Medical Careers in Japan

[Fumouffu]

Heyo, everyone!
I have a few questions. I'm most definitely going to move to Japan. Whether it's forever or for a while. Obviously I'm going to wait until after college when I'm doing well and where I can stand on my own two feet.

I really really enjoy helping people and I want to make that my career if possible. I also really love the medical field. The only thing I can't absolutely do is be a nurse for personal reasons.
I also can't really stay in college for over four years due to money. No money was never set aside for me so I have to work at everything on my own. Four years seems already troublesome. So if possible I want to try and do something in the medical career that is between 2-4 years of college here.
There is Physical Therapy Assisting which I am greatly interested in. Plus, I can also take Japanese classes along with it. Problem is, PTA is only two years. My question is would that be fine along with Japanese and manage to get a career in doing that in Japan?

Thank you very much, guys! I greatly appreciate it!

Also, I know someone whom wants to teach English in Japan. How would he go about that? Could he go and take classes in Japan? Or should he stay in America? Thanks again!

[Hatredcopter]

Originally Posted by Fumouffu

The only thing I can't absolutely do is be a nurse for personal reasons.

That's a shame, because Japan has a nurse shortage.

Unfortunately, your plan won't work. If you're going to work in the medical field in Japan, you need to go to a Japanese university and receive any medical licenses through Japanese institutions. They won't accept foreign ones (at least this is what I've been told). You're going to need a 4+ year education in Japan, and if you can't afford one at home, then you'll never be able to afford the cost of living and attending school in Japan. On top of that, your language skills will need to be top notch.

[Fumouffu]

I see.. that's too bad.. But thank you! I appreciate your reply!

I'm sorry about the shortage of nurses as well..
Will the same apply for nurses? Meaning taking up courses in Japan?
Thanks again!

[MMM]

How about something like a caretaker at a geriatric home? I have heard there are many opportunities for foreigners in these areas as Japan gets older .

[Hatredcopter]

I too have read articles that they are accepting more foreigners for certain positions like that. I don't have any other information on it though, you'd have to do some research. Whatever the case may be, you'll still need to put in some serious time studying Japanese before getting a job like that.

Edit: and yes, for nursing you need to take courses there and take a nursing exam there.

[sarasi]

So far the only foreigners to be registered as nurses here have been brought over as part of special agreements between the Japan, Indonesia and the Phillipines. The nurses have had to work caring for the elderly for the last few years while improving their Japanese skills to the point where they can pass the registration exam in Japanese. So far I believe only a handful have passed the exam. Some have mentioned that although they were highly qualified nurses at home they have spent most of their time in Japan changing incontinence diapers.

For info on teaching English in Japan, Google "teaching English in Japan" and you will find enormous amounts of info is available on this topic as it's a very common thing to do.

[Fumouffu]

Thanks for all the lovely replies!

I'll most definitely take all the info to heart!

[Heru]

My friend was interested in being in a nurse in Japan. She contacted someone that dealt with it and they told her she needed to take the Japanese nursing test and she could become a nurse. Which obviously means she needs to learn Japanese and Japanese nursing terms.

[berrypie]

Since this thread is about "Medical careers in Japan", I am curious about how's the development of Medical Computing and its employment situation in Japan too. Does anyone know?

Medical computing is a recently developed field in Canada and US. It includes something like medical image processing, computer-assisted surgery or even patient's record database.

[dirtyroboto]

I would suggest that for this sector you would be first and foremost required to know Japanese to JLPT Lvl 2 and have a very good understanding of Kanji.
You would have to resit all of your tests in Japanese using Kanji.

You would need to read medical documents in Kanji and to such a level that you could be trusted not to make mistakes that could endanger a person.

It may be very well that you can attend to people in you country where the scripts are in English, but you would need to do this in Japanese without mistake.

I wish you good luck, but it is a very hard road to take. I also admire your wishes to help other people. But I also feel sad that you choose such a hard way to achive them.