Latest news with #Tokyo
Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Health
- Japan Times
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
More telemedicine options are now available for tourists in Japan so foreign visitors who are injured or feeling unwell can easily speak with a doctor and receive basic care. 'We interviewed a number of hotels and learned that there were cases in some areas where medical personnel would tell them not to call an ambulance for such mild symptoms after checking the patients,' said Makoto Iwai, who leads the business development team at M3 Career, which offers a telemedicine service for visitors. The time spent attending to such guests "adds to the workload of hotel staffers as well," she said, adding that they may need to spend several hours helping these customers — at a time when many hotels struggle with labor shortages. A survey released by the Japan Tourism Agency last year found that about 4% of foreign visitors felt sick or got injured while in Japan. Of the 37 million non-Japanese tourists who came to the country in 2024, about 1.5 million of them had a medical event during their stay. Iwai said foreign travelers tend to seek medical help early in the morning or late at night, when some hospitals and most clinics are closed, since they are often sightseeing during the day. Traditionally, calling 119 — the emergency number for an ambulance in Japan — or showing up at an emergency room, have been the only options. With the rise of telemedicine and a number of innovative players, other avenues for help that are less complicated or time-consuming are available. Visitors are still advised to call 119 immediately in the event of a serious illness or injury. Emergency service responders are trained to handle calls in which a language barrier exists. The service from M3 Career, which is a subsidiary of Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed M3, is called Hotel de DOCTOR 24 and is designed for foreign visitors staying at hotels and inns. Hotel de DOCTOR 24 can be used 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The visitor logs in to its website and makes an appointment, and then a consultation is conducted via Zoom, with a nurse first, and then a doctor. It takes at least an hour to connect to doctors. Interpreters are available, with support for 22 languages. The service charges a fee of ¥55,000 ($375). Direct insurance billing isn't available, but credit cards are accepted and a receipt will be provided for insurance reimbursement for individuals with policies that cover treatment in Japan. Common ailments for which treatment can be provided include coughs, headaches, fever, a sore throat and gastrointestinal complaints. Medicines, if needed, can be picked up at a local pharmacy, although certain drugs cannot be prescribed. If the patient's situation is serious, they will be advised to call an ambulance. The service can also prescribe certain medicines for patients who forgot or lost their medicines while traveling, and it can issue medical certificates if required for flight changes. "We believe our platform is an innovative service that offers 24/7 support to connect medical interpreters, doctors, nurses and patients," she said, stressing M3's strength in its medical staffing business. M3, which is more than one-third owned by Sony and was founded with an investment from the electronics company, provides online services for medical professionals. M3 Career's Hotel de DOCTOR 24 was rolled out in April. As of June, the service was being marketed via 150 hotels and inns in 23 prefectures. Individuals can also directly book an appointment on the website without going through a hotel. Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide and Tokyu Resorts & Stays have introduced the service to their guests. For now, the facilities providing the service are concentrated in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kanagawa Prefecture. M3 Career hopes to expand to other regions, especially to areas facing shortages of health care professionals. So far, many users have been from English-speaking countries, such as the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, according to Iwai. With the growing number of inbound tourists, unpaid medical bills by those visitors have become an issue. While patients usually pay after getting checked by doctors at clinics or hospitals, Iwai said patients need to pay first to use Hotel de DOCTOR 24, so it's unlikely that unpaid bills will become an issue. Iwai pointed out that the telemedicine service provides new opportunities for doctors. Work-style reforms were introduced last year in the medical field to restrict the hours of doctors at hospitals. This has given them time to take on side gigs. Some female medical professionals have opted for telemedicine work before childbirth or when caring for children, Iwai said. She added that about 2,500 doctors are expressing interest in participating in Hotel de DOCTOR 24. Other telemedicine services designed for foreign visitors are also available in Japan, including Mimipo, which also charges ¥55,000. SOMPO Light Vortex, which is wholly owned by Sompo Holdings, announced last week that it will be conducting a telemedicine experiment for inbound tourists. A number of doctors and clinics provide online English-language consultations during office hours, while some international evacuation and insurance providers offer their own telemedicine options that can be used in Japan.
