In Japan, You Visit A Scary Japanese Doctor 12+ Times A Year

by

Japanese hospital experiences are known to be a little… wild… but when I saw this chart I thought it had some pretty interesting information in it. The main goal of this chart was to show how ridiculous America’s per person spending on health care is (while still doing pretty mediocre in terms of life), but of course my eyes were immediately drawn to Japan’s data.

If you look at the chart, you’ll see that Japan’s life expectancy is very high (it’s the diet, methinks, though even that seems to be changing with Western influence), and they visit a doctor an average of 12+ times per year! Can you imagine going to the doctor 12 times per year? I can barely imagine going once per year (though I suppose that’s why Americans visit doctors 0 times per year, according to the chart, ouch).

Surprisingly, though, for a country that visits a doctor 12 or more times a year, it isn’t costing people as much. People are spending approximately $2581 a year on health care in Japan, which isn’t chump change, but isn’t all that much either. Still, though, I can’t help but think that with all the horror stories I hear about Japanese doctors (I’ve only had to experience this once, thankfully, and luckily it wasn’t all that bad… unless they were lying about the lack of tumor in my head, which is completely possible) Japanese people are heading to the doctor a little too much. I don’t think the long life expectancy would go down if people went, say, 6 times a year?

Why Japanese Doctors Are Scary

There are plenty of reasons why Japanese doctors are, in general, kind of frightening. Luckily, Japan is an advanced first world country, which makes it less scary than going to a doctor in, say, Canada (just kidding, Canada!), but I’d rather go to a doctor in the U.S. or Canada (love your gravy and fries, Canada!) if I had something serious. If you are in need of a doctor in Japan, it’s generally best to find one that studied outside of Japan. The following list of scary Japanese doctor bullets are a generalization (so don’t take them as 100% true 100% of the time, because that won’t work), but will give you some insight as to why the whole doctor situation can cause a bit of a problem for foreigners in Japan.

  • Doctors get a commission for every bit of prescription they give to you. According to several stories, doctors will take your temperature, listen to your heart beat, look at your throat, and then prescribe something somewhat unrelated to how you’re feeling. Stomach pain? What stomach pain? On top of that, you’ll get several different kinds of prescriptions, too much (or too little) of each, and often times something that doesn’t help you at all.
  • If you have something bad, doctors might not tell you about it. They might tell your family, but the problem with that is the family might not tell you about it either. Whoops. “6 months to live? Who said that? Nah, you’re fine, just eat your wakame.”
  • Japanese medicine comes from German medicine. Nothing wrong with German medicine, but I’d prefer my Japanese doctors learning specifically Japanese medical terms instead of German ones. I’ve also heard about plenty of Japanese doctors who learn medicine in German. Learn your life saving knowledge in your own native language, please!
  • You can’t really question your doctor. Even when things don’t seem to make sense, it’s insulting to ask the doctor for an explanation. Though, as mentioned earlier, Japanese doctors who have studied outside of Japan seem to take this better, from various stories and articles I’ve gone through.
  • In Japan, if you get almost anything, you go to a doctor. I don’t know how many times my host family tried to get me to see a doctor when I had a regular, not-all-that-bad common cold. That’s not something I really need to see a doctor for, thanks for the concern, though! Of course, there’s no data to back this up, but I imagine seeing common cold after common cold in the doctors office can make a doctor feel a bit too relaxed about how they diagnose something. Anyways, it makes me worried.
  • There isn’t really much competition between hospitals. Lots of competition in terms of the folks making the medicine, but not so much in terms of the actual doctors themselves, it seems.
  • You are discouraged from getting a second opinion (this goes back to questioning the doctor’s diagnosis). “How dare you question me! Did you go to Toudai? I think not!”

All that being said, there are plenty of people who have great experiences in Japanese hospitals / with Japanese doctors as well. It’s not all horror (though that could explain Japan’s obsession with hospitals + horror games & movies), and if you find yourself sick in Japan it could be so much worse. More likely than not, you’ll probably have an okay to great experience, and then you can come back here and say “damnit Koichi, why you scare me so?”

