Going to be staying in the hospital for a week! Any tips and essentials to bring?

32 comments

1. Pocket wifi. Even if they say they have wifi there it might be extremely slow or spotty.

2. Buy fruit or have someone bring it to you. The air can be very dry, and the food can be unpalatable.

3. A small electric fan. Japanese hospitals don’t believe in AC. Also, pay the extra for a private room.

4. Advice based on my wife’s extended stay:

   Best food recommendation is furikake! Food is relatively bland and uninteresting, but you will probably get plain rice ~1.5 times a day, and the furikake at least makes that interesting. Cheap and easy to bring and store.

   Books. Keep you busy independent of the wifi/roomate/charger etc. situation.

   Have some pocket change and/or charge your Suica. You may need it to buy drinks from vending machines, and you may also need to buy a card to use the fridge in your room.

5. You listed eye mask twice is it that bright inside?

6. snacks!

7. Face masks or a sleep/night deep moisturising masks, every hospital stay has dried my skin out badly. Sudoku /puzzle books, colouring books, mindless games/activities are always good.

8. cant say this enough… when you have pain post op… most hospitals policy (had 3 surgeries at 3 hospitals is my experience) is to slowly increase the number of pills, then change to stronger pills and repeat, and will often try to downgrade the pills thinking you wont care. so instead what i always do is tell the docs and nurses to get me on toramaaru (tramadol) which is the stronger pain med here (very minimal amount of actual opiate in it). they still try to tell me maybe later, or ill check with the doctor and they nevvverrrr do. just refuse the pain meds they give and be adamant about the switch. i dont know whether its because of cost for hospital, the ganbatte cultural attitude or what but its a fight to get them. so unless you want to spend the painful recovery parts with only a couple strong ibuprofen to help you out….stand firm and get that toramaaru (tramadol)

   edit: i know this isnt “things to bring” but god damn do i wish id known this for my earlier surgeries

9. Chargers. For your phone, pocket wifi, and all other electronics you will be bringing

10. Unless you are a visitor and not a resident, you won’t need your passport.
    Shower times are pretty short. Like 10 – 15 minutes, but sometimes you can get a bit longer if you’re the last person on the sign-up sheet.

    I wouldn’t bring a blanket unless it was one of those cool ones from Nitori or someplace.

    It will be hot because (from what I was told) older people have trouble regulating their body temps and the higher temps don’t bother them.
    A portable fan and cooling body wipes were a must for me.

    I would add water to that list. List any 2L bottles you can pick up from 7-11 or your local grocery store. Bring maybe 3 or 4 to start with. You’ll have to pay to use the bedside mini fridge. And you’ll also have to pay if you want to watch TV. Room temp water isn’t the best, but imo not worth paying for the small fridge (which can really only hold like 3 bottles of water.

    If you have portable wifi you can enjoy your netflix and so on.

    But…they usually turn the lights out at like 9pm. When you’re in a shared room, the light from your device will be noticeable when the room lights go out.

    Some hospitals have laundry services or washing machines on site, but you’ll need to bring cash (although I think the one I was at would add it to your bill, but it would take 2 or 3 days for your clothes to get back).
    If you have family or friends who are willing to pick up, wash, and return your sweaty clothes, that’s probably the best option imo.

    And finally, I think more hospitals are taking credit card payments, but have some cash and coins on hand for the vending machines…if you are okay’d to eat other food.

    Oh, bring a portable battery charger that can be charged from a wall socket. And if you have one of those adapters that allows for multiple devices to be plugged in, I’d recommend one of those, too.

11. This was well over 15 years ago and in a rural area (well, comparatively speaking), so things may be different, but when I had a shoulder surgery I was also supposed to bring my own cup, plate, bowl, and silverware for the hospital stay.

    For my first 3 days there, they brought me nothing but two slices of bread and some butter and jam for EVERY. SINGLE. MEAL. Everyone else was getting ramen or whatnot, my tray had bread and nothing else. Because foreigners eat bread apparently. It wasn’t until a year or so later I ran into an older foreigner who had stayed in the same hospital before I had. Apparently he had liked their bread so much he kept asking for more, so maybe that was part of it, but still, you’d think hospital staff would know better than “nothing but bread for every meal”.

12. i know you wrote medicine, but if you dont speak the best japanese, having the info sheets on each med you take (the ones you get with scripts at the pharmacy) was really helpful for the staff in my last experience

13. Entertainment, phone chargers, and flavour: furikae/ketchup-shoyu packs…. A small fan powered by usb (same as your phone charger) is handy, and a couple of gel packs you can put in the fridge to use to cool you down. CASH… nothing worse than wanting something other than water to drink in your down time and only having whatever pocket money on you cuz the hospital doesn’t have a 24/7 ATM for whatever reason.

