How has COVID-19 affected your mongering?

I am really happy with the Japanese healthcare system. That is of course from someone who hasn't yet had to test the deep end, so I have never been hospitalised with a serious disease.

But for the normal everyday situations like broken or fractured bones, missing teeth or some such everything works perfectly, fast and efficiently. That is because you get to shop your doctors; there are a good number of really crappy ones but you can choose to avoid them unlike some other countries where you have to visit the clinic/hospital based on your home address.

Last week I had to visit my doc for some minor thing and I was even thinking of not going as there would be a lot of sick people normally, yikes. Went to take a look anyway and the place was empty. Just two nurses and my doc ready to listen my worries immediately after I got my shoes off. Appointment around thousand yens and the medication another thousand. In and out in less than 15 minutes, including the trip to the pharmacy next door.
I agree with most of what you wrote here. Dentists can't be trusted (nor Vets for that matter) but my Hospital won't answer their phone right now. I went there and they said to call and make an appointment. (I should have just started coughing)
 
Both of your stories just confirm my findings during four different decades in Tokyo. There are a lot of crappy doctors here. I am betting they are those ones whose parents are also doctors, who went in to the most expensive private universities in the country and spend their days there drinking the cleaning liquids and fucking their class mates.

The thing is you need to shop around and when you find a good one (and there are a lot of good ones too) you hold on to them. This goes for both medical doctors and dentists. My dentist uses so much anaesthetics that in the beginning I was sure he was gay and tries to sedate me senseless so he could fuck me right there. I mean he uses anaesthetic wipes to numb my skin before he gives me the shot for anaesthetics. And when he drills I feel like a virgin girl as he asks every few seconds "does it hurt?" and even when I say "just a bit, I am OK" he just pumps me with more anaesthetics.

And the thing is with the national health insurance you pay the same where ever you go. And with our tax money in the work you pay so little that when I get even a bit older I'll start to visit the clinic just to see the cute nurses in their uniforms. More exciting and way cheaper than any kyabakura.

I ended up getting really lucky and finding a young, really talented Korean dentist in downtown Osaka who was educated in the UK and USA, spoke perfect English and had (for Japan) pretty state-of-the-art equipment. I was still on NHS and my co-pay was a bit higher at this practice, but nowhere near as expensive as in the states. He re-did a couple of fillings and a new inlay for me and had this almost painless electronic needle he used to numb me up.

The way your dentist operates is basically standard practice here stateside, at least at the dentists I've been to. Maybe that old piece of shit war criminal was right, and "white people are weak." The dentists here numb your gums with topical anesthetic, usually oxybenzone or something similar, then numbs the shit out of you with two or three injections. The last root canal I did, the endodontist gave me four or five injections and I was so fucking numb the procedure was actually enjoyable. Even more enjoyable, the receptionist was this young Filipino thing with massive tits spilling out of her top and I got to flirt with her for a good ten minutes before I went in with a half-chub. It's amazing how much young girls will let their guard down when I keep my wedding band on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MikeH
That is of course from someone who hasn't yet had to test the deep end, so I have never been hospitalised with a serious disease.
Ive been as deep as you can go! At the serious end, the quality of care was pretty amazing, but i have little to compare it with.
On the light stuff end, it really depends on the doctor. When i was new in Japan i found a doctor who could speak english, but that was where his talent ended. No matter the ailment, he would send you away with a thermometer and a piece of paper with instruction to track your temperature 5 times a day for 3 days before he would attempt a diagnosis.
 
Do you know if they’ve been hospitalized, or self treating at home?

Seeing posts that NHK is reporting hospitals are starting to refuse admission around Tokyo. Don’t know how valid that is. However, the medical system here is ridiculous on any given day, so wouldn’t be surprising.