On the other hand, if you’ve had a terrible hospital / doctor experience in Japan, share it in the comments below! My own personal experience was fine, though if I find out I have a head tumor three years from now I’ll be really upset.

(chart source)

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Newer Comments →
  • http://sigma-1.blogspot.com/ Soma

    Good post. If your doctor did go to Toudai then he might not be too bad though! The public university hospitals are not too bad – in fact my experience is that if you want surgery of any kind then DEFINITELY going to the public university hospitals is the way to go, if you do not have money to pay for the finest of fine. Most of the surgery horror stories I have heard (and a couple experienced) have been with local mini-surgery/ local hospital like places. This is true in our experience.

    We as a family have utilised a significant range and diversity of Japanese medical services so I feel pretty confident in commenting but I think you are more or less spot on – the surprising thing in Japan, given everything else is so “regular”, that in the medical world there is so much variation! You will find some of the best medical research and medical care (holistically speaking as well as technically speaking) in Japan, but there are also some pretty third world sort of operations.

    Your insight about those who have studied overseas is mostly valid. I do not think they need to have studied overseas for the whole of their education, but something that shows engagement with the outside world (publishing research in English journals not just local ones, some intensive post-grad courses in 1st world countries) is necessary. You are right though, questioning a Japanese doctor is kind of fun, although I find that doctors in general too – GPs in my (most of the time 1st world) country are pretty useless too I feel.

  • http://www.feitclub.com feitclub

    It's hardly a “terrible” story but last summer I had diarrhea for about a month with three separate fevers during that time. Each time I went to a doctor (either a GP or a specialist) and their diagnosis was exactly the same: my stomach was “too cold” because I drank chilled drinks. Mind you, this was August so I'm not sure how I was supposed to survive without regularly drinking cold liquids, but they were convinced this was the cause.

    I tried to appease them, but a lifetime of drinking whatever I wanted without gastrointestinal distress convinced me they were full of it so I just stopped asking them what to do. Eventually my condition went away on its own.

  • tornadoes28

    Good post but that chart is very statistically misleading. As you mentioned, there are many other factors affecting life expectancy other than healthcare spending per capita, such a diet. I am also very suspicious of the figures in that chart. It is extremely hard to believe that the government funded healthcare system in Japan only spends $2,581 per person. Me thinks they are not considering all the costs passed on to the Japanese citizens. Costs through higher taxes etc.

  • Christina

    I had a weird issue with my Jaw, and so I ended up going to the dentist at the local hospital. About 10 times. He kept making me come back in two weeks for a checkup.

    However, I did get a custom mouth guard made for under 4000 yen (the NYTimes had an article claiming that the costs in the US for one of these ranges from $300 to over $1000), and the appointments ranged from 110 yen to 1110 yen, which is significantly cheaper than I would ever hope for in the US, where an average dentist appointment started at about $25. Also, if I had an appointment for 9 am, I would be brought in at 9am, and have essentially the dentist's full attention for the whole time I was there.

    Also I really like the fact that if you are sick, you can just go into the doctor's office or the hospital without an appointment. As opposed to the US where you have to call for an appointment and most of the time they are like “Well, I can see you next Tuesday.” There's clearly no reason to bother getting a doctor's appointment for a cold if it's going to be gone by the time you get to see the doctor.

  • Gabey

    Haha, this really reminded me of my own experience with a Japanese doctor. I had a cold, and my host family went berserk. After 3 or 4 days of them begging to take me to the doctor, I finally gave in. Besides giving me a bunch of useless medications, he also had my blood drawn and my chest x-rayed. Just for a cold. The English-speaking doctor didn't even ask me much about my symptoms.

    They were all convinced that I had some sort of disease that Japanese people were immune to but Americans were not. In Japan? Seriously?

