Practicing Medicine In Japan?

[waverunner]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi I have a quick question for all of you.
I was wondering if there is anyway for a DO to practice medicine in Japan.
I just graduated from my undergraduate institution and am waiting to hear from medical schools. So far, I have an acceptance to Westren University, but have not heard from any MD schools.

Also, do you think if I were to practice medicine in Japan, then would you think foreign MD schools would be better (such as St. Georges or Ross) than DO schools?

Please let me know what you know about this topic,

Thank you very much in advance,

(btw, I speak both Japanese and English fluently...)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[EndSong]

I was under the impression that Japanese medicine was run quite different from Western, i.e. Japanese doctors have very, very little clinical experience. Additionally, how does paying back loans work?

 

[dhg046]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi I have a quick question for all of you.
I was wondering if there is anyway for a DO to practice medicine in Japan.
I just graduated from my undergraduate institution and am waiting to hear from medical schools. So far, I have an acceptance to Westren University, but have not heard from any MD schools.

Also, do you think if I were to practice medicine in Japan, then would you think foreign MD schools would be better (such as St. Georges or Ross) than DO schools?

Please let me know what you know about this topic,

Thank you very much in advance,

(btw, I speak both Japanese and English fluently...)

Fluency in Japanese as well as kanji are a must. All exams and interviews are given in the native tounge. The medical education system is improving dramatically and they are beginning to adopt Western style practice and educational systems. John's Hopkins will open a clinic in Tokyo soon and several famous teaching hospitals have a stable of English speaking docs (Kameda, St. Luke's International) to name a few.

Bilingual fluency in English and Japanese is an enormous advantage in the medical market place.

dg

 

[markdc]

Hmm, I had an interest in this at one point. Speaking Japanese is one thing but reading it is even more difficult. Written exams just seems like it would be insanely difficult. However if Japan medical schools take a more western approach it would be interesting to see what happens.

I would love the opportunity to live in Japan for a year while still doing something related to medicine.

Does anyone know that the avg GP or specialist renumeration is in Japan?

 

[erasable]

Fluency in Japanese as well as kanji are a must. All exams and interviews are given in the native tounge. The medical education system is improving dramatically and they are beginning to adopt Western style practice and educational systems. John's Hopkins will open a clinic in Tokyo soon and several famous teaching hospitals have a stable of English speaking docs (Kameda, St. Luke's International) to name a few.

Bilingual fluency in English and Japanese is an enormous advantage in the medical market place.

dg

lol. stables of english speaking doctors. funny but cool.
at the risk of getting flamed, I still feel compelled to ask...
What is the salary of physicians practicing in Japan?

 

[lord_jeebus]

If you're interested in treating western patients living in Japan and can deal with not being able to accept Japanese National Health Insurance (basically excluding all Japanese patients) the language requirements are not strict (there might not even be any at all).

 

[lord_jeebus]

lol. stables of english speaking doctors. funny but cool.
at the risk of getting flamed, I still feel compelled to ask...
What is the salary of physicians practicing in Japan?

I've been curious about this and it's really hard to find numbers for this. In the 80's it was higher than in the US but I do not think this is still the case. On Japanese sites I've seen around $100K described as average but the doctors I've known in practice there seem to be making much more (based on their lifestyles: yachts and such).

 

[dhg046]

Physician salaries depend on location and specialty but the range is much less than in the USA. Residents earn USD 35,000 and physicians just completing their training earn 60K to 100K depending on rural, city, specialty. Increases are by longevity and are very modest.

