I have been to many consultations lately. I am a heart patient, so I need to do somw yearly check-ups to make sure the clockwork is still ticking correctly.
This was the first time I had to do this in Japan, and I feel like there are some unwritten rules at how you should act when you visit the doctor here, but I am not sure if it's just a thing with my clinic.
First of all, I noticed that they have a strange fear of exposed skin, which is quite funny for a medical clinic. I have always taken my shirt of for scannings and regular heart monitoring, but at my clinic the doctor almost panicked when I started pulling up my shirt (I am a man btw), and instead she spent a lot of time fiddling with the electrodes under my shirt.
I also experienced this when I was tourist here and came down with a bad pneumonia and had to be scanned. This also had to be done while I was wearing my winter sweater.
I find it quite strange.
I also noticed that even when patients are called into the examination room, they stand outside, knock on the door and wait for the doctor to tell them to come in (again).
Thirdly, I feel like doctors here get a bit impatient if you try to actually describe your symptoms. I feel like every consultation has to go by a "yes or no" check, and if there is something in my medical history that I feel needs a deeper explanation, I often get cut off quickly or the doctor looks a bit annoyed.
I was wondering if there was a general "do / don't" list that I should study about going to the doctor in Japan, because I always feel like I am doing things wrong.
by West_Measurement9172