After World War II, the Japanese pharmaceutical education system was drastically changed on the advice of the general headquarters of the American occupational army. Two universities and 18 colleges were reformed in to new universities. Graduates from pharmaceutical universities were eligible to take the national pharmacist's license examination, which was conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. New pharmaceutical departments within a university could be founded provided that they conformed to stringent standards set by the Ministry of Education, covering such aspects as location, building facilities, equipment, teaching administration, number of teachers and qualifications, and curriculum. From 1949 to 1983, seven national, three public and 31 private universities with pharmaceutical departments were established. Three departments, pharmacy, manufacturing pharmacy, and biological pharmacy, are present in several pharmaceutical universities. The number of students attending university pharmaceutical departments increased from 4,000 in 1940 to 8,000 in 1983. In 1973, the Japan Pharmaceutical Association proposed a six-year pharmaceutical education system. However, the Council of Deans of in the faculty of pharmaceutical sciences at the national university and the Ministry of Education were opposed. The plans to reform pharmaceutical education were thrown into confusion from 1983 to 1990. The Six Members Council for pharmaceutical education (Rokushakon), the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Welfare, the Japan Pharmaceutical Association, the Japan Hospital Pharmaceutical Association, the Council of Deans in the faculty of pharmaceutical sciences at the national university, and the Association of Private Pharmaceutical Universities was reformed in 1999, and then the council carried out debate into 2004. The Six Members Council arrived at an agreement that requires six years of pharmaceutical educations, including six months of the practical pharmacy expensece in a hospital pharmacy or health insurance pharmacy, in 2003. Finally in 2004, the laws for school education and the laws for becoming a pharmacist were amended in the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors. The authors expess their opinions about pharmaceutical education, pharmacists, and the pharmaceutical industry in the second decade of the 21st century.