 

[capsomere]

I thought I would field some of the information here. For those of you who are fluent enough in Kanji here is the official Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare procedure in Japanese:

http://www.mhlw.go.jp/topics/2005/10/tp1005-1.html

In order to pass the Japanese National Examination for Medical Practitioners I would imagine one would also have the ability to pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) with a level 1 ranking (the highest). For those who have no prior knowledge of Japanese I have been told that it takes approximately five years of earnest study (preferably while living in Japan) to reach that level. I have heard of people (Dutch mostly) who have been able to pass the JLPT level 1 after only 2 years of studying, but the Dutch have superhuman language skills compared to monolingual English speakers. For instance, check this doctor out:

http://www.internationalclinic.org/dr_schlemper.html

There are also the procedural quirks of being a physician in Japan especially if you are not licensed in Japan. Please refer to this website for a few of these quirks:

http://www.japanpsychiatrist.com/Details.html

As for the salary question, my wife's father is a Japanese MD/PhD who specializes in internal medicine. He works at two hospitals and teaches at a prefectural university on the island of Kyushu (where he is also a researcher). I know he pulls in at least $100k per annum from two of those three positions. Sorry, I am not sure of the actual total but it seems somewhat comparable to the US (key word being somewhat).

The city he works in is the capital of a prefecture with a population of about 440,000 people (just to give you rough idea of the degree of metropolitanization). My wife's uncle on the other hand is a Japanese neurosurgeon who practices in Nagasaki and he pulls in well over $350K per annum. The discrepancy in salary is probably more a result of specialization than location however because I hardly think that Nagasaki is that much larger (460,000 people versus 440,000).

For those of you who are DOs or prospective DOs hoping to practice abroad here is an international licensure summary from American Osteopathy Association:

http://www.westernu.net/bin/comp/ime/Dr Jones/International DO Licensing summary pdf July 2006.pdf

You can search by country using the panel on th left. You'll notice that Japan's MHLW has not issued a response to the AOA.

I hope that was helpful to some of you. Sorry it was so long....

 

[jelly476]

good luck with all that.

i live in fukuoka ken and i toured kyushu uni medical school just to see what it was like. Japanese medical students are prohibited from touching patients until they are liscensed as a doctor which leads to them becoming proficient doctors only once they get to residency. Japanese medical school is 6 yrs like europe, and you go after you finish HIgh School to (IGAKUBU) = the medical division of the university. As for liscensing i know you have to pass their version of the boards but i dont know about if you just want to treat foreign nationals. That Dr. Schlemper guy (dutch guy) is 30 min from me and all the foreigners I know go to him. They say he's a bit creepy but nice hahaha. If i ever get sick, ill check him out and ask how he got his liscensure.

 

[capsomere]

Hey my brother-in-law goes to Kyudai. What are you doing in Fukuoka ken? Its a nice prefecture, though I've only been there once.

 

[jelly476]

im doing the JET program. its fun. i teach in elementary and middle school.

 

[capsomere]

I always wanted to join the JET program(me) and if I did I'd probably want to be set up on Kyushu. Was Fukuoka your choice or is that just where they sent you? If you requested it, was it easy to get that request fulfilled?

Not sure if I can take a year off from what I'm doing since I've already been in school too long but it'd be nice to know ahead of time what is actually possible.

Thanks for the information in advance...

 

[Arkady]

I've been curious about this and it's really hard to find numbers for this. In the 80's it was higher than in the US but I do not think this is still the case. On Japanese sites I've seen around $100K described as average but the doctors I've known in practice there seem to be making much more (based on their lifestyles: yachts and such).

Well I am not an expert, so IMO you should take my information with 2 spoons of salt, but...

I've read that Jap docs are paid uniformly regardless of the service they provide:
note that doctors in Japan are paid the same fee by Insurance for each service, irrespective of specialty or type of service - unlike the US where insurance pays procedures more than doctor consults, making the more procedural specialties like Anesthesiology, Neurology, Radiology, etc. much higher paid than say an Internist). So, with the fee-for-service model, for Japanese docs, the incentive to make more is not the kind the work, but the AMOUNT of work - more patients per hour = more money = shorter patient visits !