Self treating at home after testing at a hospital. This is in the US
 
Why do you think its ridiculous? Things could be better, but I think it's at least very efficient. I am originally from Germany, which has a pretty good medical system (crisis proves this right now), but making appointments especially when you want to see a specialist is super complicated and you always have to wait days or weeks to get checked.
What I think is pretty awesome about Japan is, that it takes no time to talk to a specialized doctor. You can even go there without appointment in a lot of cases. I have to admit I had no serious problems so far, but was always kinda satisfied with the system here.
I’m glad you haven’t had any urgent needs. I’ve had to have immediate care in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Unfortunately, my experiences here have just left me with a very negative view from both my personal and friends experiences, I’ve found everything to be ridiculous. Yes, other countries certainly have their problems. Some doctors are in fact decent, but shouldn’t that be standard? I find overall Japan to be a certain type of wtf? Just a few experiences
-I broke an arm and the X-ray technician insisted I prop myself up in a push-up so they could photograph the break. They finally agree to just take it with my arm resting on a table, at another angle.
-Saw a girl lying on the street bleeding after being hit by a car while the ambulance took 10 minutes to park properly. Probably some silly rule, but she was certainly in immediate need.
-Friend with Stage 2 cervical cancer was told not to be too concerned about it. Luckily, they had multiple opinions.
-A friend’s kid was kicked out of a hospital with bacterial pneumonia so they could try to empty the hospital before Golden Week. They had to be readmitted 2 weeks later.
-Clinic staff that seem to need to take 3 attempts to draw blood properly.
-Dentists that check for cavities by just looking into you mouth. Not prodding for softness, just looking.
It’s a first world nation. It should be better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: capitanminchia
I had to medical experiences in Japan. One time I was the only foreign guy in working in the office and fairly new there. It wasn't actually something life threatening nor contagious, but when some other stuff noticed, I was send to a nearby clinic by the shachou's wife, who also called ahead, together with a Japanese colleague who helped deal with the paper work. Everything very professional, no complaints.
The other time I was on a trip to atami and woke up with 40degrees fever. That was a few years back, so there was no Uber or any taxi app (and I don't remember seeing many taxis there anyways), so I walked to the nearest hospital (my Japanese at that time was probably barely borderline enough to call in Japanese, but not with my head exploding and the other side trying to murder me with keigo and the excessive use of medical terms).
I think it was a weekend, so even though I must have looked closer to a zombie than anything human, they told me to go to the other hospital, which was like 25 or 30 minutes by foot according to Google. For some reason the nurse at the reception didn't understand or didn't want to respond to my plead to get me a taxi.
I didn't have any energy to fight, so I just walked there. Not quite sure how far I walked, but I must have looked super bad, because luckily some concerned Japanese lady asked me where I was heading and then decided to order her son to drive me there.

Fast forward to the hospital I felt back in the 80s (which is also a general feeling when visiting Atami), however I was thoroughly checked, blood testing, x-ray of my lungs and lots of other stuff I don't remember. I think I also slept like 4h there waiting for the test results. When they sent me home, medication had already kicked in, so I was feeling significantly better, but they also ordered me a taxi. In the end I had some sort of bacterial infection and antibiotics killed that. I spent a week in bad and 3 days with quite high fever.

The second hospital wasn't bad. Not modern (the x-ray was still photographed etc.), but I don't think they would have done much different back in Europe. I'm still to this day really pissed on the first one though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: capitanminchia
Shit got wild fast, i went from not "knowing" anyone infected to have my father died because of it(well not really, he had a weak heart and couldnt take it), we were supposed to go to japan this summer, i was hoping to teach him the superiority of the japanese woman.
F
Take care guys
 
Shit got wild fast, i went from not "knowing" anyone infected to have my father died because of it(well not really, he had a weak heart and couldnt take it), we were supposed to go to japan this summer, i was hoping to teach him the superiority of the japanese woman.
F
Take care guys
Sorry for your loss, man.
 
Shit got wild fast, i went from not "knowing" anyone infected to have my father died because of it(well not really, he had a weak heart and couldnt take it), we were supposed to go to japan this summer, i was hoping to teach him the superiority of the japanese woman.
F
Take care guys
All my condolences. Not sure about the superiority thing though ...
 
Sorry Durg - just came to the realization that 21 year old Japanese students are just to immature and inexperienced, so now I concentrate only on 22 year old or older students, lol.
 
