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April 04, 2025
 

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HEALTH CARE

A total of 509 patients in Japan had to give up on organ transplant operations last year because hospitals were unable to carry out such procedures, according to a health ministry survey.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 25, 2024
Hospital shortcomings forced 509 patients to abandon organ transplants
A lack of hospital staff and insufficient space in intensive care units needed for such operations were among the reasons.
From October, patients who choose the original versions of drugs with expired patents over their generic counterparts will shoulder higher costs.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 15, 2024
Out-of-pocket costs for off-patent drugs to rise in October
Moisturizing ointments and patches are among the 1,095 items to be affected by the revision.
The government is considering asking more people age 75 or over to pay 30% of their medical costs.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 13, 2024
Japan may require more elderly people to foot 30% of their medical costs
Currently, those age 75 or older pay in principle 10%, while those with preretirement levels of income pay 30%.
The Chinese government will remove the last remaining limits on overseas investments in the manufacturing sector starting from Nov. 1 and cut its list of areas that are restricted for foreign investors, according to a statement from the National Development and Reform Commission posted on Sunday.
BUSINESS
Sep 8, 2024
China opens manufacturing, health care sectors to foreign money
Beijing will remove the last limits on overseas investments in the manufacturing sector from Nov. 1 and cut its list of areas that are restricted for foreign investors.
The third straight annual rise in medical fees reflected Japan's aging population and the increased use of advanced medical equipment and technologies.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 4, 2024
Japan medical costs hit record high in fiscal year 2023
The third straight annual rise reflected the country's aging population and the increased use of advanced medical equipment and technologies.
The health ministry will seek a record general-account budget of ¥34.3 trillion for fiscal 2025 amid increasing social security costs.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2024
Health ministry seeks record ¥34 trillion budget for fiscal 2025
The amount was pushed up by increasing social security costs that reflect the country's aging population.
Currently, the frequency of medical visits is checked using receipts of medical fees issued by medical institutions and pharmacies to health insurance program operators.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024
Ministry to identify and support those who make frequent medical visits
The health ministry plans to carry out a model project for swiftly identifying welfare recipients who frequently visit the same medical institutions.
An ambulance is parked at the entrance of the emergency room of Saitama Hospital in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, on July 24.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Boiling Point
Aug 20, 2024
How Japan's health care system is gearing up for more heatstroke cases
Rising heatstroke cases are weighing on the nation’s health care system, which is already wrestling with the growing burden of a rapidly aging population.
Health minister Keizo Takemi fields questions from reporters in March after a Cabinet meeting to deal with health problems caused by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's beni kōji red yeast rice supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024
Health Minister Keizo Takemi on how to improve Japan's health care system
Digitalization, hiring high-skilled foreign workers and increasing wages are among the steps that Japan could take.
In the past 11 months, health minister Keizo Takemi has been charting his own path, seeking to make Japan's health care policies more global and digitalized.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024
Global mindset crucial for reform of Japan's health care, minister says
International strategies and domestic health care reform are inextricably linked, says health minister Keizo Takemi.
In recent years, the number of ambulance dispatches has been on the rise, amid concerns that those who need urgent care may not be receiving it.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 7, 2024
Japan municipalities take tougher stance on nonurgent ambulance calls
The proliferation of nonurgent calls and related requests for ambulances have been giving local municipalities a headache.
As of March 2023, there were 86 medicines that had been approved in Europe or the United States but remained unavailable in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 30, 2024
Japan unveils plan to improve access to foreign drugs
The road map to address what is known as "drug loss" envisions that development of in-demand medicines will start by April 2026.
A nursing home in Ishikawa Prefecture. Wage increases in other industries have made the nursing care sector less attractive.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 4, 2024
Over 80 nursing homes in Japan went bankrupt in first half
Rising costs and a severe manpower shortage are the main reasons driving care providers out of business.
The University of Tokyo Hospital in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward
JAPAN / Society
Jun 12, 2024
16 heart transplant surgeries abandoned in Japan in 2023
Of the 16 patients whose transplant operations were abandoned, 10 received transplants later, while six are still awaiting transplants.
The government is set to start discussing the idea of extending public health insurance coverage to include childbirth from fiscal 2026.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2024
Japan to discuss public insurance coverage of childbirth
The average of childbirth costs across Japan stood at some ¥482,000 in fiscal 2022.
The health ministry says it will conduct its first survey on how much foreign residents are paying in health insurance and pension premiums.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2024
Health ministry to collect data on insurance premium payments by foreign residents
The ministry currently has no data on how much foreign nationals are paying in terms of health insurance payments and pension premiums.
New regulations took effect this month to cap the working hours of hospital doctors, with the health ministry also specifying that hours spent on duties and self-development directly associated with education and research should be considered work hours.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024
Japan starts work style reform to cap doctors' overtime
Medical services in Japan have historically relied to some extent on the self-sacrifice of doctors.
Japan will charge members of medical insurance programs with fees starting in fiscal 2026 to tackle the country's sluggish birthrate.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2024
Fight against low birthrate to cost ¥450 monthly per head
The government plans to boost annual spending on measures to fight the sluggish birthrate to ¥3.6 trillion by fiscal 2028.
Shi Pong Hsu, 75, makes coffee in a Singapore coffee shop. The city-state's government projects that almost a quarter of its population will be 65 or over by 2030.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2024
Singapore is bracing for a super-aging society
Japan and South Korea may be the poster children for low birthrates, but Singapore is confronting its own decline. Its solution? Bonuses for nurses.
The Central Social Insurance Medical Council has adopted a proposal to increase outpatient fees in order to boost the salaries of health care workers.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024
Japan to raise outpatient visit fees to increase workers' pay
In order to increase pay for young doctors, nursing staff and pharmacists, basic hospitalization fees and outpatient fees will be raised.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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