Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is one of the assessment methods used in the clinical education of acupuncture and moxibustion, by which Tanzawa et al. successfully conducted a systematic study. Beginning with their success, in recent years, OSCE has been introduced in the clinical education of acupuncture and moxibustion and has attracted researchers' attention.
In this report, we examine various types of educational methods used in the clinical education of acupuncture and moxibustion. To assess the methods, we used “Practice by Simulation”, a practicum introduced by our school in 1993, with the Rashomon Model, a method of developing and assessing curriculums. In addition, we discussed the usefulness of the practicum based on the students' achievements.
The studied “Practice by Simulation” class is summarized below. For this class, the General Instructional Objective (GIO) was to learn the clinical skills necessary for clinical treatment by acupuncture and moxibustion and to improve motivation as a practitioner of acupuncture and moxibustion while cultivating problem-solving ability. This class introduces the role-play method as a teaching strategy, and utilizes review sessions between the faculty and students and between the students. When this method of interaction is applied to the class, any member of the faculty must take creative actions according to the circumstance in response to the students' opinions and suggestions. In this case, importance is placed on “competence as a professional teacher”, which is one of the features of the Rashomon Model, because the class may thus develop beyond expectations. For this class, the teachers evaluate the students' achievements generally based on the observations and records of their contributions to the class and their positive attitudes in the discussions as well as short essays on the assigned subject by comparing with the defined GIO.
More than 70% of the students answered “yes” to the questions “Are you interested in this class?” and “Do you think it is useful?”, showing that “Practice by Simulation” with the Rashomon Model was useful. We will conduct a further study on this subject considering the students' psychological transformations.

The fifty first academic meeting of the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion was held this year. Atthis time, the number of members has increased, and now exceeds 2, 900 people. Quality and quantity have changed greatly, and the academic meeting expands.
How are members affected by the change and expansion of such an academic meeting? Moreover, does an academic meeting or the relations among members affect the activities of various academic meetings, and can those activities be maintained?
This time, a membership survey was carried out focusing on the critical issues cited above. The survey for the year 2001 was mailed to all academic meeting staff in November-December. The response rate was 21.5% of 632 questionnaires sent This survey is the foundation material from which the future of our academic society will be considered.
The following survey results are presented. 1) Members over 50 years old comprised 45.8% reflecting a tendency toward an older membership. 2) As for the members' professional qualifications, “Acupuncturist” comprised 88.9%. Other designations such as “Annma-Massage-Acupressure therapist” comprised 40%. 3) Members working as “acupuncture moxibustion mentors” comprised 61.3%. This was thought to influence a motive for participatingin academic meetings, the degree of satisfaction with the academic meeting, their relationship with the academic society and research reports they would expect on the journal 4) Evaluation of the general usefulness of the authorization system (qualified acupuncturist) varies. The significance of this system needs to be discussed.

Recently, education for persons providing medical treatment has changed greatly due to remarkable progress in various life science fields. Regarding education for persons providing acupuncture and moxibustion, acquisition of modern medical knowledge related to social needs as well as acupuncture and moxibustion medical science is appropriate for practitioners of acupuncture and moxibustion who are able to develop their abilities by receiving such background training.
Therefore, radical plans to check the educational contents and unify the curriculum are being developed, focusing on the core curriculum in order to achieve curriculum reform. This paper discusses the issues underlying such curriculum reform plans. The core-curriculum in medical education is a so-called minimum requirement. However, a liberal education supports that curriculum and provides an important knowledge base. There is also an education ideology that is important to that goal. In other words, education ideology can be considered as the core in curriculum.

Educational Research was carried out in a joint national survey by questionnaire in a school for the visually impaired and a vocational school in joint research with Anma-Massage-Shiatsu and Acupuncture and Moxibustion Therapy, aiming at collecting fundamental materials that examine the way of the future of the therapy.
The collection rate for the questionnaire was 71.4% for schools for the visually impaired and 68.3% from the vocational schools (70.3% in total as of August 16, 2006).
When examining the survey results and paying attention to the common and different points between the schools for the visually impaired and the vocational schools, we reviewed the present conditions and subjects in the curriculum reform. We recognized the actual conditions and problems in today's curriculum reform in a comparison of both schools.
We would be pleased if this study became an opportunity to enter a new phase for “Anma-Massage-Shiatsu and acupuncture and moxibustion therapy education”, while respecting the situations of schools for the visually impaired and vocational schools.

[Objective] The increasing number of acupuncture and moxibustion training schools as well as the diversity of new student and patient needs is changing the educational environment of practitioners of Amma massage, acupuncture, and moxibustion. This raises the question whether the present curriculum can meet the challenges presented by these changes. This study presents the findings of a questionnaire survey designed to elucidate basic data relevant to the creation of the ideal curriculum.
[Methods] A questionnaire was sent to a total of 111 schools nationwide, comprising 70 training schools for the visually impaired and 41 vocational schools affiliated with the Society of Oriental Medicine. The staff member responsible for curriculum organization in each school completed the questionnaire.
[Concluding remarks] The response rate was 70.3% (78/111 schools). The questionnaire survey revealed that one group of individuals was responsible for the curriculum. It was also made clear that education was advancing, not by a fundamental curriculum-based teaching system, but by individual teaching staff.
Ensuring future development in the education system for practitioners of Amma massage, acupuncture, and moxibustion will require introducing a core curriculum. Discussion is also necessary.