14. I had to bring my own utensils (chopsticks) for my hospital stay earlier this year.

    I was also really glad for the huggable pillow/stuffed animal some coworkers got me as a gift before I went in; the bed and pillow were so stiff and uncomfortable, that the little I was able to sleep was thanks to snuggling the stuffed cat.

    And yeah tons of stuff to do to keep you busy. I downloaded shows on my Netflix to be able to watch offline, brought study books, and also manga to read

15. Oh, another one I thought of. If you’re using your phone or a laptop get a longer charger cable. The outlet may be far away from your bed.

16. Chopsticks/cutlery and drinking cup(s). Some hospitals do not provide them, and it was the one item I missed on the “to bring” list.

    Depending on the surgery, you might need to bring adult diapers. I had to stay lying down for quite a while, so they had me buy some.

17. If you have a tablet download as many tv shows, movies, audio books as you can and get earphones.

18. Strong zero?

19. Dunno what hospital you are off to. A lot of the good ones in Tokyo have free wifi. However, you will need ear buds/phones if you are not in a private room. No need for a blanket or a dryer. They have those.

    If the hospital has a conbini you can pretty much get all you need. Nurses will buy it for you, so have cash.

    And, yes, get furikake. The rice sucks and the bread sucks. So changing to bread is a bad move.

    Get well!

20. As for surgery clothes, if they’re cutting you up chances are they’ll give you a gown and a pair of disposable undies.

    Bring coins, disposable cutlery, sanitizing wipes, baby wipes (or body wipes for the no shower days), fan, entertainment.

21. Cash to pay for the experience. They likely won’t accept credit cards

22. If you work for a company here, your company 健康保険組合 may offer subsidies for room costs etc. might be worth looking into

23. I’d bring some emulator and play retro games.

24. You have everything in your list that I was told to bring and didn’t bring but wish that I had when I was hospitalized for surgery in 2019.

    My hospital required you to buy (rent?) a special charge card to use the fridge and TV.

    Someone suggested furikake- this is probably a good idea, but frankly, I didn’t mind the food.
    Also definitely bring the chargers, and maybe a splitter (can get one at daiso) or extension cord in case you need more sockets.

    Definitely bring a rolling suitcase to carry it all. I was too proud, and tried to pack it all in a backpack and shoulder bag.

    It was too hot for me, but the nurses brought me an ice pack to help me cool down.

    Some are saying cash, but every hospital I’ve experienced has ATMs on site.

25. Omg is it a complicated surgery ? That’s so long ! 🤪

26. I would bring stuff to wash dishes with. I had to stay in a hospital once and they offered to wash the utensils I brought after meals. After a few days I noticed they were just rinsing them off in the sink.

27. You need a drink cup. They usually don’t provide any drinks

28. iPad or tablet with pocket wi-fi.

    Books/comics.

    Snacks!

29. Have you stayed in this hospital before?
    Maybe it’s better than ours, but when we stay overnights the only pillows provided are those teeny soba husk things. I just couldn’t get used to it, always having trouble sleeping in the shared room, and had to have my husband bring a regular pillow the second day.

30. Highly recommend a little water bottle cap that you can put a straw through! My wife loved that since it made it easier to drink fluids while on the delivery chair

    Also, if they allow it, maybe a Bluetooth speaker?

31. I’m surprised you haven’t received a booklet of the supplies you’re supposed to bring to the hospital. As the primary caretaker, I’ve received a booklet for those plus the rules during visitation and the nurses explained everything throughly. It maybe different for each hospital? My husband has been staying at a hospital for the past 1.5 months after an accident. He will be discharged after another 2 weeks. (Hopefully)

