Emergency Medical Care

When you call 119 for medical care, the station will arrange for an ambulance if the situation requires it. Ambulances are free in Japan but you will have to pay for medical treatment. The ambulance will transport you to the nearest available emergency room that is suited to your condition.

What to bring:

• Residence card （and/or passport）
• Health insurance card
• Cash
• Information on any medications you are currently taking
• Information on any allergies or illnesses you may have

Not all hospitals are open 24/7 in Japan. Usually there are only certain hospitals “on duty” during these times to accept non-emergency patients. You may check out a list of what hospitals are on duty during nights, weekends, and holidays by searching at this link. However, this service is currently only available in Japanese.

• Find a doctor/hospital on duty during off-hours（外部リンク）

Please call 119 if you are facing a medical emergency. They will bring you directly to an emergency room.

You can search for hospitals and clinics with English service in your area by using Iwate Medical Net. You can also search hospitals by area by going here. Prefectural hospitals are marked with a star.

• Iwate Medical Net（外部リンク）
• Hospital lists

I can’t speak Japanese. What do I do?

If at all possible, please bring a Japanese speaker with you. We understand that may not be possible in every situation, so the Iwate International Association provides medical interpreter volunteers （called Multilingual Supporters, or 多言語サポーター tagengo sapootaa）. Unfortunately, this is a volunteer system, so we cannot guarantee you will be able to get someone in an emergency. Please give a call to the Iwate International Association at 019-654-8900.

• Multilingual Supporters（外部リンク）

We have a few resources you can take along with you, such as questionnaires you can fill out to describe your symptoms. Some hospitals and clinics may have these as well.

Health and Medical Services in English

Iwate Medical Net

• Find a doctor（外部リンク）
• Find a dentist（外部リンク）

Multilingual Supporters Medical Interpreting

• Iwate International Association（外部リンク）

Phone: 019-654-8900

Hotline for Medical Consultation

• AMDA International Medical Information（外部リンク）

• Tokyo Center　-　Phone: 03-5285-8088
• Kansai Center　-　Phone: 06-4395-0555

（Languages available： English, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Thai, Portuguese, Philippines, and Japanese）

You can search for hospitals and clinics with English service in your area by using Iwate Medical Net. You can also search hospitals by area by going here. Prefectural hospitals are marked with a star.

• Iwate Medical Net（外部リンク）
• Hospital lists