Forbes
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Dan Da Dan' Season 1 Blu-Ray Review: Joyous Irreverent Madness
The hectic fever dream of the anime adaptation of Dan Da Dan is anime at its unhinged best. The premise of the manga and subsequently this anime version has a schoolgirl, Momo Ayase, challenge the nerdy Ken Takekura, not that one, but I'll get to that later, that there are no such things as UFOs and aliens. Ken slaps back that there's nothing true about ghosts or the supernatural, which Momo, due to her fortune-telling grandma, firmly believes in. The added twist is that neither party, despite believing the opposite of the other, has actually had any firsthand experience with what they claim to believe in. As a result, Ken goes to a famous haunted tunnel at night, and Momo goes to a building that supposedly has lots of alien abductions. Naturally, while bickering on the phone with each other, both encounter not only ghosts that curse people but also aliens trying to rebuild their race by abducting Earth women. This is where Dan Da Dan does not care about offending anyone, as its approach to these matters is entirely irreverent and very funny. Also, the fact that Ken gets cursed by a crazy old ghost actually helps Momo in her alien abduction predicament, with Momo's newfound spiritual abilities helping to curb Ken's curse. 'Dan Da Dan' is a fun and really quite crazy anime. Which brings me onto the whole dynamic between these two. At the start of the first episode, Momo gets dumped and complains that men aren't manly enough. She also has a soft spot for the actor Ken Takekura, and feels that he is her ideal man. So this whole almost symbiotic relationship between the two is made all the more hilarious when the nerdy kid also has the same name as her heartthrob actor. The result of the latter is that she ends up calling him 'Okarun' because he's a nerdy otaku and doesn't really want to admit that he may be her ideal partner. The icing on the cake for all of this is that Science Saru has really delivered in terms of the animation. I still have a great deal of affection for the studio after Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, but the action sequences in Dan Da Dan are something else entirely. So, having the first season come to Blu-ray is definitely welcome. Not least because the visuals are delivered in a thoroughly pristine way, but the audio hits hard too. You also get some nice extras on the disc, from interviews and the like. The Collector's Edition also comes with a nice 32-page booklet, some art cards, and a sticker. It also all comes in a solid box with nice artwork. Overall, Dan Da Dan is a fun send-up of UFO and supernatural pop-culture, and also cements that with likeable leads. Some of it is pretty racy in places, but it never feels gratuitous, just very silly. In any case, Science Saru has done a great job here, and this Blu-ray set is certainly a tribute to that. Dan Da Dan Season 1 Collector's Edition Blu-ray is available from the GKIDS online store for $49.99 Disclosure: GKIDS sent me this Blu-ray set for the purposes of this review. Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
NHK
13 hours ago
- General
- NHK
Survey in Japan finds record percentage of working mothers
A government survey has shown that across Japan, more than 80 percent of mothers in households with children under 18 are working -- the highest percentage on record. The finding is from an annual survey on the situation of households by the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry. More than 40,000 households responded last year. It said an estimated 8,886,000 households had mothers with children younger than 18 years old. Out of those households, 7,180,000, or 80.9 percent, had working mothers. That's up by 3.1 percentage points from the previous survey in 2023, surpassing the 80-percent mark for the first time since comparable data became available in 2004. Among such working mothers in households, 3.02 million, or 34.1 percent, were regular employees, up by 1.7 percentage points from the previous survey. Non-regular employees were 3.26 million, or 36.7 percent, up 1.2 percentage points. The ministry says that improvements in social systems seem to have contributed to the increase in mothers as regular workers. There is also growing momentum for both men and women to continue working while raising children. The ministry says it will continue to provide support for balancing childcare and work, and to promote women's participation in society.
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
SCHRODER JAPAN TRUST: Picking the best country has to offer
Investment manager Masaki Taketsume has just spent the past two weeks in the UK marketing the Japanese fund he runs to an array of wealth managers and advisers. Now safely back in Tokyo, he was pleased with the way it all went – although promoting his UK listed investment trust Schroder Japan is not a difficult task. Since Taketsume took over at the helm of the £324 million trust in July 2019, he has comfortably outperformed his peer group, delivering a return of 65 per cent against the average for rival Japanese trusts of 45 per cent. Equally importantly, he has generated shareholder returns in excess of the benchmark he strives to beat – the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section Total Return Index. In each of the past five one-year discrete investment periods, the trust's share price has provided a return above that from the index. Consistency is the name of the game. 'Good stock selection is the main driver for the trust's solid performance numbers,' says Taketsume. 'We've assembled a portfolio comprising companies which we bought when they were cheap. We've then made money for shareholders in response to their strong business franchises and management excellence delivering significant earnings growth and a share price re-rating.' Among the trust's top ten holdings is Japanese beer giant Asahi, which Taketsume bought a stake in two years ago. The company, he says, has done brilliantly in cementing its reputation across Europe for its focus on premium beer – and non-alcoholic beer. It also owns Peroni, which it bought from SABMiller in early 2016. On top of this, Asahi has steadily been increasing its remuneration to shareholders through regular share buybacks and dividend payments. 'It ticks both our boxes,' the manager says. 'An established franchise and a management team determined to do the right thing for shareholders.' Another key holding among the 65-strong portfolio is Sanki Engineering. Taketsume says: 'It's a construction company with a reputation for the manufacturing of air conditioners. It's got a big market share and pricing power which has fuelled significant earnings growth.' Already this year, the company's shares are up more than 30 per cent. Although the trust still states in its investment objectives it strives for capital growth for shareholders, it now has a strong income bent. The trust pays a quarterly dividend, equivalent to an annual income of around 4 per cent. The income focus is a result of Japanese companies generally becoming more shareholder friendly. It is also a reflection of the trust's board to make the fund more appealing to a broader church of investors. While 25 per cent tariffs on exports to the US are a negative for the Japanese economy, Taketsume says shipments to the US account for only a fifth of total exports. The trust's portfolio, he says, is dominated by businesses focused on the domestic economy. The only lingering issue for the trust is that the share price does not reflect the value of the fund's assets. It means the shares trade at a 9 per cent discount. It's not a problem unique to Schroder Japan, but it's frustrating for the board and existing shareholders. Taketsume originally ran the trust from London but moved back to Tokyo in early 2023 for family reasons. He says that where he is based has little impact on his ability to generate returns for investors. 'It is the right decision making that counts,' he adds. The fund's stock market ticker is SJG and identification code 0802284. Annual charges total 1.14 per cent.
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
Japan PM Ishiba urges less US dependence as Tokyo faces new tariffs
TOKYO, July 10 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Thursday his country needed to wean itself from U.S. dependence in such key areas as security, food and energy, as Tokyo faces the prospect of new U.S. tariffs in three weeks. "If they think Japan ought to follow what America says as we depend heavily on them, then we need to work to become more self-sufficient in security, energy and food, and less dependent on America," Ishiba told a TV news programme. He made the comment when asked about his remark, made during his stump speech on Wednesday, that tariff negotiations with the United States were a "battle in which national interest is at stake. We won't be taken lightly". Trump notified Ishiba on Monday that Washington would impose tariffs of 25% on Japanese imports from August 1, but hinted at opportunities for additional negotiations.
