Diabetes and Work

Hi,

I've been scouring the internet for answers to this and keep coming up blank. I've also found employers to be a bit vague so i'm hoping that someone here has real life experience and might be able to help.

My wife and I are both in our mid-thirties, from the UK and experienced as teachers (she in primary school, myself in HE). We've talked about the possibility of going to teach English in Japan for years but each have medical conditions for which we require prescription drugs. In the UK we get them through the National Health Service. Obviously doesn't exist in JPN but the health insurance system is robust enough that supplies in a general sense aren't a concern. The medication itself is nothing unusual (insulin for one, antidepressants for the other) but in the various chats we've had with conversation schools, nobody has been able to unequivocally tell us the precise process by which we could get this set up in anticipation of entering Japan. While anti-depressants last for a while and hang around in the system for weeks, insulin supplies need to be renewed regularly, kept cold etc meaning that we aren't in a position to just go and hope for the best. For a 3+ week holiday we needed to put in a custom order here in England to make sure they was enough!

I'm hoping that someone, somewhere has experience to share on this!

Thanks

D

teach English in Japan
Proper International school or dispatched company like Interact,Borderlink etc.
IF later, well they don't do much help.

FYI, once you have a resident status in Japan, you either signed up individually for NHI(national health insurance) similar top NHS or shakai hoken(company health insurance).
This will cover 70% of your medical cost, you only pay 30%.
As for types of medication available, that can be a problem but normally the doctor should be able to provide similar medication. Best is bring over your medical history and consult the doctor.

Also, if you are worried, you can bring in certain amount of medication for upto to 1 month for personal used, any more than that you will need to apply before you enter Japan.
Check here: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/policy/health-medical/pharmaceuticals/0...

Diabetes med should not be much problem but
anti-depressants would because of certain ingredient/chemical are ban. Again check above link.

Checkout some related post in this link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/search/?q=diabetes&restrict_sr=...

Hope that help a bit.

because no one responses you, I briefly explain it.
get your health insurance card and go to a clinic of 糖尿病内科 (for insulin) and a clinic of 精神科 (for anti-depressant). you can easily find suitable clinics by google search in Japanese.

If you come here with work already lined up your company should enroll you in the health insurance. Discuss with them how it works. In my case I started on a Monday last year in May and unfortunately on the very same day had a broken tooth. So next day before I got any insurance form I went to the dentist. I needed to pay full amount initially, but after a few weeks when I got my insurance card, I returned and with the original invoices she reimbursed me the part that will be paid by insurance. So you don’t need to wait for the insurance card to arrive before making your first Dr appointment.

I agree with PP that depression medication might be more complicated than diabetes.

Also what’s your Japanese level to speak with a Dr? If no Japanese you are restricted to a few clinics, but embassies have lists. So you can probably just try to call a Dr from that list and ask them about the prescription practice for your meds.

Thanks for all of this information. It's a lot more detail than i've been able to get from anyone at the big companies! I would describe the standard of my Japanese as conversational. That might not be enough for a technical discussion with a Dr but at least I have a sense of what to consider now!

Thanks again!

If you have diabetes and are worried about medication and taking care of yourself with insulin, you can also look into how to reverse the condition as it is very much cureable. All diabetes means is that your insulin is resistant and you can make it non-resistant by fasting and reducing your blood sugar. There are many great doctors online who can show you how to do this, one doctor by the name of Dr. Eric Berg and is amazing in reversing these issues.

If you want to look into it, I hope it helps. :)