The number of physicians engaged in basic sciences and teaching is sharply decreasing in Japan. To alleviate this shortage, central government has increased the quota of medical students entering the field. This study investigated medical students' interest in basic sciences in efforts to recruit talent. A questionnaire distributed to 501 medical students in years 2 to 6 of Juntendo University School of Medicine inquired about sex, grade, interest in basic sciences, interest in research, career path as a basic science physician, faculties' efforts to encourage students to conduct research, increases in the number of lectures, and practical training sessions on research. Associations between interest in basic sciences and other variables were examined using χ 2 tests. From among the 269 medical students (171 female) who returned the questionnaire (response rate 53.7%), 24.5% of respondents were interested in basic sciences and half of them considered basic sciences as their future career. Obstacles to this career were their original aim to become a clinician and concerns about salary. Medical students who were likely to be interested in basic sciences were fifth-and sixth-year students, were interested in research, considered basic sciences as their future career, considered faculties were making efforts to encourage medical students to conduct research, and wanted more research-related lectures. Improving physicians' salaries in basic sciences is important for securing talent. Moreover, offering continuous opportunities for medical students to experience research and encouraging advanced-year students during and after bedside learning to engage in basic sciences are important for recruiting talent. The number of physicians in basic sciences research and teaching (hereafter 'basic sciences') is decreasing to a critical level in Japan. Indeed, a crisis point in Japanese basic research has been reached because this field has chiefly been led by MD or PhD physicians (Matsuo and Iki 2005). If there are few successors, the basic research fields in Japan may well collapse (Matsuo and Iki 2005).Juntendo University School of Medicine in Tokyo, where the authors are based, had delivered lectures for individual disciplines prior to 2003, but with revision of the curriculum that year, basic sciences were divided into organ-specific lectures and integrated with clinical medicine (Nagaoka 2012). This new form of curriculum is recommended by the Japanese government (Liaison and Coordination Committee and Professional Activities Committee for the Revision of the Model Core Curriculum 2011). To date, we believe this new curriculum has been working better than the previous curriculum, yet this new core curriculum is said to be one of the causes of the physician shortage in basic science departments in Japan: faculties do not have enough time to develop students' interest in research as they are busy preparing them for computerbased testing (Itoh et al. 2009). In addition, revision of the residency program is also thought to be on...