    – The surgeon made a direct phone call to me after the emergency surgery that he is okay and waking up.
    – He is staying at a 個室　/ private room but I wasn’t allowed to stay with him even on the day of surgery. There is no space for an extra bed, only a chair, and then his wheelchair takes up most of the space.
    – I can only see him for 15 minutes a day. I go to visit him every day. I have long covid and POTS, so there were 3-4 days when I was very fatigued with fever.. on those days I haven’t been able to see him. They measure the body temperature of visitors so even if I made it, I would probably be told to leave.
    – Because it’s 個室　I can visit him in his room. If it’s a four person room, visitors can only see their family in the day room.
    – I do his laundry at home since he hasn’t been able to walk. But hospitals should have coin laundry.
    – I bring him 2 liters of water and snacks daily.
    – I was worried about prebiotics, because he received antibiotics via IV after surgery. But the hospital was kind enough to bring him Yakult each morning at breakfast.
    – I buy packs of hydrolyzed collagen every once in a while for better healing
    – He gives me his bank card for cash withdrawals and 納税　/ tax payments when needed (Yes I can do the tax payments on his behalf at the bank)
    – Canceled gym membership on his behalf
    – Small children under 13 cannot visit
    – Anyone who is not residing with him can’t visit, that limits the visitor pool to only me
    – Everything, all the paperwork was in Japanese. You will also have to contact your insurance company and the communication is in Japanese. For this reason I did the communication on behalf of my husband, but you can do it on your own if you can read and speak fluently.
    – He’s staying in a personal room without shower. He is allowed two showers per week in the public shower.
    – He had to order a long cable from Amazon

    This is a list of what I’ve brought him:
    – Medicines that he uses daily
    – Emergency inhaler when he’s having an asthma attack
    – Contact lens solution, glasses (he had contact lenses on during the accident)
    – Moisturizers. Spray moisturizer from Curel works best because it’s easy to use. Staying in an air conditioned space 24/7 is drying for the skin
    – Tea tree oil and TTO patches for break outs after surgery
    – His English books
    – JLPT N4/N3 books
    – A couple of plushies from home so he won’t feel lonely
    – Body moisturizer as recommended by the nurse.
    – Cotton buds? 綿棒
    – Nail trimmer
    – Paper cups for water
    – His personal laptop
    – Work phone
    – Phone charger
    – Laptop charger
    – Only the personal rooms have wifi. If you’re staying at a room of 4, bring a personal wifi
    – Multiminerals for better bone healing
    – Slippers were not allowed, only sandals because of the risk of slipping and falling
    – Towels (I do the laundry for towels as well)
    – Wet wipes from Biore for body
    – Hair brush
    – Hair oil (your hair gets tangled after surgery)
    – Shampoo
    – Body wash
    – Body towel for showering
    – Tooth brush
    – Tooth paste
    – Dental floss
    – Deodorant
    – You will only stay for a week, but because my husband has a rather long stay, I ask him if he needs any refills.

    His meals are adjusted according to his personal needs after orthopedic surgery. (Calcium, vitamin D, high protein)

    A few times I got him McDonalds when he had cravings

32. So many good tips already from everyone.

    Items to add to your list:

    + Phone charger + long charging cable + plug.
    This is a must. Both times I was in hospital 1m cake couldn’t reach the outlet.

    (If you have Netflix etc download as many episodes of your favorite show as possible. I watched Enterprise, and Friends over and over again hehe).

    + Make sure you have Google translator app downloaded for communication. And it comes in handy when they give you all the forms.

    + Earphones for your phone. Some hospitals all you to use earphones.

    + Tissue box (runny nose, clean spills etc)

    + Wet wipes

    + Notebook for drawing, taking notes etc

    + At least 2 pens, the go missing sometimes, so have a spare.

    + A small string shoulder bag. Just a small one. When you start to be able to walk to the bathroom you can use the string bag to carry things in to the sink, toilet etc. Like cup and tooth brush, or toiletries.

    + Download a diary app like diarium : I spent most of my time typing on my phone e.g. what I ate, temperature, BP stats, etc. Just helped pass the time.

    + Make sure you have enough data on your phone. Or pocket wifi.

    + Cup, or 2. For brushing teeth, and one for drinking. They allow you to do shopping from the hospital store, if they have one. And you can buy like 1L bottle of tea. Etc. Having a cup makes it easier to drink.

    + About 10 Plastic bags, for dirty clothes you want to take home/ a make shift trash bag. E.g. I couldn’t reach the trash can after surgery so they tied a plastic bag to the bed railing so I could reach.

    + Slip on shoes. Cheap Comfy ones. I wore sneakers, but you need another pair just slip on for shuffling around to the bathroom etc.

    ++ Don’t bring too many valuables. Leave your jewelry at home etc. The side tables might have a safety box. But it’s usually very small. Just bring your wallet, ID, phone.

    Check if you can get rental clothes. I just wore the hospital rental wear the whole time. So I didn’t need to bring lots of clothes. You will need underwear. If you have family visiting then just a weeks worth and have them bring clean ones each week.

    Check if you can order meals. The meals are like kyushoku (school lunch) very nutritious.

    (I spent about 2 weeks and another 6 weeks in 2 hospitals about 2yrs ago.)