Japanese doctors are the worst in the world! Well, probably not in the world, but most likely in the industrialized world. If you think that Japan is all about lasers and robots and modern technology… then think again! Sometimes it’s shocking how far behind the rest of the (industrialized…) world Japan already is – and it’s rather getting worse than better.
It’s a complex topic, so where do I start? Probably with the fact that I have never heard of a single doctor who just calls himself a doctor – every doctor in Japan seems to have a clinic or even a hospital, even if it’s just a general practitioner working all by himself. They work long hours (usually closing Wednesday afternoons and Sundays), but one of the reasons for that is the fact that they love to make patients come back as often as possible. Constant check-ups, even on rather long-term treatments like high blood pressure. The standard health insurance here covers 70% of the costs, 30% have to be paid by the patient right after each treatment – so when you get charged 15 bucks, the health insurance pays another 35. For minor things it beats the high insurance rates in my (almost) all-inclusive home country of Germany, but if you get seriously sick it can ruin you financially like in the States, especially since there are no sick days in Japan. If you spend a day in a hospital or at a clinic (or at home with a cold for that matter) you have to use a paid vacation day – and if you are running out, the missed day comes right out of your paycheck. But that’s an insurance thing and has little to nothing to do with the medical staff. So why was I bashing Japanese doctors right at the beginning? Oh, because they are terrible and have a bad reputation even amongst the obedient Japanese populace.
I am lucky for having a good constitution in general, but about 4.5 years ago I injured my ankle playing airsoft with a couple of colleagues. I was jumping into a ditch and heard a loud noise when hitting the ground, instantly feeling serious pain. My American colleagues were all like “Don’t worry, just a sprained ankle!” and continued to play instead of bringing me to a hospital while the Japanese colleagues couldn’t care less. I never had a sprained ankle, so I believed them. Two days later when getting ready for work I almost blacked out, but I though that’s normal. When the “sprained ankle” was still a bit swollen and hurting after two months (yeah, I’ve been naive…) I finally asked a Japanese colleague to accompany me to see a doctor – a “clinic” where they took X-rays. They confirmed that it wasn’t a sprained ankle (really?!), but were unable to say what it was and how to treat it. So they transferred me to a hospital, specialized on fractured bones and stuff. When we went there a couple of days later the doc in charge was really eager to talk me into surgery as quickly as possible after he told me that I fractured my ankle and had torn a ligament. (Yes, I walked to the office with a torn ligament for 2 months! I always knew that I was a tough cookie, but that was suffering through a lot of pain, even for a foreigner in Japan…) His way to solve the problem: A one week stay at the hospital, transferring bone material from my hip to my ankle! (The reaction of my Japanese colleague when I said that I didn’t like that idea very much: “Don’t worry, I can bring you work to the hospital!”) And if it would have been for the Japanese Dr. Frankenstein I would have started treatment right the next day. I asked for a couple of days respite and then the guy admitted that after 2 months it was not that urgent anyway. And that he couldn’t guarantee that I will ever walk without pain even with that operation. What the heck? Was that the island of Japan or the island of Doctor Moreau? My school education started a deafening alarm and all I was able to think of was Erich Maria Remarque’s “All Quiet On The Western Front”… That doc would never ruin my foot! Later that day an American ex-colleague told me how a woman at his new company did the same operation, except that they took bone material from her wrist. One year later she still wasn’t able to walk without pain – neither could she fully move her hand! And with that the surgery wasn’t even an option anymore and I relied on the natural healing power of my body. Half a year later I did 25km hiking day trips to the mountains (which I had never done before, because I was couch potato for most of my life…) and another six months later I started urban exploration. So if you ever need medical treatment while in Japan, ask your embassy for advice and get a second or third opinion. But even that might not be the solution in some cases – look forward to a future article where I will describe how a business trip to Germany probably saved my life when I contracted Lyme Disease, which seems to be undetectable and not treatable in Osaka, although it is native to the northern parts of Japan…
Sankei Hospital
Of course I don’t know if the doctors at the Sankei Hospital were as bad as the ones I had to deal with so far, but they definitely had to deal with some serious problems. And by that I don’t mean their own education or their patients’ quirks, kinks and serious illnesses (the Sankei Hospital was a mental hospital!), but Mother Nature. As beautiful as nature is in Japan (or everywhere else in the world for that matter…) one thing is pretty clear: Nature hates Japan! If you ever spent a summer in Kyoto, a winter in Hokkaido, or if you look at all the typhoons, earthquakes and tsunamis… then it’s pretty clear that Japan isn’t God’s own country, nevertheless the Emperor still claims to be a descendant of Amaterasu, the sun goddess of the Shinto religion. (Although it’s more likely that he is of Korean descent…)