  • JackiJinx

    Don't have any Japanese doctor mishaps yet, but my doctor in America is certainly questionable. One time I went in because I fell while rollerblading and my elbow was in a lot of pain, and I got x-rayed in every part of my arm. I was told that the office would call me back the next day with the results, but I had to call them the following day to which I got, “Oh, the office didn't receive those yet. I'll get back to you.” In the meantime, since I also have military coverage, I went to a doctor that was further away and found out within an hour or two that I had broken my elbow (doctor only had my elbow x-rayed, too). The next day, I get a call from the first office saying they didn't find anything broken.

    I…love doctors.

  • pervertedcoffee

    Doctors are scary. Full stop. I live in Ireland but I've been to a French hospital too. Female doctors, I find, are the worst – they're on some sort of power trip (and I am female by the way – before I get called sexist ^^,). I stay away from them at all costs. >w< Mind you, Ireland is supposed to have one of the worst healthcare systems going ^^…

  • MasonF

    Nope. I'd much rather stick with my good ol' Canadian health care system.

  • trickridermiko

    I developed a weird red spot on my eyeball and–after several months–my host family finally convinced me into going to the doctor. I was terrified, but actually I was surprised by their generosity. The doctor took a look at it and after trying to explain it to me in Japanese–which failed because my Japanese sucked at the time–he got out an English dictionary so I could read about my affliction. He then prescribed me some eye drops and waived all of the fees for the visit and medicine. The doctor said it was from too much studying but my host fam was convinced it was from too much partying:)

  • Kai

    “if you are sick, you can just go into the doctor's office or the hospital without an appointment”

    Wow, I wish more doctors in the States did that! A few years ago, I was sick with [what I & my mother believe was] bronchitis 5 times over the course of 6 months but it was only diagnosed & treated once because by the time I could get an appointment, I'd already be getting over it!

  • kathryn

    I think your first point happens most places doesn't it. Doctors mightn't get commission but they do get a lot of perks from drug companies.

    It would be interesting to see what the stats say if you compared them to workplace policies. In Australia, you have to have a doctor's certificate if you have 2 or more consecutive sicks days. That means the doctor's office is always full of people with colds/flus just getting a cert for work.

  • Pingback: 12+ Times a Year in the Hospital… Yikes. | Japanese Crackers

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    haha, that sounds a bit like something my mom would say, though I'm pretty sure I've gotten upset stomach from eating / drinking something too cold before….

  • Herman

    I don't know what hospitals other people are using, but I had surgery at NTT Kanto, and I found the level of service/professionalism to be as good as or better than any hospital that I have been to in the US.

  • Ashley

    I once went to a hospital at 8:50 in the morning and didn't get out until 4:55pm… that was not exciting. I hate hospitals anyway but this place was the absolute pits! Long waits, and they actually forgot about me for about two hours (and then about another hour when they might have seen me passed out and didn't wake me). I went in for chest pain and after constant poking, prodding, blood-drawing etc (and one time the girl tried to get me to lift up my shirt without even closing the drape!), I was exhausted and fell asleep after I had been waiting for a few hours for them to come back with the results of my testing. Not fun. I hate Japanese hospitals–this kind of stuff happens almost every time that I go there for testing. I've found that internal med doctors here are far less worried about my comprehending the things that are wrong with me (me: what does it mean if my hemocrit is high? japanese doctor: ::shrug:: we need to do more testing me: what kind of testing? can I have a clue as to what maybe could be wrong? japanese doctor: come to this appointment me: OMG can you tell me what you are going to do to me already?!) whereas my doctors for my bodily injuries really tried to help me out.
    The private doctors are much nicer but the dentists here make me want to scream. Thank god there's a more western-minded clinic in a city a few hours from me that understands the concept of going in for a yearly cleaning. Once a year and not a mind-boggling five visits or a quizzical look like there's something wrong with me if my teeth don't hurt but I want to see a doctor.
    And gynos? Don't even get me started on the misogyny running rampant behind those doors… and they don't understand the yearly exams either… though that might be cultural. My supervisor panicked when I asked her.
    Yeesh, I didn't mean for it to come out so negative! I had a far better time with my doctors in America and it's not a language problem since I'm pretty fluent in Japanese.

