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Seeing a Doctor in Japan: Your Insurance Card and the Medical Questionnaire

Fever or a sore throat in Japan: what do you do from the clinic door to picking up your medicine? Read ahead so you are not caught off guard.

Seeing a Doctor in Japan: Your Insurance Card and the Medical Questionnaire
  • Hand your insurance card to the front desk; on a first visit you will be given a questionnaire to fill in.
  • The doctor asks about your symptoms, and a few simple model sentences are enough to answer.
  • Pay at the counter, then take your prescription to a pharmacy to get your medicine.

Before you go

When you have a fever or a sore throat, you go to a nearby hospital or clinic.

Before you go, check ahead whether you can make a reservation by phone or online.

Many clinics do not require a reservation, but sometimes the wait gets long.

At the front desk

When you arrive, first go to the front desk and hand over your insurance card.

These days some clinics also accept the My Number card in place of the insurance card.

At a clinic you visit for the first time, you have to fill in a medical questionnaire.

Besides your name and address, you also write since when and where it hurts.

If you have allergies or take any medicine, please do not forget to write it down.

If you are worried about your Japanese, saying “I don’t understand Japanese very well” may get staff to speak more gently.

When you have finished, hand it in and wait in a chair in the waiting room. When your name is called, you go into the examination room.

Describing your symptoms

The doctor usually asks, “What seems to be the problem?”

After that, answering like this gets your point across well.

“Since yesterday I have had a fever and a sore throat.”

“My head hurt, so I couldn’t eat.”

“I can’t stop coughing. I can’t sleep at night and it is hard.”

If the doctor asks, “What was your temperature?”, answer with a number.

When medicine is prescribed, you get instructions such as “Please take it after meals.”

Paying and the pharmacy

After the examination, you wait to pay near the front desk.

With insurance, you normally pay about thirty percent of the cost.

After that, you take the prescription paper to a pharmacy.

At the pharmacy, you listen to how to take the medicine and receive it.

When you are sick, don’t push yourself; it is better to see a doctor early.

Words in this article

保険証ほけんしょう
health insurance card
問診票もんしんひょう
medical questionnaire
受付うけつけ
reception desk
診察しんさつ
medical examination
会計かいけい
payment counter
薬局やっきょく
pharmacy
熱ねつ
fever
心配しんぱい
worry