In 1910 the volcano Mount Usu erupted and lead to the establishment of an observatory under the leadership of Prof. Fusakichi Omori, a pioneer seismologist of his time. In 1945 the eruption of Mount Usu created Showa-shinzan, a volcanic lava dome next to Mount Usu – I took a photo of it and published it with the *haikyo trip to Hokkaido* article a while ago. When Mount Usu erupted a third time in the 20th century on August 7th 1977 the observation registered precursors up to 32 hours prior – luckily the hospital’s founder and director Kazuo Kato wasn’t mental at all. He came up with an emergency plan involving both his staff and officials of Sobetsu, where the hospital was located. When the eruption started at 9.12 a.m. the prearranged evacuation program kicked into gear and all 230 inpatients were taken to safety at a former school 12 kilometers away. At first the hospital suffered only minor damage (some small cracks here and there) when the northern flank of Mount Usu was severely deformed, being thrust 200 meters to the northeast. The process continued for months and due to magmatic intrusions the cracks widened further till the building finally collapsed almost a year later. (It goes without saying that the Sankei Hospital is famous amongst Japanese ghost hunters. Nobody was even injured during the evacuation, but a collapsed and abandoned mental hospital? That is as good as it gets if you are into that kind of stuff…)
Going Mental
By the time *Michael* and I arrived at the hospital, via a forest road since we had no clue that we were approaching a publicly known spot, the sun was already really low and behind a mountain range, so I took a quick and rather ugly video from the outside before it was too late to shoot any video at all. Michael was already entering through the back and by the time I jumped the fence and was ready to get in myself I received the advice to climb in through the front to avoid the vegetation in the back – nobody would show up at that time of the day anyway; and nobody did. Running out of light it was a quick exploration – the first part felt like walking in a picture by M. C. Escher as the floor was completely twisted; the fact that the Sankei Hospital was a mental hospital made the whole thing even more bizarre. Thanks to the level function of my camera all the floors on the daylight photos should be perfectly horizontal – but they aren’t, because they weren’t. When it got dark I left the collapsed eastern part and strolled through the (mostly) not collapsed western part. Not a pleasant exploration, especially when Michael was on the floor above me – it sounded like he could crash through the ceiling at any time, as if the whole building could come down at any time. The fences outside were there for a reason and I strongly recommend to respect them and to not enter the Sankei Hospital. That’s why I won’t add it to *my map of abandoned places*, although technically it was another tourist attraction, much like the *Horonai Mine* or the wonderful island of *Okunoshima* – fenced off and equipped with several large information signs in both Japanese and English, nevertheless way more dangerous than all the other locations on that map.
Given that we were running out of time the Sankei Hospital was a nice way to end the second day of explorations in Hokkaido. There wasn’t much to see, but it was a truly unique place and in the end way more interesting than the Xth abandoned hotel with the same moldy rooms and the same interior…
(If you don’t want to miss the latest article you can *follow Abandoned Kansai on Twitter* and *like this blog on Facebook* – and of course there is the *video channel on Youtube*…)
Abandoned Kansai 
intriguing photos!
Thanks a lot!
Funny as always. I enjoy your sense of humor. Great pics. My favorite is the collapsed hallway.
Thanks a lot, Kay! Usually I don’t reveal many stories about my life in Japan, but this was a great opportunity to get some things off my chest. 🙂
The collapsed hallway photo was the scariest to take. At that point I was actually kind of worried that the building would collapse completely…
Loved the Escheresque quality and the last photo of the hospital at night was awesome!
Thanks a lot! It was a short but intense and quite surreal exploration.
I’ll try to stay away from Japanese docs and hospitals . Interesting post !
Like Sebastian pointed out – they are probably not all bad. Just the ones I had to deal with. And my friends. And my colleagues. Ironically dentists have a good reputation in Japan, given that only British teeth are made more fun of than Japanese teeth… (And I can confirm that actually – my dentist here is awesome, much better than the two or three I had in Germany over the years.)
I was so brought into your health scare about your ankle because I actually had a surgeon from a foreign country that messed up a surgery I had here in the states. I later found out that he has had “issues” as a surgeon. It just really makes me sick to think of how we are so dependent on doctors and how important it is to find good medical docs. Your photos are also so interesting.
I hope your (ex-)doc didn’t do any permanent damage!