  • Ariana

    I had my internal doctor tell me that as well. I was like, “Uh, wouldn't the stomach pain be much more likely to be caused by the fact that I just got back from China?” And he was all, “Possibly. But really, don't drink cold water.”

  • jon

    “There's clearly no reason to bother getting a doctor's appointment for a (insert sickness) if it's going to be gone by the time you get to see the doctor.”

    I hear this often, and I wonder, is there any reason to go to the doctor at all then?

  • Christina

    Well, a lot of people just don't go to the doctor at all. They just go to the emergency room when someone else yells at them that they're going to die if they don't. I think this is one of the (thousands of) problems with the insurance situation US.

  • Christina

    My local community actually sent out packets to all of the women (above 25) in the area to get a free general women's exam. It was for once every two years, but it still seemed pretty impressive to me.

  • jon

    I can definitely agree that people will go to the doctor at the drop of a hat. Literally. Turns out there's medicine for hat droppings.

    Seriously though, people do overburden the medical system and the government healthcare budget here. That said, I've known several doctors and am convinced that some (though not all— like anywhere else in the world) are amazingly smart, talented, and qualified.

    Just don't go to this guy

  • Politicalguineapig

    Hey, I had something like that too. It's actually a burst blood vessel in the eye. I went to an American doctor for it, and she told me about it. All but threw me out of the office. By the way, the host family could be right. Apparently, you can burst a blood vessel after a prolonged bout of vomiting.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kyle-James-Post/802714646 Kyle James Post

    I was actually very surprised with some of the stuff i read in this article. The one time that i actually had to go to a doctor in japan i was taken care of for exactly whatever problem i had at the time and was out the door with the proper medicine to treat it. Very strange to learn that it doesn't always go that way. Thank you for posting this. It could come in handy in the future :)

  • Ma Shing Chak from Hong Kong

    It's a traditional Chinese medicine concept: cold water apparently upsets the balance of heat in your body or some drivel like that. I don't believe it (I'm a medical student in the UK =p), but that's the way I was raised and I still avoid cold drinks out of habit/personal preference. It might be the placebo effect, but I do feel a lot better after a good hot cup of green tea.

    Doctors all over East Asia, not only Japan, mix and match medicine and traditional beliefs, then tell their patients stuff like “don't drink cold water”. Some Chinese patients actually PREFER their doctors to explain things in terms of qi, yin and yang, the four humors, etc. rather than “this newfangled stuff about germs”. Perhaps that's also true for a segment of the Japanese population, so doctors might just be responding to the expectations of their clientele. Patients, of course, are always relieved to hear advice which they can both understand and act upon – and if you grew up in Asia, you're hardly likely to question the benefits of hot drinks!

  • http://culturequirk.blogspot.com/ Delphine

    Wow, interesting chart (for many of the countries really). I hadn't really heard too many horror stories myself, but that kind of freaks me out now as I guess I had a bit of a close call actually – a couple of months after visiting Japan I got appendicitis. Phew!

  • Raven

    Awesome article man, thanks for posting it. Btw is that last picture from bioshock?

  • http://twitter.com/eisbehr Florian

    In Germany you need one starting the first sick day. But that's only natural considering that you get paid the same for being sick at home and working.
    To be honest I'm much more scared of the US doctors and system than the Japanese. I just can't understand that there is so much resentment about Obama's health insurance plans.
    You just go to the doctor, give him your health insurance card and that's it. Don't have to worry about anything.
    But I guess that's going a little off topic…

  • SBKch
  • Bryan

    I never did go to a dentist while I was studying in Japan, but maybe I should've taken advantage of the cheap health insurance. One big difference is that most dentistry in the US is treated almost like an elective procedure as far as insurance goes, only the better plans include coverage. Also the reason why Americans (I am one) are so against healthcare reform (but not me) is the very strong association government==poor quality, badly done, bureaucratic nightmare; they think that if the government messes with the health care system too much it will get even worse. A lot of people are under the misconception that the US healthcare system is fantastic (which from the chart, its not so great). I think people fail to realize that just because the US has some of the best medical care available in the world doesn't mean its a good system–i.e. its great for rich business men with rare types of cancer, but sucks at taking care of middle class with garden variety ailments for a reasonable price. I wish the US system would be more like Japans but that probably isn't feasible.