For the Japanese doc, the attitude becomes : Why study more and go through the pains of getting certified in a specialty if that does not add any special clinical privileges and / or income? Japanese doctors pretty much market themselves as specialists based on what patients they most encounter and some even market themselves as multi-specialists (without board certification). In fact, the research paper linked above, mentions this:

"Dr. Takushi Kudo, for instance, held himself out as an internist, orthopedic surgeon, cardiologist, dermatologist, allergist, rheumatologist, pulmonologist, gastroenterologist (including endoscopies), and nephrologist -- and claimed to practice rehabilitation medicine and physical therapy besides"

Source: http://mdsalaries.blogspot.com/2008/04/doctor-incomes-in-japan.html

 

[JohnnyThePriest]

I thought I would field some of the information here. For those of you who are fluent enough in Kanji here is the official Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare procedure in Japanese:

http://www.mhlw.go.jp/topics/2005/10/tp1005-1.html

In order to pass the Japanese National Examination for Medical Practitioners I would imagine one would also have the ability to pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) with a level 1 ranking (the highest). For those who have no prior knowledge of Japanese I have been told that it takes approximately five years of earnest study (preferably while living in Japan) to reach that level. I have heard of people (Dutch mostly) who have been able to pass the JLPT level 1 after only 2 years of studying, but the Dutch have superhuman language skills compared to monolingual English speakers. For instance, check this doctor out:

International Clinic Tojinmachi, Fukuoka, Japan - Ronald Schlemper, MD, PhD

There are also the procedural quirks of being a physician in Japan especially if you are not licensed in Japan. Please refer to this website for a few of these quirks:

Psychotherapy Practice Information

As for the salary question, my wife's father is a Japanese MD/PhD who specializes in internal medicine. He works at two hospitals and teaches at a prefectural university on the island of Kyushu (where he is also a researcher). I know he pulls in at least $100k per annum from two of those three positions. Sorry, I am not sure of the actual total but it seems somewhat comparable to the US (key word being somewhat).

The city he works in is the capital of a prefecture with a population of about 440,000 people (just to give you rough idea of the degree of metropolitanization). My wife's uncle on the other hand is a Japanese neurosurgeon who practices in Nagasaki and he pulls in well over $350K per annum. The discrepancy in salary is probably more a result of specialization than location however because I hardly think that Nagasaki is that much larger (460,000 people versus 440,000).

For those of you who are DOs or prospective DOs hoping to practice abroad here is an international licensure summary from American Osteopathy Association:

http://www.westernu.net/bin/comp/ime/Dr Jones/International DO Licensing summary pdf July 2006.pdf

You can search by country using the panel on th left. You'll notice that Japan's MHLW has not issued a response to the AOA.

I hope that was helpful to some of you. Sorry it was so long......

Very good information! Thank you! I saw your response message 10 years later.
And for now, DO still cannot practice in Japan.

 

[JohnnyThePriest]

Well I am not an expert, so IMO you should take my information with 2 spoons of salt, but...

I've read that Jap docs are paid uniformly regardless of the service they provide:
note that doctors in Japan are paid the same fee by Insurance for each service, irrespective of specialty or type of service - unlike the US where insurance pays procedures more than doctor consults, making the more procedural specialties like Anesthesiology, Neurology, Radiology, etc. much higher paid than say an Internist). So, with the fee-for-service model, for Japanese docs, the incentive to make more is not the kind the work, but the AMOUNT of work - more patients per hour = more money = shorter patient visits !

For the Japanese doc, the attitude becomes : Why study more and go through the pains of getting certified in a specialty if that does not add any special clinical privileges and / or income? Japanese doctors pretty much market themselves as specialists based on what patients they most encounter and some even market themselves as multi-specialists (without board certification). In fact, the research paper linked above, mentions this:

"Dr. Takushi Kudo, for instance, held himself out as an internist, orthopedic surgeon, cardiologist, dermatologist, allergist, rheumatologist, pulmonologist, gastroenterologist (including endoscopies), and nephrologist -- and claimed to practice rehabilitation medicine and physical therapy besides"

Source: http://mdsalaries.blogspot.com/2008/04/doctor-incomes-in-japan.html

This is very interesting specialized in everything