Luckily we live in a time with lots of doctors and we are not depending on the quack in our town of 1500 people anymore, like we did a couple of decades ago. Sadly there still aren’t enough ways to get informed, except for word of mouth. It’s funny how we spend dozens of hours collecting information before we buy a new car – but we go to the next hospital for surgery…
The car analogy is so true. When I was younger I used to do just that. I do not anymore. I go by word of mouth mostly and/or from reviews on the internet etc. With Doctors–in american at least it is very hard to find the truth. I am an RN and worked in the “system” and saw first hand. I do have permanant damage and have been told I need more surgery. I have not covered it all yet, but I will at some point on my blog. RN’s can be fooled just like anyone else even when it is a doctor they have known personally.
Amazing. Have to wonder about the choice of wallpaper – not very calming..
70s style! They had some weird taste back then…
There are always good doctors and bad doctors. However, as a medical student myself (we met before I went to uni) I can only say that most things people say about their doctors are unjust. Your situation and the one the woman was in is not comparable. A bone doesn’t break the same way every time and requires different treatment depending on the type of fracture. There are also many factors that can make or break a surgery, many of which even a good surgeon cannot predict or alter. Also it is better to not promise a patient something you might not be able to live up to. Of course, him pressuring you might have had something to do with compensation. That’s why it is important to get a second (or third) opinion! I am glad your foot got better but you might still have problems with it especially when you get older. I myself have had a torn ligament twice and sometimes I still feel that occasionally when I go out for a run. And while many think that high blood pressure is not a problem, it causes so many problems later on in life that it is best to follow up regularly on a patient with this condition. Now this behavior might be motivated and encouraged by higher salaries which is why I guess the German healthcare system works pretty well. I can’t speak for Japan but monitoring your blood pressure is important to determine the right (amount of) medicine one should take with this condition. Personally, the only thing I would fear is an incompetent doctor and unfortunately those might still be the ones that treat you very nice. Sometimes though a good one is the one you don’t find sympathetic at all.
How do you usally go about finding abandoned places?
I ran into a haikyo by coincidence when visiting castle ruins in Okinawa a few weeks ago. It was a former hotel that was partly destryed due to a fire. Very interesting! And while exploring the site, we ran into two Japanese guys with professional camera equipment, taking photos of the ruins inside the hotel.
I do tons of research on the internet – mainly news and other blogs…
The hotel you found is the Nakagusuku Hotel Ruin. I went there in spring and wrote two articles about it, including three very long videos. *Please click here to read the first one!*
Sasuga! ^___^ You know them all, huh?
Awesome, gonna check it out right now! 😀
Not all of them… but about 98%! 🙂
I hope you’ll like the article. Since I published it I gained quite a few regular readers and it would be nice if some more people would follow that link as the Nakagusuku Hotel is one of my favorite locations ever.
I’ll definitely spread the word once I post about it in my blog (though … that might take some time, gotta catch up with previous trips first) – and then link to your post about it as you have all the background info I’m lacking ^_-
Thanks a lot in advance – and I’m looking forward to seeing your Nakagusuku photos!
Wow Interesting wallpaper! Scary story about the doctor. Almost makes me thankful for the NHS here in the uk. (Almost!) I love looking at your posts.The photos are so atmospheric.
I probably rubbed a couple of doctors the wrong way with that introduction, but for some reason a lot of people have some horrible stories to tell about Japanese medical staff. I think I mentioned it before in an article: When Japan opened itself to the world again in 1868 they hired Prussian experts to modernize the healthcare system. (That’s why a lot of older Japanese doctors speak German… and I found German literature at the *Tokushima Countryside Clinic*.) The thing is: They could / should have sent somebody over to Europe again in the past 150 years, medical practice made quite some progress in the past 1.5 centuries… 😉
Your posts teach me much, I enjoy! My favorite picture has to be by far the Hospital at night! I love how the moon seems to sparkle!
Thanks a lot – I’ll try to weave in more personal stories in the future.
Injured my ankle playing basketball. Hurt like hell. The doc had me ice and heat it for a few days. Splint for two weeks then at 4 weeks started strengthening exercises. I had to walk on the right edge of my foot (Right foot) to strenghten the ligaments. It hurt like hell and after 2 months of that I demanded and saw a different Doctor ( I was in the US Army, Free medical but no real freedom of choice) The 2nd doctor did and exam and then a ct scan or MRI I dont remember which, but the ligament was COMPLETLY DETACHED. The only thing holding my ankle from inverting was my SKIN. Had surgery to repair it. I dont think much of the first Doctor.
Darn, one would think the army would hire the best doctors availble to get you guys fit again as quickly as possible… Let me know if you’ve been stationed in Japan or Germany and I’ll try to take some photos of your former bases!
Amazing abandoned hospital. What a shame though.
Very atmospheric location and interesting background story. How often can you visit places destroyed by a volcanic eruption?
