I’ve been visiting friends and family in Canada for the past few weeks, taking time off between jobs. I just realized that my new employer (back in Tokyo) might require me to undergo a health check when joining the company, and that could be a problem, if they test for a certain substance that’s legal here in Canada, but not in Japan.
I’m flying back to Japan to start my new job tomorrow. I have three questions:
1. What are the chances that they order a health check for me right when I join?
2. Do they test for illicit substances in these health checks?
3. Is there any way for me to refuse/postpone a health check without it seeming suspicious?
I know that I haven’t technically done anything wrong, but this is not the kind of thing I want people in Japan (especially an employer) to know about.
7 comments
1. If not before, shortly after as it is mandated by labor bureau
2. Unless the company ask for health check with specific test markers, generally no
3. They are obliged to offer one for you, from a legal standpoint there are no penalties for you but may result in disciplinary action (extreme cases they cancel your offer from what I read from chiebukuro)
for 1 and 2 , I referred to this article [https://welsa.biz/media/post981/#:~:text=%E4%BC%81%E6%A5%AD%E3%81%8C%E5%BE%93%E6%A5%AD%E5%93%A1%E3%81%AB,%E8%A6%8F%E5%AE%9A%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9B%E3%82%93%E3%80%82](https://welsa.biz/media/post981/#:~:text=%E4%BC%81%E6%A5%AD%E3%81%8C%E5%BE%93%E6%A5%AD%E5%93%A1%E3%81%AB,%E8%A6%8F%E5%AE%9A%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9B%E3%82%93%E3%80%82)
> What are the chances that they order a health check for me right when I join?
Pretty high. 3/6 of my employers required healthcheck before joining. Another one required one within 1 week of joining.
> Do they test for illicit substances in these health checks?
No, I don’t think they do drug test as part of the health check, at least that’s uncommon in my industry, which is IT.
> Is there any way for me to refuse/postpone a health check without it seeming suspicious?
That’s not easy. In my case, those checks were non-negotiable. In fact 3 of my employers explicitly had them as a condition to get hired.
* If you have a health check report from the last 1 year or less, you might be able to just submit that one. Ask the new company if they’re valid. I did it once, sent a 3-months old report to the new company and they accepted it.
* The checkup contents is standardized. For the blood test: Hemoglobin level, Red blood cell count, GOT, GPT, γ-GTP, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, Triglyceride, Blood glucose. For urine test: Glucose, Protein. I don’t know how illicit substances will surface in this test.
The usual health check is a chest x-ray, blood lipid test, urine check, and a “how ya feeling” type check. MoT facilities here do not have and don’t require a drug check; they just want to make sure you are in reasonably good health and won’t drop dead of a BP in the 300s. It costs about ¥10,000; your local clinic can do it, and the company usually reimburses you if you have a receipt.
If you have reason to be worried about a positive drug test while living and working in Japan, maybe Colorado is a better place for you to live. Drugs, even if they are accepted or semi-legal overseas does not mean they are allowed or tolerated here, regardless if is a trend or or is just “harmless” ———.
Why would you risk putting illiegal substances into your blood stream before coming to a country where it’s illiegal?
Seems like whatever happens, you have it coming.
but… I’m 99% sure you’ll be ok, health checks here aren’t as comprehensive as you’d assume.
You have to specifically test for drugs to find them. It’s not going to pop up in the results on a normal health check.
Don’t know if they’ll test for drugs but
if they do and you pop hot, the doctor/clinic
is required to report it to the police