Sorry Durg - just came to the realization that 21 year old Japanese students are just to immature and inexperienced, so now I concentrate only on 22 year old or older students, lol.
Agree! 23-24 is the sweet spot. From a man’s point of view, that’s their physical prime. For them, at least from a Japanese perspective, it’s their last chance to experiment before they settle down.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SugoiBoy
Agree! 23-24 is the sweet spot. From a man’s point of view, that’s their physical prime. For them, at least from a Japanese perspective, it’s their last chance to experiment before they settle down.

You guys are so wrong. The sweet spot is 26. They already know what they want and how they want it but are still young enough to also do it all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SugoiBoy and Pk24
8 cases in close circle (in Europe): 1 in the 20's with high fever for 3 days, some dry cough for 5 days, very tired - fully recovered; 1 in the 20's with no more smell for 2 weeks (has slowly come back); 1 in the 20's with nothing else than loss of smell and taste (not come back yet after 2 weeks); 1 in the 40's with some dry cough and dryness (need to drink A LOT day and night) and muscle ache - fully recovered; 1 in the 50's some headache, some cough, lost of smell, muscle ache, tired for 2 weeks - fully recovered; 1 in the 80's some cough, no fever, very thirsty, very tired, no appetite - actually recovering slowly; 2 in the 50's had too much difficulties breathing, high fever, taken to ER, ventilator, artificial coma for 10 days, recovering slowly, will need rehab... nasty bug...
Seems that symptoms can differ a lot from people to people. Seems very contagious too as all 8 were using masks and hand washing heavily ...
On these 8 cases, only 2 have entered the national stats as the remaining 6 stayed at home to recover by themselves in quarantine without doctor. But only tests will tell if it was the Covid-19.
Interestingly I read and heard (Tom Hanks on SNL) that some people who got the virus and recovered are being treated as if they were still carrying it and contagious.

You know two of the 2 million confirmed cases...wow.

There is seven billion people in the world, out of those seven billion, 2 million have confirmed covid or 0.0003 or 0.03 percent .

If you think of it that way that's incredibly unlucky.

And with the official numbers here, those chances are almost non existent at 0.008 percent, assuming the infected were randomly scattered out in the country.

Based on confirmed cases in Europe 0.3 percent

Chances of winning loto jackpot in Japan 0.0000007
 
Last edited:
You know two of the 2 million confirmed cases...wow.

There is seven billion people in the world, out of those seven billion, 2 million have confirmed covid or 0.0003 percent of world pop.

If you think of it that way that's incredibly unlucky.

And with the official numbers here, those chances are almost non existent at 0.00008

In fact I know 8 of the 2 million+ confirmed cases with 6 with mild symptoms (often loss of smell and taste) and 2 needing artificial coma and ventilator.
 
In fact I know 8 of the 2 million+ confirmed cases with 6 with mild symptoms (often loss of smell and taste) and 2 needing artificial coma and ventilator.

I'm sorry to hear that..that's incredibly unlucky. All the best.
 
That age looks for marriage as well. Have to be careful with attachment.

I have perfected that. Just be old, broke and dress the part and nobody wants to marry you :p
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fifty Fifty
You know two of the 2 million confirmed cases...wow.

There is seven billion people in the world, out of those seven billion, 2 million have confirmed covid or 0.0003 or 0.03 percent .

If you think of it that way that's incredibly unlucky.

And with the official numbers here, those chances are almost non existent at 0.008 percent, assuming the infected were randomly scattered out in the country.

Based on confirmed cases in Europe 0.3 percent

Chances of winning loto jackpot in Japan 0.0000007
It’s not really lucky or unlikely, it just depends if you know people in a hotspot or not. Or if you are yourself in a hotspot or not. Or whether the places you and your circles go cross paths with nCoV pos people. Raw percentages don’t necessarily tell the whole story.

For example, a lot of people don’t know any celebrities... but if you live in Hollywood, you’re more likely to know some, or if you are one yourself, you would know a lot. Kind of like that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SugoiBoy and Danbo