  • utasabu

    I love the chart (lol at the US). Interesting points you brought up, especially the hesitancy doctors have regarding second opinions. Absolutely correct from what I've heard/read.
    While we may trust US doctors more compared to the frightening Japanese ones, I must say medical care in the US is quite impersonal. Say you're a foreigner in Japan. If you are relatively seriously ill, I would say in Japan you'd at least be able to afford what treatment you would need. If you came back to the US, with a middle-to-low class wage, it's doubtful you would get the right kind of care. In that aspect, I feel Japan's healthcare system offers a more complete coverage, though a bit paranoid and esoteric regarding practices, compared to the US.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=678017789 facebook-678017789

    Japanese dentists are scarier than Japanese Doctors by a factor of about 10x in my opinion. There seem to be a disproportionate number of the – particularly in Osaka – and I've heard horror stories of them giving fillings just for a bit of cash and accidentally cutting into a friends gum (followed shortly after with a “whoops” in Japanese).

    On the other end of the spectrum, Japanese chiropractors are super cheap. I used to pay around 4500 yen per visit back home and now I pay around 1500 yen. Makes me want to go back weekly. At home I couldn't afford to go back more than once a month!

  • Dangomushi

    Considering how much evidence points to the core principles of Chiropractic care being a sham that's not supported by real scientific research, it's surprising Chiropractors in the US get away with charging so much for it.

  • SBKch

    No, it is from Silent Hill.

  • http://twitter.com/Roxyfighter Roxanne Modafferi

    Yeah, I hate Japanese doctors SO MUCH. I first go knowing that it will be the first out of two visits. I must get a second opinion about everything because 70% of the time, they are wrong…like I've had skin rashes that I've gone to 5 different doctors about, and each one looked so offended when I said, “I'm taking this medicine this other guy perscribed but it's not working…” like I broke the sacred rule of only seeing one dufus. I mean doctor. LOL

  • http://JapanDave.com David LaSpina

    I agree with you that the chart is misleading, but then again… all stats are misleading. I mean by themselves they aren't, but if you know what you are doing you can present them in such a way as to prove *anything*.

    Having said that… my taxes here are less than they were back in America, and I pay much much less for each visit to the hospital.

  • http://JapanDave.com David LaSpina

    heh. Good post, Koichi. I've heard many of the same things you listed. Oddly, tho, I've not experienced them. Usually my visits are very straight forward, and I enjoy that the doctor actually seems to listen to me. I know I'm the odd man out here, but the Japanese doctors I see never try to give me drugs. Even when I caught Chicken Pox (what are the odds huh? I avoid it my entire life back home, come here and instantly get it), none of the doctors I saw wanted to give me any drugs. In that specific case, I thought my Japanese was just failing me so I brought my Japanese wife with me to translate and he even told her I couldn't have any drugs. Rough…

  • Paul

    From my experience, most people don't just go to the doctor at the local clinic for a common cold, but actually go and rock up at ER of the local hospital. Imagine trying that in any Western country! Must be one heck of a good healthcare system behind the scenes to allow for that.

    My personal favourite oddity is that these warm sticky pads that shrivel up and harden over the course of a day (modern day leeches!) tend to be a commonly suggested solution for any problem.

  • Greg

    In Canada we have a real problem because of the unrealistic salaries that health care professionals squeeze out of the American system. You can stay here and pay off your student loans making, say as much as $250,000 or go Stateside and make anywhere from 2 to 6 times that amount. So guess where many of the good doctors go… Yet, this outrageous price results in people who literally cannot afford to see a doctor even if they're dying.

    We refer to this as part of the Brain Drain below the border. In other countries without a huge neighbour offering their good doctors millions of dollars a year more than home it is much easier to control healthcare spending. In the city where I live in Ontario we are currently short 25 doctors. Literally thousands of people go without a GP to look after them, even people with chronic conditions. I DO hope the US gets their house in order as far as healthcare and starts paying doctors in line with what they make in almost every other civilised country.

