Sudden illness or injury | Japan is Nippon

First, do this

If someone is unconscious, struggling to breathe, in severe pain or bleeding heavily, call 119 at once.
On 119, first say "It's an emergency (kyūkyū desu)", then give the address or a landmark for where you are.
If someone nearby speaks Japanese, ask them to help with the call.
If you're unsure whether to call an ambulance, check how urgent it is with the emergency phone advice service (in areas where it runs) or the Q-suke app.
If it isn't urgent, find a medical facility that works in foreign languages and, if you can, phone before you go.

Symptoms that need an ambulance straight away

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency's ambulance guide says that in Japan anyone can use an ambulance for an urgent illness or injury. If you have symptoms like the ones below, don't hesitate to call 119.

For adults, examples include: one side of the face is hard to move or numb; slurred speech; a sudden, severe headache; sudden, severe pain in the chest or back; sudden shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; a tight, squeezing chest pain lasting two to three minutes; sudden, severe stomach pain; vomiting blood; being unconscious or confused; seizures that won't stop; an injury with heavy bleeding; burns over a wide area; a traffic accident with a hard impact; a fall from a height; and near-drowning.

For children aged 15 and under, the examples include purple lips, weak breathing, a violent cough or wheezing that looks painful, and hives all over the body with a bad colour after an insect sting. If a baby under three months old doesn't seem right, call 119 straight away too. The same goes whenever someone seems different from usual or something just feels wrong.

Japanese summers are humid, and temperatures can go above 35°C. If someone has signs of heatstroke, such as being unable to drink water on their own or too weak to move, call an ambulance without hesitation.

How to call 119

You can call 119 from a mobile, a landline or a payphone. When you get through, the dispatcher (the fire service operator) will ask, "Is it a fire or an emergency?" Stay calm and answer slowly.

Give the information in this order: 1) "It's an emergency (kyūkyū desu)"; 2) the address where you need the ambulance (if you don't know it, a nearby landmark such as a building or crossing); 3) who is unwell, since when, and how; 4) the person's age (roughly, if you don't know); 5) your name and a phone number where you can be reached after the call. When the case is urgent, the ambulance sets off before they have finished asking everything.

While you wait, it helps to get ready your passport, cash or a credit card to pay at the hospital, and any medicine you take regularly. If there are enough people, have someone go out to meet the ambulance where it is likely to arrive, so it gets there faster. Tell the paramedics how the illness started, how things changed before they arrived, the worst symptom, any medical conditions and any medicines you take. You cannot choose which hospital you are taken to.

Not sure whether to call an ambulance? Phone advice and the Q-suke app

The Emergency Medical Consultation Service is a phone line for when you can't decide whether to call an ambulance or go to hospital right away. Doctors, nurses, paramedics and others listen to you, and if it is urgent they will, for example, put you through to 119. If it isn't urgent, they tell you which medical facilities can see you and when to go. However, it only runs in some areas. Check the number and the areas covered on the Fire and Disaster Management Agency's official website.

"Q-suke" (pronounced kyū-suke), the Fire and Disaster Management Agency's nationwide app for deciding whether to seek emergency care, has you pick your symptoms on screen and then shows what to do for that level of urgency, such as "Call an ambulance now". If it is highly urgent, you can call 119 from the app. There is a smartphone version and a web version.

Finding a hospital that speaks your language

The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) website has a "Guide for when you feel ill" where you can search medical facilities by area, languages, medical department and accepted credit cards. It also shows core hospitals chosen by each prefecture to accept foreign patients, and facilities certified under JMIP, a third-party assessment of how well a facility is set up for foreign patients. Facilities that can work in foreign languages are limited, so if you can, phone to check before you go.

The 24-hour Japan Visitor Hotline can also refer you to medical facilities where you can be seen in a foreign language. As a rule, though, it does not do three-way interpreting or make appointments for you.

Where to go depends on the time of day and how urgent it is. In a life-threatening emergency, go to an emergency hospital that takes patients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you want to see a doctor, go to a clinic or general hospital during opening hours, or the local out-of-hours service at other times. If you don't know which department fits your symptoms, JNTO's guide has a chart matching symptoms to departments.

At the hospital: the process, paying, and pharmacies

At a hospital, you go through reception, fill in a medical questionnaire, see the doctor and get treatment, and then pay. Healthcare systems differ from country to country, so it is reassuring to ask at reception roughly how much it will cost first. Large hospitals take credit cards, but clinics usually take cash. Medicine is paid for separately at the pharmacy you take your prescription to.

If it isn't bad enough to see a doctor, you can buy medicine at a nearby pharmacy or drugstore. If needed, ask the pharmacist or registered seller for advice. Some types of medicine can only be bought when a pharmacist is present. From JNTO's guide you can also reach a page for searching, in English, the medicines you can buy at pharmacies.

Get travel insurance

Without overseas travel insurance, you may have to pay all your medical costs yourself. JNTO's guide gives examples: 7.5 million yen for someone who had surgery and a hospital stay after colliding with a bicycle and then returned home, and 10 million yen for someone who had surgery and a hospital stay for a heart attack and then returned home. With cashless insurance, you don't need to pay at the hospital counter. Terms differ between insurers, so check in advance.

According to JNTO, there is private medical insurance you can buy online even after arriving in Japan. Also, foreign travellers with a record of not paying medical bills may be refused entry to Japan on later visits.

Tips

Have a screen or note ready that says "救急車を呼んでください。" (Please call an ambulance.) so you can show it to people nearby.
A written list of your medical conditions and regular medicines makes it easier to tell the paramedics. JNTO's guide includes a sheet you can fill in.
Clinics usually take cash, so carry a reasonable amount.
Install the Q-suke app on your smartphone before you fall ill.

Sources

Checked: 29 September 2026