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Howard:
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It is just a huge, huge honor to be with an orthodontist, Dr. Miho Imamura.
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Miho:
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Nice to meet you. Welcome to . . .
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Howard:
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We are in Kofu Yamanashi Japan which was about an hour and a half train ride from Tokyo.
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Miho:
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Right.
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Howard:
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That train was going pretty fast. How fast was that train going?
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Miho:
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I don't know 200 kilos or something an hour.
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Howard:
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Yeah, it was moving.
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Miho:
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Yeah.
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Howard:
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I assumed it was going 200 miles an hour.
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Miho:
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Maybe I think, five years later we'll have our Super Express from Tokyo to here. Only 20 minutes.
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Howard:
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20 minutes.
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Miho:
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20 minutes.
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Howard:
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Is it working now?
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Miho:
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Yeah.
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Howard:
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Could I take that back?
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Miho:
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Oh no, no, no.
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Howard:
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Five years later. Oh five years from now?
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Miho:
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Yeah, yeah.
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Howard:
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Okay five years from now, okay. In Japan probably only about 10% of the dentists speak English.
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Miho:
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Right. They can understand, but they cannot speak.
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Howard:
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Yeah and the reason is when you study languages, it's called the Rule of Fifty Million. If you're born on earth and you have 50 million people to talk to, you usually don't learn another language. When you go to China, no one really speaks English. When you go to Brazil. Brazil has 200 million people, they all speak Portuguese. Japan has a 127 million people, but when you go to small country like Denmark, most people know five languages, because when you grow up in a country with only five million people, you'd want to learn German, Italian, Spanish and English. You learned English, because from 1985 to 2010 you made several trips, like once a month for . . .
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Miho:
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Yes, back and forth.
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Howard:
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Tell them about your journey, about why you kept going back to Iowa?
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Miho:
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Yeah, at the beginning I went to Iowa, that was the first time in 1985. It was just an exchange program to spend a few months to learn the prevention way and prevention against cavities.
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Howard:
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Were you already a dentist in '85?
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Miho:
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Yeah, I did. I graduated from my dental school in 1985. I just went to Iowa that year. Then I just found a good program in Iowa to prevent for the kids. Not only for the kids, but also the adults. The cavities, the perio, or any kind of prevention is kind of ahead more than Japan. I like to establish my own way prevention in Japan, here in Kofu too, for my patients. Then I went to Iowa. I had the patients at that time. That's why I came back. I have to come back to Japan, Kofu to treat my patients, three weeks here and one week in research and study in Iowa. Then back and forth every month.
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Howard:
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You did that every month from 1985-2010?
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Miho:
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Yeah. That was many trips . . .
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Howard:
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How many was that 25 years?
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Miho:
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Oh actually . . .
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Howard:
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What is that '85, '95, 2005.
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Miho:
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Yeah.
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Howard:
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25 years.
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Miho:
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Not every year. I think it was ten years back and forth every month. After that every three months, every four months, every six months, and then now . ..
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Howard:
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Who was paying for you to go back and forth?
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Miho:
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Yeah I did. I did from my salaries.
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