I’d like to share my experience of seeking medical help in Tokyo, Japan. After having sushi, I felt a severe pain in my throat, which prompted me to seek an ENT doctor. My first step was to call the Tokyo non-emergency number, 7119, where a friendly operator asked about my symptoms and provided numbers for five hospitals.
However, upon contacting these hospitals, I discovered that none of them had an ENT doctor available, even in their emergency rooms. I suspected this might be due to Culture Day, but it was still a surprise. I called the non-emergency number again and was given numbers for four additional hospitals. Unfortunately, these were also unable to help, stating that they were full, not accepting new patients, or didn’t have a doctor available.
The non-emergency service then suggested I call Himawari, a Tokyo local service that provided specific ENT clinics. I visited one of the recommended clinics, waited for 45 minutes, and underwent a nose/throat scope procedure + bone removal on-site. After the consultation, I received a prescription. The cost for seeing a doctor was ¥35,000 and the prescription was ¥4000.
I do have insurance to cover the cost, but I was taken aback by the complexity of the process, especially when compared to my past experiences in Lisbon, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur where I had been able to visit a private hospital, see a doctor, and receive medication efficiently and for much less than even $200. I was quite surprised at the complicated ER system in Tokyo, a city I expected to be highly convenient and well-organized, and this experience was quite a shock.
Oh also, this was all done in Japanese. I would ask at the beginning of each call if they spoke English (because I’m more comfortable speaking English about medical terms + just out of curiosity), but only one hospital had someone who spoke English on site…
28 comments
Thats quite rare for a sushi to have bone in it. Innit?
Thank you for being so informative in your experience. I’ve been to Japan 7 times and never thought about what I should be prepared for in case of such emergencies.
My light hearted question to you is….which sushi restaurant did you go to? I’ll make sure never to go there as Sushi chefs knows the biggest mistake is not removing all fish bones.
Glad you are okay OP.
Kind of interested to know how/why you have so much experience visiting hospitals and emergency rooms in so many countries…world traveler?
I guess there always has to be that one guy who graduates at the bottom
Thanks for sharing the non emergency number. I’m in Japan now and it’s probably something I should have memorized just in case. Currently going to find and memorize emergency number too 😅. Glad you are ok!
Are you on a hospital tour or something? Glad you’re ok though
Japan is all about long, slow, drawn out processes. Multiple faxes probably went out at that hospital with your information. I wish I was exaggerating.
Can I ask how far down the fish bone was stuck?
Also how did they get it out?
I feel you maybe overcomplicated the process yourself… I was in Japan last summer. Had a pretty nasty fall from my bike, and was afraid I broke my wrist.
I simply looked for the closest hospital on Google and walked in to the ER service (I just contacted my insurance prior to warn them). And that was it, it went smoothly.
I am glad you were able to have a treatment. If you aren’t covered by Japanese health insurance, 39000 yen is quite normal. (we pay 30% for that with health insurance.)
Being a Tokyoite myself, waiting for 45min. without reservation in advance, especially on a national holiday is quite normal, too…
I’m sorry you had to go through that.
After being in Tokyo for +4 years I have been disappointed in the Japanese health care system numerous times. There’s a huge lack of empathy and no sense of urgency.
I remember having a fishbone lodged in one of my tonsils when I was a kid. I tried pulling it out with my hand -due to the gag reflex nada, eating chunks of rice/banana, nada. After trying for a couple of hours, I just gave up and slept. For some reason, it was gone when I woke up in the morning. lol
$200 for a same day consultation with a specialist, procedure and a prescription in a developed country sounds pretty amazing to me. Though getting to the right clinic does sound like it was a bit tricky.
Yeah I also just had the unfortunate experience of getting PCR covid test plus the doctor (mandatory- they would not let me just take the test) – $300 + Australian dollars. Hope I can get some back through insurance.
OP, we usually swallow a big chunk of banana to remove the fishbone on our throat. We also ask breech babies to massage the throat to remove it. Sorry its a cultural thing that surprisingly works.
100% agree. The Japanese emergency health system is bureaucratic and negligent. I lived in Tokyo for a year and got severe tonsilitis. Was directed to multiple different hospitals and was turned away multiple times due to that specific hospital not being an ENT hospital. Finally a Japanese doctor who studied in Brisbane sent me to a ENT hospital and they accepted me.
They said my tonsilitis was viral, didn’t take a throat swab to test it, gave me anti-virals and sent me home. I told them I often get bacterial tonsilitis and am susceptible to it but they dismissed me. Few days later, my 40°c fever hasn’t gone yet and I have the worst flight of my life, shivering and hallucinating on the plane to visit back home in Australia. Go straight to the hospital again in Australia. They tell me I’ve had bacterial tonsilitis the whole time, that has turned into a throat abscess and I am hours away from blood poisoning. I’m given emergency intrevenous antibiotics and steroids and a bunch of other stuff. I hate to think what would have happened to me if I hadn’t come back to visit home!!!
Japanese dentists are often doing this and they are rather easy to find (in front of like every station, and typically work evenings and Saturdays so easier than finding an ENT.
Not sure how massive these bones were.. For smaller ones you can try eating sticky food like banana..that helps.
I traveled with travel insurance that covered medical incidents. Ended up sick and in need of antibiotics. The insurance company connected me to telehealth with a local ENT. Dealing with google translate on telehealth was interesting but not impossible. Got my antibiotic and getting reimbursed for everything thru the insurance. I’d been warned many Japanese hospitals/clinics can and will turn away walk-ins. I wont ever travel to a foreign country without travel insurance again, they were amazing.
Ha, good luck if you ever visit Canada. I wanted to visit an ENT so my doctor put me on an 8-month waiting list. After my first appointment in early October, he said come back for a follow up so I can re-examine some things…. Got my appointment date in the mail for January 22nd.
Expecting to see a specialist on the same day is surprising to me. I would have just gone to the ER and buckled down to wait 14 hrs to see a regular doc.
You visit foreign hospitals quite a lot, do you?
I think that you could also try to find a gastroenterologist in this case (just to have more options). My dad is a gastroenterologist and he took care of that kind of stuff a lot.
> 39000 yen in total for a procedure which would cost 1000 dollars with insurance in the US.
This is a great example of why travel health insurance isn’t really required in most cases.
It’s just so cheap to just pay cash outside of the US. We are not accustomed to this. And predatory insurance companies sell travel health insurance to people that costs more than the procedure itself. Not to mention they’ll go through anything to deny your claim.
What’s ENT?
Cries in eeuu. Without insurance that trip to the er could’ve been 10k+ easily. My mom went once due to high blood pressure and they didnt want to give her anyhing for it, did some tests and sent her a 6k bill later.😤
Im so sorry this happened to you, its sounds so frustrating .. I can really relate though, cause just this week I thought I had appendicitis due to pain in that area, I went to a clinic and got an ultrasound, they confirmed yes it looks inflamed. So I fly home afraid to get surgery in Japan (and the pain wasnt so bad so I could manage it.) I get home after 20 hours of travel for the emergency doctor to tell me its not appendicitis its not inflamed its an ovarian cyst… How the doctor in Japan didnt see it blows my mind…
Low key this is a fear of mine… I’m glad you received care! How did your throat feel and how was eating affected during the rest of your trip?
I went to the ER at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo two weeks ago. It was a super easy experience and I got great care. Just my exam with the doctor was 40 minutes… he was so thorough! Sorry you had a bad time 🙁