A Japanese government subcommittee on public health insurance on Thursday basically agreed to ask patients for additional payment for prescription medicines whose ingredients and effects are similar to over-the-counter drugs while maintaining insurance coverage for them.
A 53-year-old doctor at the University of Tokyo Hospital was arrested Wednesday for allegedly taking about 700,000 yen in bribes from a medical equipment maker official in return for using the firm’s devices on a priority basis. Arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department of Tokyo was Takehiro Matsubara, a doctor at the hospital’s Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine.
The five-year survival rate for male and female patients in Japan who were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer between 2012 and 2015 came to 10.7 percent and 10.2 pct, respectively, the lowest among all cancer types except for childhood cancers, the National Cancer Center said in a survey report on Tuesday.
Japan’s health ministry is planning to deny in principle the renewal or change of residential status for foreign citizens who refuse to pay national health insurance premiums, it was learned Tuesday. “We’re preparing to start it in June 2027,” health minister Kenichiro Ueno told a press conference. Ueno also said that his ministry will strengthen measures against foreign residents who do not pay medical expenses. The ministry will collect nonpayment information from medical institutions and share it with the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.
A Japanese court on Monday ordered the government to pay some 300,000 yen in damages over verbal abuse and other illegal acts by prison guards against an inmate in Aichi Prefecture. Presiding Judge Akira Chino denied the causal relationship between his death and medical treatment provided by Nagoya Prison in the Aichi city of Miyoshi. he man was sent to a hospital for a possible heart attack on Feb. 22, 2022, when he was serving his sentence for an assault. He died of multiple organ failure on March 1 that year at the age of 71 after coming back to the prison. The ruling by Tokyo District Court came after the bereaved family of the inmate sued the government for some 40 million yen, accusing it of failing to offer proper medical treatment to him.
Unicharm Corp. announced on Wednesday 15th October it will begin a trial installation of free sanitary pad dispensers at 22 public facilities in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, in partnership with the local government. Running until Dec. 26, the initiative aims to support individuals who cannot afford menstrual products. While Unicharm provides the dispensers, Shibuya Ward will supply the sanitary napkins. The company, which has already introduced the dispensers in schools and businesses, expressed hopes of expanding the program through further cooperation with local governments.
Unicharm Corp. announced on Wednesday 15th October it will begin a trial installation of free sanitary pad dispensers at 22 public facilities in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, in partnership with the local government. Running until Dec. 26, the initiative aims to support individuals who cannot afford menstrual products. While Unicharm provides the dispensers, Shibuya Ward will supply the sanitary napkins. The company, which has already introduced the dispensers in schools and businesses, expressed hopes of expanding the program through further cooperation with local governments.
Fatigue is emerging as a key factor behind the rise in workplace accidents caused by falls, according to Hideki Katano, author of Rest Science and Fatigue Science, and head of the Japan Recovery Association. In an interview reported by Toyo Keizai on Friday, October 17, Katano warned that widespread fatigue is not only a health concern but also a growing safety risk. The association’s latest 2025 survey found that 82% of working-age Japanese feel tired—an all-time high—translating to over 71 million people, up 300,000 from the previous year. With fatigue-related economic losses estimated at 15 trillion yen annually and the number of “frequently tired” individuals continuing to climb, Katano emphasizes the urgent need for nationwide fatigue management and prevention efforts.
Japan has entered the influenza season nationwide, marking the second-earliest beginning in the past 20 years, the health ministry said Friday. The number of flu patients reported from some 3,000 regularly monitored medical institutions across the country stood at 1.04 per institution in the week through Sunday.
Japan set a new record for ambulance transports due to heat-related illness this summer, the government said Wednesday, surpassing last year’s figure amid unprecedented heat waves and an unusually early end to the rainy season. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said in preliminary data that 99,573 people across Japan were taken to hospitals for heat-related illness between May 1 and Sunday.
Barrier Free Japan