We reviewed essays on clinical ethics written by 94 5th and 6th-year medical students on rotation at the Department of General Internal Medicine of Kyoto University Hospital. Issues regarding brain death, medical decisions concerning the end of life, and informed consent and truth telling were each identified as ethically important by one-third of the students. Approximately 90% of the students expressed a desire to learn more about ethical issues, including actual ethical decisions made by physicians in Japan, cross-cultural differences, medical decisions concerning the end of life, and informed consent. Most students were extremely sensitive to issues of informed consent and truth telling relevant to the patients they cared for.