  • Wi-ZER

    Very interesting Discussion, but I have a “life saving question,” which is, or is not, connected with this discussion: Right now in Europe and the U.S.of A. people are dieing everyday from a lung disease called
    “Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis” (IPF). Yet in “Scary Japan” (Taiwan, and South Korea), there is a life saving drug called Pirespa, in the US and Europe & Canada it's called Pirfenidone. BUT..the FDA has been siting on approval of this drug since 2008. All the while it's own people die? In this case I think Japan has it's S_ _ _t together!
    Why do I mention this here, and now? Because all of you seem to have “it” together as well, oh, did I mention that I have IPF, yep dieing from it, without this drug I would guess six months, give or take.
    Problem is, I am not ready to check out when this drug is within reach, would you? My challenge to you all is; from your knowledge of, resources in, or contacts with Japan or it's people, can you please get me in contact with an English speaking Japanese Doctor? Heck, I don't care how scary he/she is, they can be a Transformer for all I care, just as long as their for real. I will take it from there-Thanks.

  • XxnehaxX

    Oh gawd this is interesting! I'll be in japan in a year or so to do my elective placement at a hospital ^^I used to volunteer at St.lukes hospital in Tsukiji but never came across any of the things you mentioned. Good to know now though! I'll try not to turn out like the japanese doctors! If theres anything else hospitally, medically or whateva related please let me know! ^^

  • MZLweasel

    I read a pretty crazy article about the Korean healthcare system and their habit of making a 5-minute diagnosis for each patient.

  • http://fladur.wordpress.com/ Gustavo Valdez

    I don't like my country's health care system but what to… it saved my life!!!

  • Rowes

    You're surprised? I'm not. There is a deep, pervasive ethnocentric mindset in Japan that borders on racism. One of my good American friends who lived in Nagoya for a while went to see a gynecologist there. He said, and I quote, “Oh, don't worry, this won't hurt – you're white!” before ramming the pap-test/scope-thingie right into her cervix. And yes, for the record, it hurt like hell.

  • bimyoooo

    lmao while I was in Japan I had a headache and my host family rushed me to the hospital like I was dying or something. Then they tried giving me an IV shot >_> why? I really don't know hahaha but the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time I went to the doctor (for various other reasons) all ended up with them giving me an IV shot… my friend said that it happened to her all the time too for like any sickness. “throat hurts? PUT A SHOT IN IT! stomach aches? PUT A SHOT IN IT!”

  • Ken

    True, but remember that your taxes in America go to a lot of things that Japan doesn't pay for, and which have little to no effect on health care or life expectancy. How many wars is Japan fighting right now? How many million citizens does it have in prison? How many bailouts were given to major car companies in Japan last year?

  • Katie

    My experience with Japanese doctors was quite positive – I went with a Japanese woman who interpreted everything for me, so I didn't have to worry about language barriers. The doctors and nurses were very polite and careful with me. Gave me some medicine (actually needed it lol) and that was that. Pretty much the same treatment I get in the US, except everything was much cheaper (the Japanese woman was shocked when I told her about the bills for ambulances, how much prescriptions cost with/without insurance, etc).

  • Gonar T. Leyden

    Doctors generally get paid much less in Japan too. They tend to think of the occupation in terms of “I am providing a service to the greater good of the community” rather than “I hold people's lives in my hands so I should make tons of money for it”. To that end, they also don't have huge mansions and don't drive around in BMW M3s and Mercedes.

    Just another thing that stems from a different way of thinking about not only health care, but lifestyle in general.

  • Gonar T. Leyden

    Doctors generally get paid much less in Japan too. They tend to think of the occupation in terms of “I am providing a service to the greater good of the community” rather than “I hold people's lives in my hands so I should make tons of money for it”. To that end, they also don't have huge mansions and don't drive around in BMW M3s and Mercedes.

    Just another thing that stems from a different way of thinking about not only health care, but lifestyle in general.

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