By David Vranicar
dav@adm.au.dk
Japanese-born Akiko Shimada wanted to be a veterinarian but ended up becoming a dentist, a move that may have helped land her in Denmark.
When she was told that she couldn’t work with animals, Akiko Shimada settled on people.
Years ago, in her native Japan, Shimada had her heart set on becoming a veterinarian. But the test to enter veterinary school didn’t go so well; her score wasn’t quite high enough. Barred from becoming a vet, Shimada knew that she still wanted to work in medicine, so she decided that becoming a dentist wouldn’t be so bad.
That failed test launched her from animals to people, from veterinary medicine to dentistry – and, eventually, from Japan to Denmark.
Shimada moved to Aarhus in July to pursue dental research at Aarhus University, spurning her former job at a private dental clinic in Nagasaki. But she didn’t come here alone. Shimada has a nine-year-old daughter who also made the trek to Denmark.
One of the biggest changes for Shimada since leaving Japan has been her schedule, which has lightened once she got to Aarhus. In Japan she typically worked from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and after-ward she would do research until around midnight – only to wake up again at 5 in the morning to do it all over again.
One pitfall of her workload – aside from only affording her an average of about four hours of sleep a night – was that she rarely saw her daughter. Shimada didn’t come home until after her daughter was asleep, nor did their paths cross most mornings.
Here, though, Shimada has been able to spend more time with her daughter, and devote more time to her research. The focus of her one-year stint at AU, which will run into the summer, is analyzing the effects of pain on chewing.
Shimada would like to continue her research beyond the year, and she’d ideally like to do it in Denmark: she is settled into her research here, her daughter en-joys her Danish school, and the two are even learning some Danish. (“My Danish teacher is my daughter,” Shimada says).
Shimada is enjoying her new life in Aarhus, even if she’s not living in her home country, and even if she’s working with people and not animals.
To hear an interview with Akiko Shimada, where she talks about her take on Danish people and some of the biggest differences between Japan and Denmark, check out the UNIvers international podcast page at: au.dk/en/univers/internationalradiopodcasts/
