Lifestyle illness: Finding a medical professional in Japan

This series is an exploration of my own experiences as a person living in Japan with a chronic illness, insights for those who wish to move to Japan, and a place to make resources and information more accessible and less shrouded in mystery. Your chronic condition doesn’t define you or hold you back from your dream of living in Japan!

No matter how much time you spend pouring over articles and blog posts, or preparing for each and every tiny detail you can imagine, arriving in Japan is a chaotic and unpredictable whirlwind. You can make the proper preparations and set yourself up for success by making sure you have enough of your specific medical supplies to last you for a few months, but to find the right doctor in Japan is a process, and it’s best to leave yourself plenty of time to get it right.

Find a doctor in Japan, before you need one

When I arrived in Tokyo during a particularly humid and heavy August in 2018, my first concern after touching down in Narita, getting my hands on some water, and keeping my insulin cool in a fridge was finding a doctor. Sadly this need came up much sooner than I had anticipated. My body, raised in and used to a mild West Coast Canadian climate, became violently ill less than 48 hours after starting my new life in Japan’s harshly hot climate.

I was escorted to an international clinic in Setagaya where I was told it was stress-related and given medication for my vomiting. Actually, I was hit with severe dehydration aggravating pre-existing conditions.

Unfortunately, I can’t really recommend this clinic unless it’s an emergency since they slapped me with a surprise 25,000 yen fee for my initial consultation—which was not covered under my National Health Insurance… This is not normal in my experience, but the staff was completely fluent in English, which did help while being so sick. Although I was thankfully covered by my National Health Insurance (NHI) the day after my arrival, I had not yet been issued my precious, precious NHI card, which caused some further problems. 

In Japan: no NHI card, no insurance 

Insurance is mandatory for anyone working or living in Japan, but the burden of proof remains with the patient. Rather than having the benefit of that 70% coverage immediately, I had to pay 100% upfront in cash (they had an ATM in this clinic, but some may not) and was told I could submit a claim later. Still, this large sum of money was unexpected, to say the least. I actually had to spend upward of 50,000 yen before I received my insurance card a month later. I was fortunate that I had the funds to make it through this initial start-up and adventure to find a doctor in Japan (which is already a steep cost), but beware that anything can happen with your health and it can happen very quickly.  

TLDR; visit your local city hall as soon as possible, and prepare yourself for expensive medical bills until you receive your NHI card. Without that card, it’s all out-of-pocket at the doctor’s office! 

Your visit to the doctor: the Japanese way

When on a quest to find a doctor in Japan, your first point of contact with the healthcare system here will likely also be a visit to a walk-in clinic to see a General Practitioner (GP). Here, it’s almost unheard of to have a "family" doctor, or for one doctor to handle a variety of concerns for a patient. 

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