. The Cultural Night Party impressed me a lot. I felt that we were really connected, and we are all together especially when we were waving hands to the music. I thought it is true that music has the power to connect with one another. I had such an amazing time and I appreciate joining such a wonderful event!! Wakana Tsuji

TOKYO

KUMAMOTO HIROSHIMA

OKINAWA

SHIMANE

TOYAMA

HOKKAIDO

Thank you for coming to APRM Rest Day! We hope to see you again in Japan.

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