Nice post! 🙂 I like how you combine your experience and the haikyo story. That room is super creepy though! It reminds me of the leftover ruins in the coastal Tohoku cities like Ishinomaki.
I fortunately didn’t have to meet many doctors in Japan, but those I did meet were okay (except for that one creepy old guy…). Well, I didn’t need anything serious like a surgery anyway. But I generally don’t really trust any doctor on the need of surgeries just like that – many just want to get the money & statistics up so their hospital will receive more funding.
Well, keep on staying healthy so there’ll be no need for a doctor 🙂
Thanks a lot!
Overall I am of strong health, so I’m not worried too much – some things just happen… I stopped playing airsoft though. Wasn’t a big fan anyway and now I am lacking the time to join those games.
I don’t understand how the emperor could be of Korean descent? I’m sure over the centuries they fought wars over territory, etc, but no foreign army was able to conquer Japan until the end of WWII
It’s been a while since I studied Japanese history, but there are still some holes in it and one theory says that an army on horses from Korea conquered Japan around 300 AD, 4 centuries before the kojiki and the nihon shoki, the oldest written chronicles about Japan, were written. The kofun, gigantic tombs from the same era, are part of that mystery, too – their locations are known, but the Imperial Household Agency controls them; and there are voices that say that most of them are still sealed, because in opened ones Japanese Emperors and other high officials were found wearing Korean style clothing and having Korean items as funerary goods. Even if that would just mean that they followed the Korean lead, maybe by paying tribute, that’s a road hardly any Japanese wants to go down, especially not the Imperial family… Ignorance is bliss!
The alternative would be that the Japanese Emperor is the descendant of a sun goddess, some of his ancestors reigning for more than 100 years…
If I had to choose any of those two options I’d rather go with him being Korean than him being the descendant of a mystical being!
I lived in Japan for three years and I can attest to your opinion of Japanese doctors. One time I had an absolutely brutal cold and my landlord took me to a doctor down the street. She pulled out a giant needle and said gaman shinai de which scared me more than the needle. She injected me with what I found out later was basically sugar water. Now I don’t eat sugar and at that point had been off it for about a year. That injection sent me flying high and then crashing making me feel worse than ever. But it’s not only the Japanese doctors, the foreign doctors there are just as bad. My parents came to visit me and my Mum got quite ill. I took her to a foreign doctor who diagnosed her with bronchitis. He gave her antibiotics (which are ridiculously priced in Japan)and sent her home. Turns out she had an embolism in her lung. When they got home my Dad drove her straight to emergency from the plane where they diagnosed her properly. I am so with you on this one!
Darn, your stories are even worse than mine! At least I was able to prevent further harm from refusing cooperation…
Thanks for sharing your experiences – I’m still waiting for some “Japanese doctors are great!” stories, though I have to admit that my dentist here is good.
It is unbelievable they could not even think of giving you an X Ray right off the bat! Unbelievable! I would want to see their medical degrees. Here those doctors would have long ago been sued out of existence. Nice shots.
From what I understand it wasn’t a doctor that kept him from going to get an X-ray. There seems to be a common misconception about doctors. I probably won’t be able to change that but I’ll try. Not every doctor is a bad person..
That’s right, not getting that X-ray was my fault. And I’m not saying that all doctors are bad people – I’m saying that my experiences with doctors in Japan are worse than my experiences with doctors in Germany; and that all my international friends seem to agree… (Except for my Japanese friends – they seem to HATE British doctors.)
Not getting an X-Ray for 2 months was actually my own mistake, trusting my American colleagues and their “just a sprained ankle” diagnose, but I still don’t understand how transplanting bone material from my hip would have helped – and Dr. Frankenstein didn’t care to elaborate. As if sharing his “wisdom” would have put him out of business…
Interesting post, but may I suggest you break your stories up into smaller paragraphs with a line in between each paragraph. People like me with poor vision & other chronic health issues find long paragraphs exceptionally hard to read and follow.
Unbelievable health system in Japan, but then perhaps every country’s health system has its quirky points.
Hope you ankle is improving now.
Thanks a lot for your feedback! I’ll try to keep it in mind for future articles… I started out with a couple of hundred words each, but lately it got a bit out of hand. I even had to introduce subheadings for readability.
My ankle is fine now, thanks – no issues since it healed about 4 years ago.
I know it sounds weird, but I just SERIOUSLY love that blue wallpaper…Wish I could find some of it for my room!
They are so 70s! They remind me of the ones we had at the house I lived in for the first 13 years of my life.
the photos gave me the chills! excellent post!
Thanks a lot! Definitely one of the spookiest places I ever explored…